cooled StarShoot G series camera connected at the same time.
Be sure to connect to the appropriate camera in your software.
1. Download all relevant files from the Camera support/
download page
2. Double-click on the install .exe for the Image Capture
program, the driver, and the ASCOM driver, and follow the
onscreen directions for installation. Do not plug the camera
in until the drivers have been installed for the camera
3. Once the driver and software has been installed, plug the
camera into an available USB port
4. Windows will take a moment to recognize the USB device
plugged in, and once that is complete, you can open up
the StarShoot Image Capture program to connect to the
camera
Hardware setup
Now that the camera drivers and software are installed, it’s time to
connect the camera to the telescope, and open up the software.
Install the camera into your focuser and connect the USB cable
from the camera to an available USB port on the computer. The
StarShoot 6.3mp works best when plugged into a USB 3.0 port,
as the frame rate will be much higher. It will still work in a USB 2.0
port, but with a reduced framerate.
Focusing the camera for the first time can be tricky, since the
camera may focus at a completely different place from where
an eyepiece focuses. It is recommended that you first center a
bright star in a 25mm eyepiece before attaching the camera, to
be sure the camera is centered on the star. Even very far out of
focus, you should be able to see a fat disk (the out-of-focus star),
to determine which way to turn the focus knob to bring the star
down to a focused point.
Software
The next section will document connecting to the camera and
basic image downloads. The included software will run the basic
astro-imaging steps including image download, exposure controls
and such, but please note that this software only touches on the
basic functions of acquiring astro images. To get the best results
with more advanced processes such as stacking multiple long
exposures together to reduce noise, manual dark frame subtrac-
tions, flat field and dark frame stacking for smoother calibration
frames, and other processes, it is HIGHLY recommended to con-
trol the camera with an ASCOM compatible capture program.
Some are free on the web, others are paid, but there is a vast array
of programs available that will be compatible with the camera. Here
are some of our favorites:
DeepSkyStacker:
http://deepskystacker.free.fr/
- Excellent free
program for pre-processing that simplifies the alignment and
stacking of your images. Automatically monitors a directory where
images are saved, and processes on the fly. Add all the calibration
frames, including darks, flats, biases, and step back while the
software does the rest giving you output ready for post processing
in programs such as PhotoShop.
RegiStax:
www.astronomie.be/registax/
- Excellent free pro-
gram for aligning, stacking and processing of AVI video files, ideal
for capturing lunar and planetary video, splitting the video into
individual frames, analyzing each frame and aligning/stacking/
processing the best ones for pulling out fine details.
SharpCap:
sharpcap.co.uk
– Free camera control and capture
program. Features include video and long exposure control, flat
field and dark frame subtractions, histogram control, excellent
focus assist routines including Bahtinov mask overlays and FWHM
measurements, and MUCH more!
Sequence Generator Pro:
mainsequencesoftware.com
– free
45 day trial. Excellent Image Capture suite to control all aspects
of your setup. Create sequences of exposures of different lengths,
control a Go-To mount for automatic pointing and auto-centering
in any part of the image, auto v-curve focusing with a compatible
electronic focuser (without having to re-center to a target star),
autoguider control, and a host of other features.
Nebulosity:
stark-labs.com
– free demo available to try. Powerful,
yet very easy to use image capture and processing program.
Excellent processing routines such as aligning/stacking and dark/
flat/bias handling. An excellent choice for the beginning astro-
photographer getting into processing, yet will carry over for more
advanced users as well.
N.I.N.A:
https://nighttime-imaging.eu/
– free open source image
capture suite designed to control all aspects of your setup. Very
customizable, and with very frequent update cycles which bring
new features to the platform.
PHD2 Guiding:
openphdguiding.org
– The gold standard open
source (and free!) software for using your StarShoot Mini as an
autoguider. Built in wizards to fine tune the guiding, and now with
the ability to guide on multiple stars in the image.
Note: if you wish to skip using StarShoot Image capture, and only
use your camera as an autoguider, review the following sections
for focus, but skip forward to the Autoguiding section for more
details.
3. Orion StarShoot Image
Capture
Plug the camera into a free USB port in your computer. When you
open Orion Starshoot Image Capture, you’ll be presented with the
main preview window on the right, and the control options on the
left-hand side. (
Figure 3a
). On the top of the left-hand side, click
the camera name to start a video preview (
Figure 3b
). Scrolling
down the left-hand side, you’ll find all the controls for operating
the camera. The primary window to control the exposure and
to use first is the Capture and Resolution window (
Figure 4
). In
this window, you can set either video or still image mode (trigger
mode), as well as set the resolution and gain of the camera and
set single, looping, or sequence shots to be saved automatically
in a chosen directory.
Scrolling down further along the left side, you’ll find windows
for other camera attributes including bit depth (always choose
the highest bit depth to get the most detail and quality out of
the image), binning control (1x1 is full camera resolution) and
histogram. There are other windows present, but the ones listed
above are the most important ones when taking your first image.
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