6
7
EXPOSURE: This is represented in
milliseconds. Move the slider back and
forth to adjust exposure (
Figure 8).
Windows users press “
Change Exp.”
and enter the value (
Figure 7).
Dark Frame Correction
All CCD and CMOS cameras have
inherent noise which becomes more
apparent with longer exposure images.
If you require taking longer exposures
(typically longer than 3 seconds) you
may start to see background noise,
vertical lines and bright dots (hot pixels).
To automatically remove the noise and hot
pixels, dark frames are used to subtract the
noise and hot pixels from the live images. Best
results are accomplished by capturing many
dark frames and averaging them (Median
Combine) into one resultant frame.
In order create dark frames the camera must
be covered so that light is blocked from pass-
ing into the sensor. If using a telescope this can
easily be accomplished by placing the lens cap
on the telescope.
7. If the image is white on the screen,
it’s overexposed. Adjust the expo-
sure and gain as needed to reduce
the brightness. For terrestrial imag-
ing click the auto exposure (AE)
checkbox. Uncheck to manually
adjust.
8. Focus telescope until you get a
sharp image on your computer
screen.
9. To automatically select the white
balance (WB) for color correc-
tion Windows users press “
One
Push WB” (Figure 9), Mac users
press the “
White Balance” button
(Figure 10).
10. Experiment with the different cam-
era settings. The exposure and
gain will be the most frequently used set-
tings.
GAIN: This is represented as a percentage of
the total gain. Move the slider back and forth to
adjust gain (
Figure 7).
Figure 7.
The camera Control interface
(Windows).
Figure 9.
The Color interface (Windows).
Figure 10.
The Color interface
(Mac).
Figure 8.
The camera Control
interface (Mac).