PrimaLuceLab EAGLE CORE PLUS Manual Download Page 1

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VERSION 2.10

Update 03-03-2021

EAGLE CORE is manufactured by PrimaLuceLab S.p.A. (Italy). For any matters relating to the use, service and

warranty, please refer to the addresses given in the relevant documents.

EAGLE CORE

control unit for astrophotography with DSLR and mirrorless

camera

PrimaLuceLab S.p.A. • Via Roveredo 20/B, 33170, Pordenone

•

www.primalucelab.com

Summary of Contents for EAGLE CORE PLUS

Page 1: ... A Italy For any matters relating to the use service and warranty please refer to the addresses given in the relevant documents EAGLE COR E control unit for astrophotography with DSLR and mirrorless camera PrimaLuceLab S p A Via Roveredo 20 B 33170 Pordenone www primalucelab com ...

Page 2: ...ners and have been used for the sole purpose of explaining and for the bene fi t of the user in this manual without any violation of the applicable Copyright laws page 2 CAUTION in order to connect EAGLE CORE to other mechanical PLUS elements please avoid to use too long screws that may touch the internal electronics of the EAGLE CORE THE THREADED PART OF THE SCREW THAT EXIT FROM THE ELEMENT ring ...

Page 3: ...Connection to telescopes with PLUS support rings spaced up to 12cm 1 8 Connection to telescopes with PLUS support rings spaced more than 12cm 1 8 Connection to telescopes without PLUS support ring s 1 9 Power other instruments through EAGLE COR E 2 0 Introduction to astrophotography with DSLR and mirrorless camera s 2 2 Planetary lunar and deep sky astrophotograph y 2 2 Astrophotography with telep...

Page 4: ...M or B if present mode Manual focus if you use a telephoto lens instead of a telescope used with a free memory card we suggest to format the memory card before use with EAGLE CORE set without auto noise removal auto dark set without mirror lock up set without automatic rotation of the imag e Equatorial mount Corrected aligned to the Pole Aligned to the stars and with automatic tracking active Corr...

Page 5: ...included in the package image 3 This way you can power the EAGLE CORE using 12V fi eld battery with cigarette plug If you want to power it with a wall plug you can use the optional AC adapter for Eagle Once powered the PW and ACT LED lights will turn on After more or less 40 seconds EAGLE CORE emits a sound this means the WiFi connection is active and you can use your WiFi device to control EAGLE ...

Page 6: ...he default password and then press the Login button The next time you want to access EAGLE CORE you will no longer have to enter your password your device will automatically connect when you select the network created by EAGLE CORE unless you change the login password Now you can open the browser of the iOS device for example Safari in the url area in the fi eld where you usually write the url lik...

Page 7: ...ss the Login key The next time you want to access EAGLE CORE you will no longer have to enter your password your device will automatically connect when you select the network created by EAGLE CORE unless you change the login password Now open the Android device browser for example Chrome type the address 192 168 4 1 in the fi eld where you usually enter the address of an internet website like www ...

Page 8: ...eaglecorexxxx network When prompted enter eaglecore as the default password and then press the Sign In Now open your computer browser enter address 192 168 4 1 and press keyboard ENTER button to access EAGLE CORE You can also access EAGLE CORE also via a network cable Connect a network cable from your computer PC or Mac to EAGLE CORE and open your computer browser Now type 192 168 0 250 address pr...

Page 9: ... image capture controls The Menu button at the top left allows you to access the EAGLE CORE settings and advanced settings Guiding ta b As seen above in the Guiding tab you have access to all the features needed for autoguide autoguide introduction on page 95 At the center of the screen yo see the real time image taken from the used guide camera Here you can set the exposition time gain calibrate ...

Page 10: ...ports the status of the battery To avoid running our of battery we recommend using the Eagle compatible power cable for Canon EOS and Nikon DSLR camera available for many re fl ex models often used in astro photography With a Tap on Advanced settings you access the guide camera selection by default in EAGLE CORE the simulator is set as default in this window you can select the guide camera used eg...

Page 11: ...herwise the focuser or the SESTO SENSO engine may break Then press the button Set position to 0 a new window is opened in which con fi rmation is requested Set current position to minimum By con fi rming with OK we have set the minimum point of focuser travel Now in the opposite direction with the Slow and Slow or Fast and Fast buttons move your focuser to the outermost position As before stop 1 o...

Page 12: ...Guiding delay time in seconds of delay between one image and the next one a higher value helps stabilize the guide EAGLE CORE access password modi fi catio n In order to change the access password to EAGLE CORE from the settings menu you have to click on Wi fi settings a new menu now appears in which the name of the SSID network is displayed in this example EagleCore005 with the network password w...

Page 13: ...o EAGLE CORE then go to the menu click Update and open a page like the one you see in the picture here you can select the installation fi le you saved on your control device and press The OK button A con fi rmation prompt will appear Apply update NOTE System will be rebooted Con fi rm with OK the ACT LED will be turned off and the system will be updated and restarted During the upgrade process you...

Page 14: ...e EQ Mode by pressing the ENTER button Follow the menu on your keypad to make a 1 2 or 3 star alignment ATTENTION to correctly control your mount with SkySafari you must enter the exact time and your geographical position latitude and longitude in the mount s hand pad Connect the device you use to control EAGLE CORE for example your smartphone to the EAGLE CORE WiFi network Start SkySafari PLUS or...

Page 15: ...you have previously added a focal reducer or multiplier add this option as well Click the Done button at the top right to con fi rm In this way SkySafari will calculate the real fi eld framed by your telescope and camera showing it on the sky chart You will be able to verify if the fi eld is suf fi cient to photograph the whole object In the image below not enough on the left excellent on the righ...

Page 16: ...th telephoto lens If you do not have a telescope you can do astrophotography even using the telephoto lens of your camera In this case EAGLE CORE can be installed as the support of your camera with telephoto lens just as if it was a bar In this case connect a 140mm Vixen PLUS bar under EAGLE CORE using two M6x12 screws supplied then install the optional 80mm PLUS guide rings next to EAGLE CORE usi...

Page 17: ...photo lenses for example with focal lengths greater than 100mm screw the Vixen Losmandy PLUS dovetail clamp on EAGLE CORE Then connect the 90mm PLUS Vixen bar underneath the camera or underneath the support found on some heavy photographic telephoto lenses You can then place the camera on EAGLE CORE having a rigid and quick locking mechanism 1 M6x12 scre w 2 Vixen or Losmandy ba r 3 Vixen Losmandy...

Page 18: ...US guide rings to the top of EAGLE CORE by screwing for each ring 2 M5x12 screws Connection to telescopes with PLUS support rings spaced more than 12cm If you want to use EAGLE CORE with telescopes with PLUS rings spaced more than 12 cm you can place EAGLE CORE above the support rings to support a compact telescope in parallel In order to do this however you must fi rst add a Vixen or Losmandy PLU...

Page 19: ...en Losmandy dovetail clamp and screw it directly to EAGLE CORE to allow you to connect it any Vixen or Losmandy dovetail bar Take the PLUS Vixen Losmandy dovetail clamp and use 4 M6x12 screws to secure it to EAGLE CORE as shown in the image This way you can connect it to any telescope equipped with a Vixen or Losmandy dovetail bar as shown in the next page image page 19 ...

Page 20: ...nected to the power IN port of EAGLE CORE Since various astronomy instruments require strictly 12V fi xed power supply you need to check that your power source supplies a stable 12V voltage If you want to power EAGLE CORE with a battery make sure it is equipped with a special 12V voltage stabilizer DO NOT CONNECT TO EAGLE CORE A BATTERY WITHOUT VOLTAGE STABILIZER as it may damage other instruments...

Page 21: ... from the EAGLE CORE you don t need to make a shutdown in the same way you do with a Windows computer by disconnecting the power cable from the power IN port of EAGLE COR E 2 THEN disconnect the power cables from the 3 power OUT ports of EAGLE COR E If for some reason you can no longer access EAGLE CORE via Wi Fi you can reset the Wi Fi network by holding down the Wi Fi button on the EAGLE CORE fo...

Page 22: ...ss camera commanding the entire setup through a smartphone or tablet Planetary lunar and deep sky astrophotograph y Objects to image in the sky are obviously not equal and above all they have both apparent sky dimensions and brightness very different For this reason when we speak of astronomical photography we usually divide it into planetary lunar photograph y deep sky photograph y The fi rst is ...

Page 23: ...ason you can use EAGLE CORE to record with the camera and photo lenses or with the telescope Of course the use of a larger telescope allows you to gain greater magni fi cation and greater resolution capability However having longer focal length you have to keep in mind that 1 the mount will have to be more stable and precise and therefore generally more expensive You will also need to make a more ...

Page 24: ...ic correction even better than the one offered by a photographic lens This performance is achieved thanks to the high quality of ED lenses and to the lower number of lenses used than photographic lenses telescopes have fi xed focal length and do not allow the aperture to be selected in diaphragm always working at maximum aperture Choosing the telescope for long exposure astrophotography of deep sk...

Page 25: ...pacities that is the maximum weight of the optical tube that they can support For example mounts that have 7 8Kg load capacity are common while higher end ones can support 25Kg optical tubes Choosing the mount be aware that the load capacity is intended for visual use while for the photographic one it is necessary to divide the maximum load for 2 This is because the astrophotography use especially...

Page 26: ...t usually has 50 8mm diameter Instead of the T2 50 8mm photo adapter you can use a fi eld fl attener or coma corrector that does not change the telescope focus Some telescopes also offer dedicated focal reducers which by reducing the focal length of the telescope also reduce the focal point and thus make it more fast making it easier to capture weak objects It should always be considered however t...

Page 27: ...r and move to the darker areas you will get better results Telescope power when we consider an astrophotography telescope we talk of an instrument composed by different parts that need to be powered Unless you have an observatory equipped with special power plugs we will need a battery to power all the elements such as the mount or other accessories EAGLE CORE allows us to power all the components...

Page 28: ...nd to ST4 port of the mount 4 messa a fuoco con SESTO SENSO connected to USB and power port of the port EAGLE CORE 5 12V battery that powers EAGLE CORE and all the devices powered through it Having the telescope under the sky and connected all the elements as we have seen before we can begin to record images with EAGLE CORE and your camera Follow these steps 1 align the mount to Pol e 2 align the ...

Page 29: ...nt has a different crosshair so there are various procedures to perfectly adjust the alignment always listed in the manual of the mount itself Use the polar scope of the mount for a precise polar alignmen t Pole Star doesn t coincide perfectly with the position of the North Pole so it s possible to further improve the polar alignment precision using various methods that vary according to the mount...

Page 30: ...LE CORE and control the mount with SkySafari PLUS or PRO as previously described As for step 2 each mount has a different procedure so please read the manual that came with the mount itself If the object to be photographed is weak such as a nebula a galaxy or a stellar cluster before pointing it we recommend that you point a bright star to focus step 4 Step 4 focus DSLR or mirrorless camer a After...

Page 31: ...lephoto lens it s needed to frame a guide sta r autoguide camera capture the light of the guide scope and sends it to the autoguide softwar e autoguide software elaborates the signal from the autoguide camera and sends the automatic position correction signal to the mount through the ST4 port of the autoguide camera connected to the ST4 port of the mount by a special cable EAGLE CORE includes auto...

Page 32: ... move the guide star to calculate how the mount behaves as a result of the corrections sent through the ST4 autoguide port At the end of the procedure the word Calibration done will appear and the source of the axes will be shifted centered on the guide star with AR and DEC orientation of the frame relative to the displayed image Then press the Start guiding button to start the autoguide EAGLE COR...

Page 33: ...l value and for example changing by 10 anche check for the guide quality If you notice a constant error in one direction you can change the integrative value that takes into account the previous guide corrections De fi ning the coef fi cients consider that the values can be different for the 2 axes If you performed a good polar alignment DEC axis guide can be performed at a lower frequency on aver...

Page 34: ...y of the camera Then press Start acquisition to start the image capture process In this case the camera is set automatically by EAGLE CORE to save the images in the camera s memory card in high quality RAW JPEG mode The Acquisition tab will be as shown in the fi gure showing the connected camera model battery level status of the acquisition procedure the number of remaining images until the end of...

Page 35: ...d the image noise is also lower since when we add more images the noise which is random is mediated Saved images will then be processed with a special astrophotography software There are many softwares to do this but for starters we recommend the free DSS fi nd a guide on how to process the images at https www primalucelab com astronomy blog deep sky stacker in our site If we have made a proper po...

Page 36: ...e process D can I install other software in EAGLE CORE R No EAGLE CORE has the EAGLE OS operating system with drivers and software already installed to autoguide and capture images with DSLR and mirrorless cameras D can I connect EAGLE CORE to the internet R You can not use EAGLE CORE to access the Internet EAGLE CORE creates a Wi Fi network to be used for its control using external devices D what...

Page 37: ...or SESTOSENSO PLUS 90mm Vixen dovetail ba r PLLVIX90P PLUS 140mm Vixen dovetail ba r PLLVIX140P AC adapter for Eagle 5A PL1000025 Eagle compatible power cable for Canon EOS and Nikon DSLR camera PLUS 80mm guide rings PLLANGU80P QHYCCD QHY5L II mono camer a QHY5L II M PLUS Vixen Losmandy dovetail clamp PLLMORVLP ...

Page 38: ...mplete EAGLE CORE moves the guide star to the original position Please wait the star comes back to the original position before starting image acquisition Q During acquisition I get this error Dithering failed Acquisition stopped A This error may be related to high backlash of your mount When the EAGLE CORE moves the image to make dithering if your mount has too much backlash the image doesn t shi...

Page 39: ...or to return it to the reseller upon the purchase of a new type of equivalent equipment one by one Properly differentiated collection for the subsequent start of dismantled equipment for recycling treatment and environmentally compatible disposal helps to avoid possible adverse effects on the environment and health and favors the reuse and or recycling of the materials contained in the equipment T...

Page 40: ...mal wear 4 THE GUARANTEE DOES NOT APPLY IN THE FOLLOWING CASES Repair by anyone not authorised by PrimaLuceLab Invasive interventions or tampering with internal and or external parts Missing of the invoice or receipt of purchase TERMS OF SERVICE Technical assistance is performed exclusively by PrimaLuceLab or its authorised resellers All returns must be received with our permission to be asked wri...

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