Starlight Xpress 100-0054 Manual Download

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Handbook for the Trius PRO-674C Issue 1 September 2020

Manual for the TRIUS PRO-674C colour CCD

camera

Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress ‘TRIUS PRO 674C’ camera. We hope that

you will be very pleased with the performance of this product. Please register your

product and warranty at

https://forms.gle/tmsHEJfQG2bLJjr57

The TRIUS PRO-674C is an advanced, high-resolution one-shot colour, cooled CCD

camera, especially designed for astronomical imaging. It uses a third generation

version of the very popular Sony ‘EXview’ CCDs that offer very high QE and extremely

low thermal noise. This ‘PRO’ camera uses an updated version of the original TRIUS

main board and has both improved read noise and faster download time. It features

an internal USB hub with 3 external ports and a dry argon CCD chamber fill. The USB

hub permits several other devices to share the single USB connection and greatly

reduces the number of cables required in a typical set-up. For example, a Lodestar

PRO or Ultrastar PRO guide camera and an SX filter wheel could use two of the USB

ports and the third might connect to an electric focuser, or similar peripheral. The

argon fill, along with other improvements to the cooler stack, has improved the delta

T to about -42 degrees C below ambient.

The camera also includes a CCD temperature monitoring circuit that provides

regulated set-point cooling of the chip, an adjustable chip alignment plate and a very

Summary of Contents for 100-0054

Page 1: ...dated version of the original TRIUS main board and has both improved read noise and faster download time It features an internal USB hub with 3 external ports and a dry argon CCD chamber fill The USB hub permits several other devices to share the single USB connection and greatly reduces the number of cables required in a typical set up For example a Lodestar PRO or Ultrastar PRO guide camera and ...

Page 2: ...imaging especially with an H alpha filter The H alpha QE is about 65 considerably better than other interline chips and even greater than the popular KAF8300 CCD The full frame download time is approximately 4 seconds and a binned 4x4 download takes only 0 5 seconds so finding and centring are very quick and easy in this mode Here is a diagram of the connectors to be found on the rear panel of the...

Page 3: ...ith Windows XP Vista or Windows 7 installed This machine must have at least one USB 2 0 port available and at least 256 Mbytes of memory If you intend to view the finished images on its screen then you will also need a graphics card capable of displaying an image with a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels and 24 bit colour A medium specification Pentium with between 1GHz and 4GHz processor speed is ideal...

Page 4: ...e that it contains this will initiate the self install software which will guide you through the process of installing the SX camera software onto your computer Now connect the USB cable to the socket on the camera rear panel Windows will report Found new hardware and will ask for the location of the drivers Point the installer at the appropriate driver folder on your USB Stick 32 bit or 64 bit no...

Page 5: ...tem devices will be displayed in a list see above If the installation is successful there will be a diamond shaped symbol labelled BlockIOClass and clicking on the sign will reveal it to be a Starlight Xpress USB 2 0 SXV H674C BlockIO camera driver If this device shows as faulty try clicking on it and selecting properties and then update driver Following the on screen instructions will allow you t...

Page 6: ...s is the first time that it has been run you will receive a warning about the lack of an ini file just click on OK and then open Set program defaults from the File menu In the bottom right hand corner of this box select SXV H674C Now click on Save and the ini file will be created and the software set for your camera Now click on the camera icon at the top of the screen If the USB connection is OK ...

Page 7: ... you are imaging during the winter months Under indoor conditions the low airflow will limit the cooling capability and you should use a set point of no lower than 5C for stable cooling You can determine the optimum settings for your camera and ambient conditions when you have some experience of using the system but do not try to operate at extreme cooling when the air temperature is high Connecti...

Page 8: ... this introduces additional complications which are best avoided at this early stage There are two simple options one of which is available to everyone with a sheet of aluminium baking foil 1 Attach a standard M42 SLR camera lens to the TRIUS H674C using the 26mm spacer to achieve the correct focal distance Or 2 Create a Pin hole lens by sticking a sheet of aluminium baking foil over the end of th...

Page 9: ...In the case of the pinhole all that you can experiment with is the exposure time but a camera lens can be adjusted for good focus and so you might want to try this to judge the high image quality that it is possible to achieve Various other exposure options are available as can be seen in the picture above For example you can Bin the download 2x2 or more to achieve greater sensitivity and faster d...

Page 10: ...id pattern due to the RGB colour filters on the CCD chip surface This is normal and will disappear once the image has been converted to colour by the software Unlike commercial digital cameras astronomical colour cameras do not normally output a colour image directly This is so that various image corrections can be performed on the raw data e g dark frame subtraction as these are impractical after...

Page 11: ... colour bias and noise 1 Daylight Image If an unfiltered lens is used the infra red content of the light will tend to produce a Green Blue shift in the balance A partial correction of this bias is provided by selecting this option but the best option is to use an infra red blocking filter when taking daylight shots see 5 below 2 Light Pollution Correction This option is for deep sky colour images ...

Page 12: ...hing filter and the Anti alias filter you can experiment with the other options as you gain more experience Now click on Create image and you should see that the grid pattern disappears and is replaced by colour image data If the colour is roughly correct then all is well However the colour decoding is reliant on the filter pattern being properly registered with the processing software and this ca...

Page 13: ...e Red histogram a few points to the right and click on Apply the new image will have LESS red in the background and will appear more Cyan Similarly if you move the Green start point to the right the image will appear more Magenta and moving the blue start point will turn it more Yellow Do not move the start points beyond the start of the main burst of histogram data or you will introduce colour er...

Page 14: ...iltering results in dark borders around well defined features and will increase the noise in an image to unacceptable levels but the Low Power filter is close to optimum and gives a nicely sharpened picture The Contrast routines are used to brighten or dull the image highlights and shadows A Normal stretch is a simple linear operation where two pointers the black and white limits can be set at eit...

Page 15: ...wanted Kellner or Plossl ocular Just measure a distance of 22mm from the field stop of the eyepiece equivalent to the CCD to adaptor flange distance of the camera and make an extension tube to set the field stop at this distance from the drawtube end Cut down 35mm film cassette containers are a convenient diameter for making the spacer tube and may be split to adjust their diameter to fit the draw...

Page 16: ...ry images However in this case the shorter exposures allow us to assume a much better telescope resolution and 0 25 arc seconds per pixel is a good value to use The calculation now gives the following result F 0 00545 205920 0 25 4489mm This is approximately F22 when used with a 200mm SCT and so we will need a 2 or 3x Barlow lens Barlow lenses are less critical than focal reducers and most types c...

Page 17: ...quality achieved you might like to trim the settings of your par focal or flip mirror eyepiece to match the current camera position Although you can reach a good focus by the above method many observers prefer to use additional aids such as Hartmann or Bahnitov masks an objective cover with several spaced holes or diffraction bars narrow parallel rods across the telescope aperture These make the p...

Page 18: ...the same exposure as your light frame but with the telescope objective covered so that no light can enter It records only the hot pixels and thermal gradients of your CCD so that these defects are largely removed when the dark frame is subtracted from the light frame The TRIUS PRO 674C CCD is quite different from those used in other brands of camera and generates an extremely low level of dark noi...

Page 19: ...mes when using the TRIUS H674C A bias frame is essentially a zero exposure dark frame and records any minor readout defects that the CCD may possess so a bias frame subtraction can clean up any warm columns or shadings that are created during readout To record a bias frame cover the camera aperture and take a 1000th of a second exposure If you take at least 10 such frames and average them together...

Page 20: ...background due to light pollution so it is now time to process the luminance brightness and contrast of the image to get the best visual appearance First use the Normal contrast stretch to darken the background by setting the Black slider just below the main peak of the histogram Alternatively you can use the Remove Background option to let the software decide on the best setting This will greatly...

Page 21: ... to use a Non linear stretch to compress the brighter regions while expanding the faint data Here is the result of a non linear stretch on the M42 image The image now looks quite impressive and I hope that you like this result from this simple processing Further small refinements are usually possible and you will become expert at judging the best way to achieve these as your experience increases A...

Page 22: ...ctures of the planets Planetary imaging is in many ways quite different from deep sky imaging Most deep sky objects are faint and relatively large so a short focal length and a long exposure are needed while planets are bright and very small needing long focal lengths and short exposures High resolution is critical to achieving good results and I have already shown how a suitable focal length can ...

Page 23: ...ar zero due to the dark background If you use too short an exposure time the image noise level will be increased and if too long a time is used you will saturate the highlights and cause white patches on the image With the recommended focal length Jupiter and Mars will both need an exposure time of between 0 1 and 1 seconds and Saturn will need between 0 5 and 2 seconds Processing a planetary imag...

Page 24: ...images it is advantageous to sum planetary images together to improve the signal to noise ratio In this case the averaging option should always be used or the result is likely to exceed the dynamic range of the software and saturate the highlights Aligning the images is always something of a problem as there are rarely any stars to use when imaging the planets but Jupiter s satellites can be usefu...

Page 25: ...ll destroy any colour data do not use binning for images that you want to convert to true colour Up to this point I have assumed that the full resolution imaging mode is being used This is fine for most purposes but it will often provide more resolution than the optical system or the seeing allows Binned 2x2 mode sums groups of 4 pixels into one output pixel thus creating a pixel image with 4 time...

Page 26: ...g sessions begin or end in twilight and so the dusk or dawn sky can provide a distributed source of light for a flat field However using the sky directly is likely to result in recording many unwanted stars or patches of cloud etc so a diffuser needs to be added to the telescope An ideal material is Mylar plastic drafting film obtained from an office supplies warehouse It is strong and water resis...

Page 27: ...may not be noticed at all on deep sky small F ratio images as they will be very much out of focus However if a powerful contrast boost of the image is carried out they may well begin to show as the shadow Do nuts mentioned earlier Images taken with a large F ratio optical system are more likely to be affected by such dirt owing to the smaller and sharper shadows that they cast A light polluted sky...

Page 28: ...clean thoroughly and you may have to make several attempts before the surface is free of contamination One gentle wipe from one end to the other with no return stroke will be found to be the most effective action DO NOT rub vigorously and be very careful to avoid scratching the window 6 Before re assembly make certain that the inside surface of the front window is also clean and then carefully rep...

Page 29: ...B DO NOT leave the camera switched on for long periods between uses The cold CCD will collect ice by slow diffusion through any small leaks and this will become corrosive water on the cooler and CCD pins when the power is removed If substantial amounts of moisture are seen dismantle the camera and dry it thoroughly Alternative Software Although we hope that you will be satisfied with our SXV_hmf_u...

Page 30: ... Sony ICX674AQG EXview interline imager CCD size Active area 8 8mm x 6 3mm CCD pixels 1940 x 1460 pixel array Each pixel is 4 54 x 4 54uM square Bayer Matrix RGBG primary colour Well depth Full res mode 18 000e Binned 2x2 mode approx 22 000e Mean visual QE 70 77 at peak 580nM Useful spectral response 360nM 1100nM Readout noise Approx 4e RMS typical 8e max Back focal distance The CCD is approximate...

Page 31: ... of Purchasers CONDITIONS OF GUARANTEE 1 The equipment shall only be used for normal purposes described in the standard operating instructions and within the relevant safety standards of the country where the equipment isused 2 Repairs under guarantee will be free of charge providing proof of purchase is produced and that the equipment is returned to the Service Agent at the Purchaser s expense an...

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