Illustration 11: Exposure tab of the CCD Camera Control tool
It is necessary to define few parameters before the first shot. First, it is
necessary to define the image type – choose “Light” from “Exposure” combo
box. Then choose the exposure time. If you experiment with exposures in the
dark room with a camera connected to some small refractor, start with
1 second. Do not forget to review the image handling options on the right side
of the “Exposure” tab. Let the “Open new Light image window” and
“Overwrite image in selected window” check-boxes checked, uncheck other
options for now (we do no plan to save our first images).
Then click the “Start Exposure” button. Camera will open the shutter, perform
1 s exposure, close the shutter and download the image. Image is then opened
in new image window. If this is the first shot, it will probably be far from sharp
focused image. Alter the focuser and try again.
Notice that options determining the new image handling on the right side of this
tab changes with every change of the exposure type. SIPS remembers these
options for every exposure type separately. So it is possible e.g. to define
separate folders for dark frames and for flat fields.
Always check whether new image processing options are defined properly
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