P r i m a L u c e L a b S . p . A .
E A G L E C O R E U s e r M a n u a l
equal to the 'Minimum pulse', it is sent to the mount otherwise it is discarded; then, if the 'Minimum pulse' value is
too high, the mount will be guided with few corrections and the autoguide accuracy will be low. If the threshold is
too low, the corrections will be too many with a consequent continuous correction around the ideal position of the
star (and hence you will get a too strong guide).
Step 7: record pictures with DSLR or mirrorless camera
Now that the mount is tracking the target object and the autoguide
automatically corrects the tracking errors, you can record the image. Select the
"Acquisition" tab, adjust camera settings and capture images.
For a correct
use, DSLR camera has to be connected to one of the EAGLE CORE USB
ports, set in Manual mode (or Bulb if your DSLR camera has this mode),
used with a free memory card (we suggest to format the memory card
before use with EAGLE CORE), without auto noise removal (auto dark),
mirror lock up and automatic rotation of the image.
In “#Shots” insert the number of images you want to capture. In "Length of
exposures (s)" select the length of the exposures ranging from a few
milliseconds to the "bulb". If "bulb" is set, in the "Exposures (s)" parameter you
can enter the exposition time in seconds (up to several minutes). In order to
change the shutter speed, you can quickly drag the lever or click on the field
and enter the exposure time using the virtual keyboard of your device. In "ISO"
you set the ISO sensitivity 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 figure, showing the connected
camera model, battery level, status of the acquisition procedure, the number of
remaining images until the end of the acquisition, Dithering state, the ISO set
on the camera, and the set time for each shot.
You can stop the capture process at any time by pressing "Stop acquisition".
Caution: The "Stop acquisition" button does not stop the capture process
instantly, but wait for the end of the last exposure.
The last captured image is
downloaded to EAGLE CORE and displayed in the box below. It is possible,
during the focusing, to zoom in and check the star focus and the quality of the
picture.
Caution: Last shot always displays the last captured image, you can
not select or view other images in the camera memory.
In order photograph bright objects such as the Moon or planets, it’s not
necessary to perform long expositions and the exposure times may also be
lower than one second. Instead, when you want to photograph deep-sky
objects such as nebulae, galaxies, or star clusters, consider that the exposition
times required may be very long. You will notice that the subject will appear in
the photo even after several minutes of expositions. To better record these
weak objects, you can record a sequence of images: for example, in the
"Acquisition" tab you set the #Shots field to a value greater than 1. Then
EAGLE CORE will record many images of the same object, keeping the
perfect tracking thanks to autoguide.
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