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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Kstars crashes when taking flats

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Hi!

I had a new issue today. Trying to take automated flats, Kstars repeatedly crashed when trying to download and open first sub in Fits viewer. I tried disable showing subs in Fits viewer but it kept opening up and then crashing. Here's the last attempt in the log. What is going on here?

Magnus
4 years 6 months ago #43698
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Can you run KStars via gdb to get the backtrace?
gdb -ex run --args kstars

When it crashes, go to the console and type bt to get the backtrace and post it here.
4 years 6 months ago #43699

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Jasem, how can Windows users fetch this backtrace? If possible, I will do so each time I get a crash, which seems to be too often to ignore.

Best,
Jacob
4 years 6 months ago #43700

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This is the same issue I'm having. I can start the sequence by looping exposures while still pointed at the sky. As soon as i place my flats panel on the scope, the first sub that comes in forces the app to crash. It seems the sudden change in light intensity causes the FITS viewer to crash and drag down Kstars with it. (This is whats causing my issues explained i another thread, when I reconnect the camera maintains -20°C even though the cooler is reported as OFF). A fix is to start with low light intensity and work up to a brightness/exposure that generates the correct histogram/ADU value. If i then switch off the FITS viewer I can run the flats plan without issue.
4 years 6 months ago #43710

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Problem found and fixed. Appears a recent histogram performance improvement led to this. I will try to update Windows build as well.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Wolfgang Reissenberger, Craig
4 years 6 months ago #43711

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Guess it's safe to assume this will also fix my problems ?
4 years 6 months ago #43738

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Jacob,

Try using a free program called Windbg to run Kstars. I think its in the Microsoft app store. A friend of mine was having some crashes on his windows machine every time the Fitsviewer opened. We used this program to get all the details about what kstars was doing to send them to get analyzed to determine the issue. I'm not sure if they were useful or not because I didn't fix the issue, but somebody did.

I wouldn't recommend running this program every time you are imaging, but if there is a reproducible crash and you want to send the details about what causes it, this would be nice.

Thanks,

Rob
4 years 6 months ago #43739

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I have got a problem with taking flats too, but a bit different...

I´m on DSLR, set my ADU to 7000 as usual.
Then i set exposure for the start to about 0,100sec

So system starts taking one frame, measuring, changes to a bit more exp time like 0.134 then two or three times more with small steps and suddenly to 235secs.

Any explanation for that?

cheers
Niki
Skywatcher EQ6-R | Lacerta 10" Carbon-Newton | Lacerta MFoc Motorfocus | Moravian G2 8300 Color | Canon EOS 5DMarkIIIa | Lodestar X2 guiding cam | KSTARS 3.4.3. on my outdoor-Laptop with KDE-Neon/Plasma | KSTARS 3.4.3. on Remote-IMac with Catalina | KSTARS 3.4.3 on Remote-Macbook Air with Catalina
4 years 5 months ago #44113

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Hmmm.. it's probably the polynomial fitting. The logs will shed light on the calculations.
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4 years 5 months ago #44119

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Same happend here when I tried flats with the DSLR. The shutter speeds requested by Ekos were not available in the cam and just as Niki reported, it all ended up with extremely long exposures that didn't make sense at all.
4 years 5 months ago #44120

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Hello There Guys!

Got a big Logfile so i had to search for the right part...

So here it is. The part where i started flat-capturing this morning and where in the third attemp it went way to high with the exposuretime.

Hope this helps.

cheers
Niki
Skywatcher EQ6-R | Lacerta 10" Carbon-Newton | Lacerta MFoc Motorfocus | Moravian G2 8300 Color | Canon EOS 5DMarkIIIa | Lodestar X2 guiding cam | KSTARS 3.4.3. on my outdoor-Laptop with KDE-Neon/Plasma | KSTARS 3.4.3. on Remote-IMac with Catalina | KSTARS 3.4.3 on Remote-Macbook Air with Catalina
4 years 5 months ago #44122
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Several issues contribute to the mix here. (i.e. 1) the "B"/"M" dial setting problem with some Canon cameras like the 5D, 2) the FORCE BULB setting that can cause odd behaviour with these cameras and 3) the way Ekos handles shutter speeds that are not available in the user's camera). I'll try to explain them, maybe this will take another posting later tonight.

Niki, was your camera dial (Hauptwahlrad) set to "B" or "M" when taking flats? The problem with cameras like the 5D is you have to set the dial to "M" in order to have short shutter speeds timed correctly.

In addition, you have to make sure EVERY TIME that FORCE BULB is disabled. Unfortunately the state of the FORCE BULB option is not reliably saved. Occasionally it will be re-set to ON:

Example:
Set dial to "M", connect to camera, choose FORCE BULB = OFF, save Options. Shut down EKos.
Now set dial to "B", connect to camera, FORCE BULB can be ON (*), regardless of what has been saved. Once again choose FORCE BULB = OFF, save Options, shut down KStars.
Set dial to "M" again, connect to camera, FORCE BULB can be ON(*)! This may sound like it was not true but I swear I tested and re-tested it today numerous times. I can make a video just in case. All test were done with the latest and greatest nightlies.


One possible implication is this: If you set your dial to "M" (like for flat frames or short exposure subs of moon, planets, etc.) and FORCE BULB is enabled in Indi, all pictures taken now will be of the shutter speed that is selected in your "M" SUBmenu (Kamera Schulterdisplay rechts). In this case (dial="M", FORCE BULB=ON) Ekos can not choose any shutter speed whatsoever! If you're taking flat frames now, Ekos will DISPLAY all sorts of shutter speeds but IN FACT the pictures taken will all be of the same exposure time, i.e. the one you selected in your "M" submenu.

The third issue I ran into: If you manually choose a shutter speed (in Ekos) that is not available in your camera's "M" mode (like, for instance, 0.01s while the 5D only offers 1/90 and 1/125), Ekos will fall back to the "EOSremoterelease" method. What happens is Ekos will request a "B"-style" exposure from your camera but since your camera's dial is set to "M" the photo will be of the shutter speed that is currently selected in your "M" SUBmenu, too. I suspect none of these issues happen with cameras that do not have a separate "B" dial setting!

This is confusing to say the least, particularly for beginners.

(*) if it is not, just disconnect and re-connect the camera one more time and FORCE BULB will be enabled.
Last edit: 4 years 5 months ago by Alfred.
4 years 5 months ago #44126

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