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.

Problem found and fixed. Appears a recent histogram performance improvement led to this. I will try to update Windows build as well.

Guess it's safe to assume this will also fix my problems ?

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

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

Hmmm.. it's probably the polynomial fitting. The logs will shed light on the calculations.

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.

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

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.

Hi there!

Interesting things you tell here. Could explain lots of funny behaviours

In fact the dial was on Bulb the whole time . I have to check this with your post side by side when there is time with my cam. Thanks for that!

cheers
Niki

With the dial set to "B" none of the strange behaviour should occur. The problem with "B" mode is this: Ekos sends a command "open shutter" to the camera, then starts a countdown let's say from 0.001 to 0.000. It then checks whether 0,000 has been reached and once that happens, a "close shutter" command is sent to the cam. Unfortunately the whole procedure (open shutter, countdown, checks, close shutter) takes longer than 0.001s so the picture you end up with is not a 1/1000s one.

Back to the task at hand, Ekos taking 3600 second flats. The log attached is for two lights (0.1s and 0.001s), and then an attempt to take flats (Flat source "manual", Flat Duration = ADU 29500, FORCE BLUB = OFF, dial in "M" mode, subdial = 1/1000s). What happens is pretty clear:

1. Ekos takes a 0.001s flat. shutterspeed: 30 is chosen correctly. The result is a current ADU of 1023.5, lower than the desired 29500 target.
2. Ekos now requests a flat at 0,00125 seconds (1/800s) which is not available in my cam.
3. Ekos cannot find a shutter speed matching 0,00125s thus falls back to "B" mode.
4. Ekos sends an EOSremoterelease: 2 (Press Full). Since the camera is in "M" mode, it fires a 1/1000s exposure. Ekos starts the countdown, sends an eosremoterelese : 4 (Release Full) but none of that really happens in the camera!
5. Ekos receives the in-fact-1/1000s-flat with an ADU of 1024.09, again much lower than the 29500 target.
6. Ekos reacts by increasing the exposure time to 12,1s.
7. Since 12,1s is not in my cam's list, Ekos again falls back to "B" mode, sends ( Press Full ) which triggers another 1/1000s flat and so on...

The fallback to "B" mode results in 1/1000s exposures being received. In return Ekos increases the exposure time further and further. That's how you end up with 3600s flats being requested.

One possible workaround for you:

1) Set your cam to "M" mode, disable FORCE BULB, apply your flat box.
2) In the CCD tab set Exposure: to "0.001", Type: to "Light" and take a preview shot. If it looks like a decent flat, good!
3) Increase/decrease Exposure time as needed and take another preview but MAKE SURE the Exposure time requested is available in your camera!
4) Once you have found a reasonable Exposure time and the preview looks like a decent flat, add a sequence of as many lights (no flats!) as needed to the queue and click start.

Use these "lights" as flats.