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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Dithering without Ekos-controlled camera?

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Hi all,

It looks like Ekos assumes that dithering will be done after Ekos completes capturing an image from a CCD attached to the main imaging telescope. However, I'd like to use a Stellarmate to do guiding and dithering, but still use my micro-4/3 camera on my telescope, with the micro-4/3 camera controlled by a good old intervalometer. I'm planning to have a CCD for the guidescope, but that doesn't seem to be what Ekos is assuming. I'd rather avoid buying a new CCD camera, when my micro-4/3 works well enough for now. Is there a way to set Ekos to dither based on a specific number of seconds (say, 30 or 60 seconds) rather after than a given number of CCD exposures?

Is there a way to do what I'm trying to do? Am I misunderstanding something?

Thanks in advance!
3 years 4 months ago #62700

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Is your micro 4/3rds camera not supported in EKOS?
Your only other option as far as I know would be to command a dither manually in between shots however often you are willing to do it.
3 years 4 months ago #62703

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What if you set a Simulator as your main camera in Ekos? That could work.
3 years 4 months ago #62743

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I'm assuming my camera would be supported, but I mostly just kind of want to keep the process simple and just 'acquire' images with the camera itself.

Using the simulator is an interesting idea. Can anyone confirm that that would work? I don't want to spend a bunch of money, only to find out that what I want to do is impossible.
3 years 4 months ago #62757

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You don't need to spend money, the Camera Simulator is one of possible cameras you can choose in Ekos as your main camera. It will mimic a real camera :)
Look at this picture.It is called CCD Simulator-
3 years 4 months ago #62758
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Yep, I understand that. I have Kstars/Ekos installed on my desktop and have already played around with it a bit, including with the simulator. What I meant is, I'm wondering if other folks have used the simulator as their main capture device to do dithering with an unconnected camera, and had success with that setup.
3 years 4 months ago #62763

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You can do that if you are willing to accept some wasted captures that are taken during the unsynchronized dither.
3 years 4 months ago #62781

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My assumption is that I could set the actual imaging camera and the dummy camera to have the same sub lengths, with a pause after each sub, and have the dither happen in the middle of the dither. Say, 30 second subs for actual and dummy cameras, followed by a five-second pause, with the Ekos-controlled pause including a dither in there somewhere. That looked doable from the interface, at least? I clearly need to experiment with this and see how possible it actually is.
3 years 4 months ago #62793

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There is no way to perfectly synchronize everything. Even with your best assumptions, there is some randomness in the time dithering takes and other variables. So you will almost certainly lose at least one frame for every dither. So you will want to dither less frequently.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Rachel K
3 years 4 months ago #62811

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Oh, I hadn't understood that. Hmm, I guess I have some things to reconsider. Thank you for that information.
3 years 4 months ago #62843

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You don't need to dither after every frame. You only need to dither about 20% of the time, provided you are acquiring at least 100 frames. In that case, you are looking at only 1 out of 5 images that is getting wasted by the unsynchronized dithering.
3 years 3 months ago #64591

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