As you can tell, I am quite impressed by the first light with the device. It is quite amazing! I intend to keep it on the setup for the future, as it will help me just grab the whole setup to dark sites when the weather clears and the moon hides. Also note that the computer that I had on my setup has made its way to my bigger setup with R200SS. So I am still using NINA! It is good to add the following caveats for reference: - Many users (and the manual!) recommend powering the mount separately, as the power delivery could be overwhelmed, especially with dew heaters (I am not having issues with my setup, but it is modest in terms of power consumption). However I've been told it could also affect guiding. So I may choose to power the mount separately, as recommended. - It only works with ZWO EAF for focusing and EFW for filters, and some Nikon and Canon cameras as well as ZWO cameras (e.g. no QHY, Altair, or other brands, you are locked in). It has a much wider compatibility for mounts. - Framing and mosaic setup is a bit painful (upcoming video for framing and mosaic), and I would like to have parameters for plate-solving and centering precision - I really didn't like having to activate the device online. It's something that just annoys me. - Polar Alignment requires view of Polaris (unlike NINA's three point polar alignment) - or at least a view of the sky within 30 degrees of Polaris - Meridian limits can't be set (at least at this stage), so it pauses imaging at Meridian - workaround it to set Meridian flip less long after Meridian - Focus seems to be single star rather than multi-star (but it worked very well in my first light, and others tell me it is actually multi-star) - No PHD2 guiding assistant or setup wizard to help set a correct value for the calibration step (it seems to me we should have a good pre-populated number based on connected equipment) E.g. great for ease of use, but there is loss of flexibility.
I also was very impressed with the functionality. I have the same functions in my AsiAir V1, but If I can add to the complaints 1. I want to have an option to cancel the update when available. I lost half of the night at remote location because it wanted to update and failed to do so. 2. Platesolving doesn't work for planets and the moon. 3. Platesolving doesn't work for focal length over 5000mm - bad if you want to image Jupiter or Saturn and you use barlow 4. I had problem to do platesolving using 700mm guide scope and ASI290mm for unknown reason. 5. I wish it could be more planetary imaging friendly, using live view 5x of DSLR for capturing video 6. For some reason it has troubles with mirror lock up setup so it cannot do platesolving using DSLR when mirror lockup is set on and also cannot do image of the moon with the mirror lockup function. So my moon photos are shaky due to it.
I absolutely love my ASIAIR Pro. I have not tried a mosaic yet, so I’m looking forward to your future video on that. Also, not sure if you’re aware but for framing a target you can press on the screen where you want it centered and a green circle with the word “go” will appear there and it asks if you want to re-center your FOV there. If you have to image a target over several nights you can go to Preview mode, click on image management, then search for one of your previous images under Autorun. Once you find an image, there should be a “goto” button on the screen. It will plate solve and go back to that FOV. I find it VERY useful.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek primalucelab eagle now has a stand alone astro gear management application that runs in pretty much the same way as the asiair is and it's called play. The big difference is it allows u to run other camaras other then just one brand and I also auto focuser as well. Primaluce labs just put out a RU-vid video showcasing it.
Make sure you use your histogram sliders to preview the stretch as you're shooting. Really makes an impact on what your potential final image will be. I'm waiting for my PLUS to show up but have using the AAPro for a year. Love it
I've been dealing with a new Eagle for this purpose. After watching this video, I will be sending it back and getting an ASIAir. Very well done, this is the exact solution I'm looking for on my secondary telescope.
In the end I reverted to a PC with NINA as I found it was simply easier and more powerful for me, and I ended up using non-ZWO cameras :-) the risk of going this way is to be locked into an ecosystem, until they open it up!
Great video. Glad to see that you were as impressed with it as I have been. I have been using it for about a month and I will never be able to use anything else. The days of carrying around a wad of cables and a 5 lb laptop are over. Not to mention, it is just easy. Boot up, focus, align, plate solve, point and shoot. Done and done. I actually learned a couple more things about it from your video that I hadn't come across yet, so thanks for that. It will do live stacking and it is awesome, even auto stretches the live stack. And, if you keep some of your most-used darks and bias frames on the device, take one flat frame when you start imaging, you can live stack with all of your calibration frames applied as well. I imaged Horsehead and Flame last night and it was awesome to see the image build up over a couple of hours. It takes me less time to complete setup and begin imaging with the ASI AIR on my telescope than it does just to try and find a target with my DSLR. It has kind of ruined DSLR imaging for me. I think from now on, the DSLR will be just for Milky Way photography. I was completely up and running in less than half an hour last night on the telescope and after over an hour of trying to locate the Heart Nebula on the DSLR with a 135mm lens, I gave up, slapped a 50mm lens on, and just pointed it in the general direction and hoped for the best.
Thanks for that feedback Jim - it's such a different experience indeed. And I completely get and share your pain about finding targets with a DSLR, it's just too painful! Livestacking is on my todo list to feature as well.
That was a great review. I think seeing your impressions and thoughts in "real time" gave a lot more to the review than if you'd made a separate video about it. This goes for both the good and the bad about the device.
I have the ASIAIR and I love it. Just makes everything super easy. Love the Live mode too. Just seeing the image stack live and if you mess with the histogram sliders you can really get an idea of the data you are getting. Amazing bit of kit.
I’ve recently got the ASIair plus and I’m having some trouble with it. I’ve activated it and I’ve put all my telescope fl and chosen my cameras, but when I go onto the next part of the app there is no live view it’s just an image saying as easy as 1, 2, 3. Also my guide camera (ASI120mm mini) keeps disconnecting from the app. I don’t know if you can help but it’s worth a try.
And finaly the channel starts to grow now over 12k!, watching the numbers increasing day by day. U deserve it as ur Video output is phenominal. Stay healthy.
Thank you! I'm working hard to make the channel grow, but I'm under no illusions - others who have grown have usually done so by dumbing down the content to some extent. But I don't want to do that...
j'avais remarqué un accent français, j'avais un doute, mais le "je suis bluffé" m'a terminé XD je pense faire l'acquisition d'un tel boitier, ça à l'air vraiment puissant !
Cuiv, I've just come across your posting and found it, and your previous one both stimulating and helpful. In fact, they've been so helpful that it has convinced me to resurrect my old enthusiasm for astrophotography and look into automation as much as possible. Many thanks for your enthusiasm and sharing with us your impressions of a wortwhile product. Clear skies, Paul.
Yea! Lock me man😎 I’m so glad you got to try one👍 After Maxim DL, tied for years to a laptop, this is my forever device. All ZWO cameras from now on, so I can use this amazing device. I’ve got version1 & Pro.V1 Great video👍👍👍👍👍👍
I have the pro version and it completely changed the hobby. It simply automates everything. I saw you used 8s for autofocus time. I use 1 sec autofocus for lrgb and 3 sec for 3nm narrowband. Never have anything out of focus after it finishes. It doesn’t care how noisy the image is when it does the focus routine. It goes quicker that way. Which is especially important with filter wheel set-ups.
Cuiv, I know you see comments on old vids sometimes and I hope you catch this one. Hehehe I just joked with you a night or two ago on a live stream about how I will need to join your patreon in order to get your help with getting my asi/auto guide set up as I’m just making the leap to auto guiding. Well…. You cut your own throat with these two videos brother. I’m shooting from the couch as I type this. Sincerely, thank you for all of the information and insight you share! You deserve the highest of fives my friend!
I've been using the AAPro. I enjoyed your presentation...I always learn from my own and others mistakes. The enjoyment is how we find the answer. You provided multiple answers in your vid. Thank you
"Yeah, lock me, man!" 😂 Great walkthrough! Your spontaneity is so honest and it is such a compelling thing to watch you just try stuff. Great as always 👍
Super !!! J'ai commandé cet ASIAIR + il y a une semaine !!! Ta vidéo me rassure sur mon choix. Moi aussi je suis bluffé par ta démonstration ! Bon ciel à toi et bonjour de France ; )
A fewl tips from an happy asiair pro and plus user (and a fellow frenchy !) : -You can do a custom framing from your image : while in preview mode, tape and hold on the screen, you'll have a "goto" button that appears, click it and asiair will move your mount to center on that point. if you run a shooting session with autorun mode after that, it will keep those coordinates. -Plan mode allow you to shoot multiple targets, but you can use autorun mode if you want to shoot only one target that night. (Plan basically runs autoruns in sequence) -For polar align, you don't need to see polaris, PA will work if you're pointing your scope in a 30° circle around celestial pole. (the closer the better, but it will work)
Thanks for your impressions. There are settings for dithering, too, in case you want to use that in the future, I was wondering why you use 0.9x guiding speed. Maybe you could explain in a future video what this does e.g. in comparison to 0.5x guiding speed and if it depends on the position of the target in the sky, ones mount etc. Enjoy your new toy!
Very good point - unless the mount driver restricts it, the guide pulse can be as short as necessary. The faster the guide speed, the shorter the pulses, but potentially the more approximate they become (but that would only be an issue with very long FL). At the same time, it can catch faster excursions from center, so less limited. I always set it to 0.9x or 1x because of that
It's a great solution for a very portable setup, the biggest disadvantage I have found is no framing assistance as found in nina, as well as no native mosaic built in abilities. Then again I got it for a highly portable solution and for that it's very well suited.
The most recent software update makes a lot (most? all?) of this available on the AApro too. There might be some features that are limited, but performance, power consumption, and wifi range seem to be the main plus points of the AAplus. You might be able to pickup the pro at a bargain price as they run down stocks and not miss out on much. Me... I bought a pro before I heard about the plus launch, so I'll stick with it for a wee while yet.
Buy the pro, unless you really need the WiFi. The Plus really doesn't offer anything extra of value other than the fact that that it has an antenna for WiFi. The pro version has an Ethernet port, so if you're leaving it in a permanent place just wire it up. You'll get better and quicker control and you can use it straight from a desktop if that's your thing. I can just set everything up from my desktop, see it out the window to make sure it's running and no issues, run it on my second monitor and play games with friends on the other monitor. Nice and warm while it's cold outside.
I think the one area besides the wifi that is better with the plus is the eMMC drive: the device OS resides there and besides imaging, all read write operations are there, which preserve the health of the microSD. There is also no need to backup the OS as I understand there is with the Pro. But yes, it seems to be more iterative than anything else!
The ‘wows’ say it all!!! I’m waiting for delivery on mine! Thank you so much for your true insight! Just found your channel and subscribed. I’m in Roanoke, Virginia USA
Thanks Mark! Welcome to the channel! Note that the ASIAIR is not perfect (I have another video where I list some features I wish it had), but overall it is quite impressive!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek yes, I watched it too. Everything is going to have limitations. And ZWO seems to be listening. I’ve seen numerous vids on this device and and the consensus is that overall it’s a great upgrade to the previous models. Thank you again. Your channel is awesome!!
Cuiv, You put the bug in me to get the ASIAir Plus get it working...I hope? Can you point me to any EAA books for beginners to get me started? And of course, I will support you and your fantastic RU-vid tutorials. Thanks!
Je suis bluffé aussi ! Justement j'attendais les retours sur ce nouveau modèle car je compte monter un deuxième setup et ça a l'air vraiment top. Merci pour ton analyse. Encore une super vidéo ;-)
Thanks Cuiv, good video. For a user who already has a functioning rig it doesn't seem to make sense to pay out another £300 to get reduced functionality (on a tiny screen). Not leaving laptop outside, yes a small benefit if security is an issue. So a travel rig is where you will see the benefit with no laptop (you still need the same power supply to run the show). If I was travelling by plane then yes its going to be slightly easier, £300 easier.... I don't know. For a newbie then yes it simplifies things a little having one program. Let's see how zwo support their product.
Completely understand! I like not having a laptop at all overall, and just being able to grab and go the kit. Up to now I had a computer mounted on top - and controlled from another computer inside.
Hi Cuiv, great video on the new AAPlus! As I mentioned before on another comment, I’m using the AAPro on all my setups (portable and fixed) and it has been a very good and easy experience! This together with a proper cable management it takes me about 5 minutes to complete a setup change. At a first glance I couldn’t see anything that the Pro doesn’t do when comparing to the Plus, with the exception of the Enhanced Wi-Fi, of course. Keep up the good work and many thanks for your passioned videos! Clear skies
I think the other big change is the eMMC storage - your system files are on there, which lowers strain on SD card, and removes the need to make backups!
I used the ASIAir Pro last year before N.I.N.A. and enjoyed it. Since then it's feature list has just grown. Agreed that it's merely the Advanced Sequencer that's keeping me with N.I.N.A. but if I didn't care about the Advanced Sequencer, the ASIAir works well with me. One other thing about PC-based vs ASIAir is that with PC, I find myself wanting to update more regularly - PHD2 dev, ASTAP, N.I.N.A. Nightly, Stellarium, etc. and overall feels more maintenance that with the ASIAir whose updates are more packaged and infrequent. Yes I know it's a self-discipline thing with PC that I don't have to, but the fact that each component is separate and independent with their own release cycles, I feel with PCs it's overall greater management.
Hey Cuiv, interesting review. You’re right about getting locked into the ZWO ecosystem. Just got the ASIAIR Plus & ASI120MM guider for my setup. If I consider your pre-release review of the device through the filter of a years worth of improvements, then I’m thinking this will be a paradigm shift for my little observatory. Looking to free up the laptop from the kitchen table and the idea of just grabbing a micro SD to transfer data works great. Cheers Sir!
A lot of WOW in this video. ;) Really the ASIAIR is awesome. I had the very first generation and it was truly impressive then to. The Pro model was not so much as the wifi limitations was about 5ft for me. That was extremely frustrating. But I am loving my Plus now. Can control it from bed like I could the Air Vr1.
I still can't believe ZWO would release such a flawed product with the Pro - like a Faradet cage around antennas... But I'm glad they're replacing it with the Plus.
For the Polar Alignment, select the fastest exposure that will successfully plate solve (.5 or 1 second) then check the box for "auto refresh" makes it a MUCH smoother experience.
So cool! I hope you stay current on NINA stuff too because I learn so much NINAing from you... As a QHY camera user despite how cool the ASIAIR is I can never use it. It really looks like a slick front end though! It's very cool how integrated it is
It was so fun watching you "geek" out on the AAP. Also, I watched your stream on TAIC. You just have such an amazing wealth of knowledge on Astrophotography. I guess watching so many of your videos is helping because for the first 15-20 seconds of your live stream tonight I actually knew what you were talking about. :)
Thank you so much Marvin, and thank you for being part of the Order! :D I hope the video was a bit more intelligible than that for you! I really wanted to make it accessible..
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Your video was very well done and clearly displays you depth of understanding of the technology. I am just glad I have begun to understand some of the basic terms, all of which I learned from you. The further you go into the hobby the more you being to understand that there is so much you have yet to learn. I guess that is why the hobby is so addictive. You will not run out of things to do or learn in a lifetime.
Great video! I remember that feeling when I saw my first target (Rosetta nebula in Ha) on the tablet's screen. Hopefully, they'll add more advanced features, like dither every N frames (per filter, not global), capture until set time or target altitude, etc.
Hey Cuiv, hope you reply to comments unlike so many you tubers after 11 months and another superb video, but I’d really love to see you do one on the whole EAF setup working out the backlash. Seen a few out there but for someone on Mac and no access to Nina, it’s a bit confusing. Unless you can recommend a video out there ??
I've been seriously thinking about getting one of these for sometime. I use a raspberry pi with ekos and kstars. But I'm constantly tweaking, updating. Mostly it works great but sometimes for no reason things will go astray. I think the asiair offends our astrophotography egos! We like to figure out and work through the complications of Nina, ekos, and the other acquisition softwares. But it looks to me like this is the future... Seems to just work! Judging on your "wow" count alone, I'm getting one! Great review,thanks.
So looks like its going to be a Ménage à trois with Nina and Asia eh? 😆 joking aside, omg that is powerful and indeed for the lazy and impatient! Need to get my grubby paws on those! (And an astro cam, and a focuser, and a guide cam) 🙂 great video (and intro) 🙌🔥
@@CuivTheLazyGeek hi Cuiv, so I am starting to step inside the "black hole" 😄 planning to start with a planetary camera (asi462mc) and an Asiair, using my current mirrorless camera as my main camera. My plan is to use the planetary cam in a guidescope connected to Asiair and the asiair connected to my AZ-GTI. Do you think I can I polar align with platesolving using that setup or by moving the guide cam to polar align then return the camera to the guidescope?
Love NINA which I use with my QHY 294 M pro and C8HD but this video convinced me to order the ASI AIR Plus for my smaller all ZWO setup refractor. Very exciting technology. Wish they would expand their camera and equipment choices. They would sell even more of them. Just a wish, kind of like for a bigger Cuiv coffee mug.
I love using ASIair Pro. But since my impending arrival of a 10 Micron mount I decided for my EdgeHD 11 / 10 Micron rig I would switch to NINA. Your wonderful tutorials revealed to me just how cool NINA is. And it can do dithering unguided, which ASIair doesn't. I dont mind that its PC based, because Model Creator 2 (for building models for the Microns unguided accuracy) is also PC based. I will continue using ASIair on my second rig which is a RASA 8 on an EQ6-R. So I will have the best of both worlds!
Hi Cuiv. I always enjoy your videos. I watched your unboxing video and knew when you tried it, you'd like it. I've used the ASIAir Pro for the last 6 months and the new firmware added a lot of features like multi star guiding. I recently added an external antenna to mine to give me the Plus advantage of wifi range. There's a how video on how to or send it off to a third party that will do it for $50. Like you said the biggest downside is you're locked into ZWO cameras or Canon or Nikon DSLRs. But I really like mine.
Glad you are enjoying the new toy. However there are a lot of us that can not use it. It only works with ZWO products. My camera is zwo buy my focuser's (all of them) are Moonlite. I had an EAF once and it was such a pain to even get going right and was way too much backlash and slop that I gave it away to a friend. Now if they start letting you use 3rd party equipment with it (ASCOM) I'll think about it. For now i'll stick with my Eagle 3 and 4
Yep. That's the main issue with this device. If only they opened it to other cameras, focusers, and filter wheels... They wouldn't ever be able to support ASCOM (you need Windows for that), but they would be able to support all of that via INDI...
Many thanks for this review. I watched it whilst outside shooting some frames of the Dragons of Ara. Who says guys can't multitask?! Lovely evening in Cape Town tonight - owls in the trees near me. I think they are enjoying the moon which is almost full, sparkling over False Bay. This looks like a great product.
Great video I just subscribed 😀 I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I read that once your target is centered, if you want to fine tune your framing, you can long press on a spot of the image you want centered and it will give you a new Goto to center/solve the spot you pressed on.
Thanks Brian, and welcome to the channel! Yes, others have pointed that feature out to me, and I tried it. It's really cool! I actually have an upcoming video about all the ways you can do framing with the ASIAir Plus :)
I want to point out something about the ASIAIR Pro and Plus that people know (and maybe Cuiv can play with). Once the ASIAR is up and running, you can connect it to you network. BUT once it’s on the network, it gives you the port number for the mount (and the camera), which then lets you use programs outside of the ZWO ecosystem to run the mount and camera. I have played around with this a bit, but at the moment the ZWO included features are all that I need.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek idk about the cameras but I have a feeling that they may work too but I haven’t tried it. I managed to control my mount (ioptron) this way using an app on my iPad. Unfortunately idk enough about Nina and the others to really play around with it. Generally when I set it all up I don’t want to mess with it too much. I think I got PH2D to recognize it on a networked computer. Essentially the ASIAIR is just a Linux computer on the network and they allow access to it by its port. Just make sure to permanently tie an IP to it (router or on the ASIAIR but one that one conflict with anything). I don’t really have time at the moment tho. I pointed my camera at the sun, so I’m waiting for the replacement. I’m also in med school and free time a precious commodity. :) Edit: this was a rabbit hole I tried to go down when I wanted something to track the ISS. I unfortunately never found a program that would track in real-time. Which is a shame since a lot of the mounts now are fast enough to track it fairly well.
Once you center your target with plate solving use the Annotate in Tools to confirm your targets location. If image composition isn't exactly what you want you can touch and hold the screen to generate a goto button and fine tune the center by using the goto button displayed on the screen.
tips: for pro not plus, you can burn a card for each mount you use. that way, I save having to faff about changing guiding, etc settings between mounts. use safari eqmod. and then use safari for framing, mosaic setups, etc. once goto on safari, you can save as favourite that location 'ic1396 panel1' etc. and use those in a plan. issues it has: if it gets cloudy, and it does an autofocus, it will screw it up, and all your subs after that will be crap. also as it loses guiding during clouds, when clouds go away it will be off target possibly, and it should really re-platesolve and centre after guiding lost, but it doesnt (also lost me a ton of images). all fed back to zwo and hopefully solveable (i.e if can't autofocus, at least go back to what you had before, etc).
@@CuivTheLazyGeek yeh it's not a biggy, but I don't think moving it to mmc did much tbh. I have 2 asiairs, and 4 mounts. I have a card for each, so I just pop it in. also mmc is slooow. getting a quick usb3 usb stick makes a decent difference in how quick stuff gets saved and loads up. the good thing is, zwo seem very approachable to updates (at least other than 'make it work for non zwo stuff!), so moan enough, and stuff gets updated. the cloud stuff IS sortable. As is your image till flip issue which I also wholeheartedly agree with. sure - it might screw something else up, but give us the choice and we'll take the resposibily if it doesn't work.Also, the video mode is pretty pants tbh.. I don't think I'd ever use that instead of firecapture for moon/planetary.
Yeah, I understand your excitement. I've used the ASIair from v1, and I currently have the Pro. It is absolutely great and they keep improving it even between new models. I ordered the Plus and looking forward to receiving it in November. On my system it directly took the position from my iPhone and iPad. No problem... For the meridian flip, just do it right at the meridian and it'll restart right away after it. No time lost. Great videos! Thanks.
I'm a bit worried on the flip, it really relies on the mount and ASIAir agreeing exactly on when the meridian happens - if the timing after meridian flip is short, there could be times when the mount thinks the Meridian hasn't been crossed yet, and thus wouldn't flip when asked to.
I think ASIAIR PLUS is a great device, but I am also disappointed that it only works with ZWO devices. ZWO loses a lot of potential customers, including me, even though I am a ZWO and Canon user. I still prefer a mini PC with NINA, which is more versatile. Great video
It looks seriously impressive. My only concern is battery power routing. I always image from a dark site and the thought of having everything running from just one battery doesn't sit too well with me. I guess the way around it is not to use it as a power distribution system? On the plus side, the thought of using a tablet from inside a tent during the winter is incredibly enticing!
Dear Cuiv, There was a setting showing stop tracking before the meridian, so I guess it stopped captures before the meridian and stopped tracking at the meridian. You may want to check this setting if you want to capture after the meridian (the setting was visible in the video at 13:45). Maybe negative values are possible.
Great! I subscibed, liked and now commenting......Just ordered a ZWO 183 camera for my Celestron Evolution 6, and I'm curious about the Asiair unit. I won't have a guide scope or electronic focuser, and I'm not sure about mount control or power management (the mount has a built-in LIFE battery). Maybe tap into the mount's battery output and not use the scope hand control unit? Thoughts, Thanks, Michael 🪐
I think he has the dark L-extreme filter in and the one second doesn't work. I have this problem and I will put in a clear filter to do my polar alignment and even my plate solve and then throw my different filters in once completed.
Love the reaction. I was totally impressed when I first used ASI Air Pro as well. I do have a few things on a wish list about the software. And if you agree with me, I hope you could make these suggestions to ZWO to improve the software in a future update--I am sure it would be more effective coming from an influencer. 1. I wish the software provides better planning options: the current object list is limited and does not recognize many popular names of DSOs. And it is not consistent, either. For example, it recognizes some NGC numbers but not others. And you have to type very specific ways to search for an object. For example, if you type M 33, it would fail to find the Triangulum galaxy, you have to type M33. 2. The object list only has fixed pictures of the object and cannot scale according to your telescope/sensor size (unlike NINA). Some of the pictures are quite obscure, for example, the image of the soul nebula is the image shot by the Spitzer telescope in infrared, which is nothing like what we could see in our telescopes. Unless you have seen the picture before you wouldn't recognize it from that image (and it doesn't show its popular name either). 3. Framing can be difficult if you are shooting faint objects or with low SNR. I wish it could provide the frame/FOV in a larger image so we can frame it properly once it was platesolved. (like NINA). 4. I really wish we are given the liberty to change the file names. For example, I use the keyword "session-dateminus12" to name my files in NINA so that when stacking images from multiple nights in PixInsight, WBPP would recognize which flats and flat darks go with which light frames so I can calibrate them in one go. In AAP I cannot do that. 5. I wish it has the feature to shoot flat darks, or dark flats (like NINA). Now you will have to count the exposure time of flats and set the time manually for darks to do that. Sorry for the long rant. But I do think if AAP can add those features it would be near perfection.
Thanks so much for all of this! I completely agree - I have my own laundry list of little enhancements I'd like to see, and I'm adding yours In the end, I use Telescopius for planning and framing, ahead of time (video upcoming). Having wider FOV pictures would likely require network connection (can't store everything), but if you're on a phone it would be really, really convenient. For the flat darks, I ended up using Bias as a substitute - and I didn't even match the exposure lengths of flats and flat darks, because at such low exposure times on a modern cooled camera, a 0.1s, 1s, and 2s darks are essentially the same thing... On WBPP how do you make it work across multiple nights? I'm not familiar with how this works (as I simply use the same flats across multiple nights for instance). Thanks for this!!
@@CuivTheLazyGeekThanks for the reply. I tried to use long exposures for flats, such as 5-10 seconds, so I can count the flat exposure time to set up the darks. As for the WBPP setup, I learned this trick from Adam Block. In his WBPP 2.0 tutorial he mentioned he uses the keyword "session" to distinguish different batches of images in different nights but diddn't go into details. I played with it and this is what works for me. My NINA image file pattern is set as: $$CAMERA$$\$$TELESCOPE$$\$$IMAGETYPE$$\SESSION-$$DATEMINUS12$$_$$DATETIME$$_$$FILTER$$_$$SENSORTEMP$$_$$BINNING$$_$$GAIN$$_$$EXPOSURETIME$$s_$$FRAMENR$$_$$HFR$$. And actual example is: SESSION-2021-09-09_2021-09-10_00-57-37_C8_S II_9.80_180.00s_0008_bubble nebula_121__763_3.54.fits. Now in WBPP add the keyword "SESSION“ to the Grouping Keywords window. If all the lights, flats, and darks are named the same way, WBPP will group the images of the same session together so when calibrates them it will assign the right flats and darks. Works like a charm!
@@ysl109812 WOW that is so cool! I had never heard of that! And you use minus 12 to make sure that even after midnight it's part of the same session. That is really cool! Thanks for letting me know!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Hey, after learning so much from you I am thrilled to be able to contribute a little as well. Feel free to share it with anyone interested.
You used up your quota of "wows" for the night. Thanks for going through this quickly, in other words, I got lost trying to follow your instructions. I'll check out your setup video and go from there. I ordered the previous ASIAIR, received it then found out the PRO PLUS was being released. High Point accepted my request to send it back and gave me the option of a refund or credit towards something else. I chose to order the PRO PLUS.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek No problem bro, I understand your enthusiasm when in my case more things go wrong than right. If it goes right then multiple "wows" are justified! Thanks for the great review otherwise.
Je suis bluffé -> I’m absolutely gobsmacked 😶 😉 Great video, I’ve been watching a few now, as I was looking into a budget way to set up a star tracker. But I’ve been really getting into your video. Question, what budget setup would you advice for someone just starting out? I have an old DSLR with a few lenses, I can use. More like a barndoor tracker, the rasberry pi route, or this route (eventhough the €€€ is soooo different?)
If you are into serious astrophotography, then maybe a SkyWatcher EQM35 would be a good starting mount. Or the AZ-GTi in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RnaxryPSfzc.html
Thanks for your reply, honored you took the time for me (you’re kinda like a guru in the astro photography world). I saw that video, & I’m inclined to go that route. Or perhaps even the other route & get a small telescope, cooled camera & with guide scope & camera (your other video with that mount). But I like the Raspberry Pi & SkyView mount. Does the Raspberry Pi also work with other mounts (should I run into a 2nd hand mount somewhere)?
Thanks for the video Cuiv. Any chance you could create a video for auto-guiding a Star Adventurer with a DSLR/ lens combo? Would be a huge help to see how you set it up for auto-guiding that mount. I just placed an order for the ASI Air Plus for auto-guiding that mount (intention is to buy a go-to mount next year). Thanks.
Unfortunately I don't have a Star Adventurer, and have no plans on buying one... So I can't make such a video at this stage... Maybe when I'm bigger as a channel, SW will be sending me stuff to test :p
Love this video...watched it 5 times ( so far ). Why did you set the Guiding Rate in Telescope Settings to : 0.9x ?? I will close with this question as well - how do you determine the best Guiding Rate setting for one's own setup ? thank you in advance....
Thanks Mike! There's no rule... The guiding rate says how quickly you can react to changes in what you measure. So to correct the same measured error, a guide pulse on a guiding rate of 0.5x will have to be twice as long as a guide pulse on a guiding rate of 1.0x. Assuming you can get your guide pulse down to as low as you like (1ms), then there shouldn't be a difference, besides reacting more quickly. I guess that for some mounts reacting more quickly can be an issue - and I know EQMOD actually has a minimum guide pulse length (unlike GSS, which I prefer). In the end it's all about testing what works best in terms of guiding...
I love your enthusiasm. It's too bad that one must be tied to a total ZWO hardware setup, but it does look really impressive. Oh well, I quite like my PrimaLuceLab Eagle Pro so I can use NINA, and TheSkyX, and everything else that I can run on Windows, along with different hardware setups.
I was very tempted by the Eagle Pro for a long while, but the proprietary power connecters really annoyed me just thinking about them... But I'm looking forward to a solution like Stellar mate with power delivery!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek The connectors aren’t proprietary and can be purchased from different vendors. It does mean that you need to make your own cables, but that’s not difficult.
Couldn't help but hear owen wilson in this video 😂 Regarding the meridian flip, i'm pretty sure nina does this as well. They are actually stopping the mount from tracking at all, then wait to re-sloew to the target. This is to avoid the mount thinking it hasn't passed the meridian yet (ie the software and mount not actually synced regarding when the mount will flip itself (or stop tracking)) In this situation if the mount still doesn't think it's maridian time but the software does, the reslew won't flip the mount, and it'll try the continue shooting before the meridian, then when the mount auto maridian flips the imaging software has no idea, then shit goes to the fan. Same goes for if the imaging continues past the maridian, the mount might auto maridian flip or even stop, and images will be ruined. Can this be solved? probably yes... Will ZWO do it? Maybe after this video 😁
Hahaha many have seen the similarity with Owen Wilson :D NINA has an option to pause at Meridian - but you don't have to! I actually spent time coding and testing on that (Side of Pier for instance - that's me). It's basically as you say, we need to wait past Meridian to make sure the mount knows Meridian is passed, and actually flips when ordered to do so. But it can still keep tracking and imaging past the meridian (as long as mount limits are properly set), and I have it configured to do so (track and image until 10 minutes past, then flip)! I hope ZWO does something like that!
Question: Will ASIair do Live Stacking while Tracking (without guiding)? Note: I have the latest version of ASIair installed on my ASIair Pro. Thank you.
