11 replies to this topic

[Francois314]

Need help from a ZWO ASI AIR user:

 

I am considering to buy the ZWO AM3 and pair it with a 600-700mm refractor for the upcoming solar eclipse. I want to use my canon r5 (i am a wildlife photographer, i don't plan to buy a ZWO camera) and it would be great if i could control my mirror less camera using the ZWO ASI air. the picture below shows my plan bracketing exposures from 1/8000 to 1/2sec a third of a stop a a time.

 

Do you know if it is possible ? I know we can control a dslr with a the ASI air or the ASI air plus, but i have no experience with the hardware. ALso it's means for deep sky photography when we have plenty of time to take pictures, while during the eclipse it's the opposite, we have 3min and it's over.

 

Thank you so much for your help !

 

Francois

 

---------------

 

Here is my plan  200 pictures from 1/8000 to 0.5 seconds (plan is not flexible, it's linked to a peace of code we are writing to align solar eclipse images at different exposures)

 

 

 

[andysea]

I would use solar eclipse maestro instead.

[johnpd]

Solar Eclipse Maestro only works on Macs and older ones at that. The Windows product which does camera control for eclipses is Eclipse Orchestrator.

 

JohnD

[Francois314]

thank you guys, but my plan is to take 2 sets of pictures, one set at 400mm and another at 700mm, and add all of it in post, i was hoping I would not need 2 laptops !

 

any info from ZWO ASI AIR user ?

[unimatrix0]

ZWO lists what cameras are compatible: 

https://bbs.astronom...n-zfc-supported

Edited by unimatrix0, 29 August 2023 - 12:27 AM.

[johnpd]

I don't think that the ASIAIR can do what you are proposing.The ASIAIR is assuming that you use a fixed focal length, aperture, and ISO. Here is a piece of the script I used for the 2017 Solar Eclipse with Eclipse Orchestrator.

 

Time Adj     Exp
--------    -----
01:00.5     1/800
00:03.0     1/400
00:03.0     1/200
00:03.0     1/100
00:03.0     1/50
00:03.0     1/25
00:03.0     1/10
00:03.1     1/6 
00:03.2     1/3 
00:03.3     1/1.3
00:03.8     1.3 
00:04.3     1.6

 

It was set to start at a fixed time and time adjustments from that point would be set up for changing exposures. I had a series of three of these which would bracket the exposures over about a two minute period which was about the length of totality. There also were settings to image Prominences, Bailey's Beads, and the Diamond Ring.

 

JohnD

[Francois314]

lets try this again, i am trying to follow a pre bracketed plan, as explained in the first post on the top of this page. I will follow the same plan with two canon r5 connected to two lenses: my canon 100-400L lens and a refractor in 700-800mm range (i still have not decided witch one). all pictures at different focal length and different exposures will be aligned using a code I am writing (I am using sub pixel phase correlation).

 

I would like to know if I can use the ZWO ASI AIR  or ASI Air + to follow the plan mentioned above.

 

The reason I am asking is because I can not test the iphone APP that controls the ASI AIR without buying an AIR AIR first. Also I am worried that the ASI air is set up for astrophotography when we have plenty of time to take pictures, while during the eclipse I need to take over 200 pictures per camera, in less than 3 min. I do realize i would need two ASI air, one connected to each camera.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Francois

 

PS: don't mention again Eclipse Orchestrator it does not work with the R5 (i really want to use a mirrorless camera because i can take a lot more frame without having to wait 2-3 seconds for the mirror vibrations to stop)

[johnpd]

Yes your camera is not on EO's list. Unfortunate. I was able to get EO to run an old Nikon D90 very nicely. The only problem I had was I did not do a proper focusing job before I started.

 

I do not believe that the ASIAIR is capable of doing what you want to do with the precision you are asking. The problem with the ZWO ASIAIR is that there is basically no good documentation for it. There are two types of imaging "modes": Autorun or Plan. In each case you need to specify the target, the exposure length, the number of exposures, filter, and I believe they have added "gain" (which in the case of a DSLR I believe equates to ISO) that you want to use for your images. You can string together multiple "sequences" of these with different settings. I don't know if there is a limit as to how many sequences you can enter.

"Plan" mode has the additional capability of setting up more than one object to image in a session or set up a mosaic for a large object. You can create a CSV file for this and load it into the ASIAIR to tell it what to do. I don't know the format of the .CSV file.

 

Your best bet is to go to the ZWO User Forum:

(https://bbs.astronom...ing-camera.com/)

and post your question there. ZWO support people or some knowledgeable users might be able to give you an answer.

 

JohnD

Edited by johnpd, 01 September 2023 - 06:44 AM.

[Francois314]

Thank you John, this was very helpful !

[Brian K.]

lets try this again, i am trying to follow a pre bracketed plan, as explained in the first post on the top of this page. I will follow the same plan with two canon r5 connected to two lenses: my canon 100-400L lens and a refractor in 700-800mm range (i still have not decided witch one). all pictures at different focal length and different exposures will be aligned using a code I am writing (I am using sub pixel phase correlation).

 

I would like to know if I can use the ZWO ASI AIR  or ASI Air + to follow the plan mentioned above.

 

The reason I am asking is because I can not test the iphone APP that controls the ASI AIR without buying an AIR AIR first. Also I am worried that the ASI air is set up for astrophotography when we have plenty of time to take pictures, while during the eclipse I need to take over 200 pictures per camera, in less than 3 min. I do realize i would need two ASI air, one connected to each camera.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Francois

 

PS: don't mention again Eclipse Orchestrator it does not work with the R5 (i really want to use a mirrorless camera because i can take a lot more frame without having to wait 2-3 seconds for the mirror vibrations to stop)

I can confirm the free EO Beta version works with the Canon R5. I tried it yesterday. Unfortunately, all the "Pro" version features are grayed out. Not sure if we can get a "Pro Beta" version to try. 

 

Brian

[Francois314]

yes, it's too bad they are not planning on a new release, it would have been so useful.

 

I was able to get the Canon SDK so maybe we can write a program to replace EO. my ideal solution would be to upload a small code to an arduino so i do not have to bring laptops in the field.

[johnpd]

As I recall you need to purchase the license to turn the free version into the pro version. There is not a separate executable.

 

JohnD