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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 17:39:07 GMT
I am trying to get my Samsung scb 4000 up and running, but so far have had little success: when pointed skyward, my pc shows a white display. I have tried to follow settings recommended by Ken James on his excellent online video. Last night I was able to image the moon, although it was quite washed out, so I am achieving focus, even if somewhat rough. I am using ez grabber as a frame grabber, but have as yet not employed any other camera control software. Any help will be greatly appreciated, as I am a total neophyte in this realm. My camera is the PAL version. Is there a tutorial available detailing this camera's operation? The manual supplied with the camera is very brief, and an exhaustive (but hopefully not exhausting), elucidation of the relevant terms and how they apply to the camera's operation, especially as they relate to astrovideo would be most helpful, if not indispensable. I'd much rather apply knowledge than proceed empirically, being (quite literally) in the dark.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 19:17:19 GMT
Sounds like 1 or 2 possible issues:
1: Exposure set to high. Turn shutter to manual 1/100-1/1000 fixed or auto for moon. 2: Out of focus
I think Ken's video is for deep sky not moon. Please share what scope you are using and any additional equipment such as reducer or barlow you are using.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 22:28:44 GMT
I am using f/4 10 inch no barlow. I used moon to simply approximate focus. My main concern was absence of stars on monitor. I am also trying to use g star for capture- does anyone know settings for scb 4000?
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Post by johnno on May 8, 2014 10:40:52 GMT
Like hemmi said it sounds most likely that its over exposure for the moon. these camera's are a lot more sensitive than a dslr camera so each different object to go to you will have to re-adjust the settings. when you were trying it on the moon you need a faster shutter speed and also make sure that sens-up is OFF agc off, you enable these for fainter objects. Your using a F4 and 10 inch scope so my settings on my setup would be different to what you would use. Here is a couple of examples, of the moon and Jupiter, both have different settings so you just have to play around with the settings till you get it right, also note that there is no stars in the images, if I wanted to have stars in the image I would most likely wash out the planets. The two Jupiter photo's you will notice one will just have the image of Jupiter and nothing else and that is at 1/50 shutter speed, but on the other one I've included Jupiter moons but you will notice that Jupiter is now washed out as I've had to use sens-up to show the moons. Don't be disheartened, you will have to practise and play around a lot with the settings and familiar yourself with the camera as there is quite a few settings to play with Another thing you can do to get use to the camera on a cloudy night is get a lens 8mm to 12mm for your camera stick it on a tri pod and just point it out of your window at night down the street on anything, car, house or whatever in the distance and try the different settings so that you can get some idea what the different settings are having a effect on your image. It is a learning curve not like a webcam or dslr but you will get there, just post any question your not sure about and even post your image good or bad and maybe we can point you in the right direction. John
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Post by Dragon Man on May 8, 2014 14:01:57 GMT
Ahhhh, Hello Striver. I just answered this question from you in Cloudy Nights but you are Runner in there Yep, as mentioned above, and as I have explained in the PM to you in Cloudy Nights, you have your settings way to high. If you have it set at 2x Sens-up, that is way too long an exposure. 2x is only about 1/20th of a second. Too long for the Moon. Turn off Sens-up, go to 'Shutter' and start at the maximum 1/10,000th of a second. If you don't see anything dial it up to 1/8000th and try. If still nothing go to 1/4000th etc. Sens-up is for DSO's. But the Moon and Planets only need hundreds or thousands of a second Shutter Speed. I hope this helps
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2014 19:21:24 GMT
Thank you for the advice- this is a very user-friendly forum. I am implementing your suggestions with a stepwise approach: since it was cloudy last night, I have a door lens attached and am experimenting with various sensitivity and shutter speeds. A few more questions- if shutter speed is set to off, does this produce a "bulb" effect? What are the effects of age, and night/day settings, and what is relationship between sens up settings, frame rates, and shutter? Finally, I would like to try SharpCap; is it a good choice, is it scb 4000 friendly, does it function as a frame grabber. Yesterday I tried to use, I believe, g star, but stumbled on the installation of the camera to the software.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2014 19:25:39 GMT
Correction- dslr lens.
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Post by johnno on May 8, 2014 21:55:37 GMT
I think Ken his your best bet to answer your questions because I have the 2000p and I think the menu's might be slightly different. One thing that has come to mind, day/night settings. Have you modified the camera? ie. removed the inbuilt infrared filter as this is not much good for video astronomy has its the wrong type of infrared filter to what we use. If the filter is removed the day/night menu is now redundant. I'll try to explain as easy as possible. What happens when the filter is installed is that on the 4000 the filter is on a slide rail in front of the CCD sensor and when DAY is selected the filter will slide to the side of the sensor, when you switch over to night the filter now slides in front of the sensor which makes it a bit more sensitive for night use just like a TV infrared broadcast camera. Not sure about the shutter to off position as I don't have that on my 2000. If you are states side you will be using NTSC and the sens up is the exposure time. X2 = 0.03 sec.. X4 = 0.06.. X6 = 0.1.. X8 = 0.13.. X10 = 0.17.. X12 = 0.2.. X14 = 0.23.. X16 = 0.27.. X24 = 0.4.. X32 = 0.5.. x64 = 1.1.. X128 = 2.1.. X256 = 4.2.. X512 = 8.5 secs. G Star software should work with your camera so will sharpcap and both will capture. here's what the Gstar setup should look like you just need to change where it says 'video device' and set it to yours and set all the others to the same has whats on the screen
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2014 13:43:38 GMT
Hi Striver, I have not had enough practice with my cam to be able to give any useful advice yet, but keep trying what has been suggested and things will fall into place.
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