Anybody use APT - Astro Photography Tool?

[The Thing]

Has anybody used this software? http://www.ideiki.com/astro

I came across it the other day. APT just captures images, no processing. It's got some nice features such as being able to save exposure plans, support Live View if you have it, saves native DSLR images unlike Nebulsosity also preview is faster as it's not doing weird RAW stuff to display the image. If you get the recommended USB temperature and humidity sensor it will even tell you if you need to refocus due to the amount of temperature change. And it only works in a red screen mode so it's good for preserving dark adaptation!

Seems to have a more stable connection to the camera when I tried it out. It's very cheap so I'm going to get a full copy.

[RobertM]

Not tried that Duncan but I am trialing out a very similar product called Backyard EOS.  It's been very stable on the nights I've been able to use it.

I certainly recommend you give that a try to.

Robert

[Rocket Pooch]

Rob,

Why are you using a DSLR?  You have a finger lakes thingy.

Chris

[The Thing]

Backyard EOS looks good. I'll give it a go.

[The Thing]

Hi Robert, Backyard EOS doesn't support the 350D yet. No good to me.

[MarkS]

It doesn't appear to do dithering.  That rules it out for me.  Although Nebulosity is very slow downloading RAW frames, at least it dithers.

[RobertM]

Mark, the latest version is supposed to support dithering via PHD.

Chris, the FLI isn't exactly a good match for the Hyperstar.  Also I'm about to send it back, especially after talking to Greg Terrance at Astrofest.

[MarkS]

Aha, you mean BackyardEOS supports dithering.  I don't think APT does.  Trouble is, BackyardEOS supports neither the 350D nor 400D.

I already noticed some time ago that PHD has a dithering interface that can be hooked into relatively easily by other software.  So I thought I'd get hold of the Canon SDK (Software Development Kit) and write some code to interface to the Canon and to PHD.  I can then get both dithering, fast download and colour previews.  I noticed that there is a definite break after the 400D which makes it very difficult to support the 450D onwards at the same time as the 400D and earlier - different SDKs are required.  This probably explains the lack of support in BackyardEOS.

Another feature I want is to simultaneously view the centre and the 4 corners of the frame in close-up during focusing with the the Bahtinov mask.

Unfortunately, there's no way I'll have time to write any software in the near future, I'm far too busy getting ready for the move.

Mark

[RobertM]

Another feature I want is to simultaneously view the centre and the 4 corners of the frame in close-up during focusing with the the Bahtinov mask.

I've been thinking about that myself as it would ease the final critical Hyperstar collimation, I'll suggest it to the developer and see what he says.

Robert

[The Thing]

The next version of APT will support dithering with PHD according to the website. The button is there but greyed out.

The corner view feature would be good as I have noticed coma gets exponentially worse as collimation goes off with my scope flattener combination. I can get it to almost nothing if collimation is spot on. Being able to see it easily would help.

[The Thing]

Just downloaded the latest version (1.4) of APT. It now supports dithering with PHD and has a lot of options Nebulosity doesn't have. They are described in the user guide APT User Guide. Looks good, just need an opportunity to try this new feature out. 

The next version looks like it will support autofocusing with an ASCOM focuser...  And I have a TemperHum TemperHum on order as well so my EXIF info will have temperatures I can match to library darks.

[MarkS]

Dithering!  Definitely looks worth trying out now 

Can the amount of dither be controlled like in Nebulosity i.e. settings from low to extreme?

Mark

[mickw]

Hmmm now this is an enigma................................

Is the crap weather causing the increased buying/obtaining astronomy stuff ?
Or is the increased buying/obtaining astronomy stuff causing the crap weather ?


And yes, I'm bored 

[The Thing]

Low to extreme, settle time, timeout to continue, abandon exposure if guide start ends up being a pixel distance out of place...

And yes mick, we've nothing better to do!

[MarkS]

Oh yes, I can see it in the user-guide now:
"Auto-Dithering Command – defines what to be the dithering distance (implemented for PHD only)."

I'm dying for a cloudy night or two, to experiment with the software (Subtext: If the weather thinks I really want some cloudy nights, it's bound to be clear  )

I also want to try out DitherMaster (http://www.skymonsters.net/software.php) which just interfaces to PHD and drives DSLRShutter - this looks almost exactly to be the program I would have written myself.  I'll try this one out on another cloudy night (Weather - are you listening?  )  There's a different version which interfaces via Canon Utilities - for the more up to date Canons, I guess.  The 350D and 400D cannot give more than 30sec exposures via Canon Utilities - hence I need DSLRShutter.

We really need lots of threads about spending cloudy nights trying out new software (you know what I mean )

Mark