Setting up my focuser in N.I.N.A... From scratch!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 เม.ย. 2020
- A little guide about how I approach setting up a new focuser in NINA: estimating backlash, ideal step size, and exposure time. I also go through the various options that are available in NINA.
#astrophotography - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
THANK YOU for explaining everything so nicely on this! I’m having so much trouble with my autofocus settings (because I didn’t understand the whole backlash thing!), but now I’ve gotten some confidence that I’ll figure it out!
I'm so glad this helps! This is an old video though, so I recommend looking at Patriot Astro's autofocus video as well!
Thank you Cuiv, this is possibly the most useful AP video I've seen in a very long time. Keep up the excellent work!
Wow, thank you! I wasn't expecting my low production quality to resonate so much, but it is amazing to see such feedback. I will keep doing this!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek please do. The more I learn about NINA the more I love it. It's powerful yet easy to use and navigate, and improving almost on a daily basis. Fantastic!
Great video tutorial, I finally understand the process of measuring backlash thank you!
Late to the party but here's a big thank you from me! I've just got my first focuser and thanks to your videos, setting it up was extremely easy and it worked on the first try.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.... mate, I know it would have been a tuff learning curve, but you have saved me so much headache for my first night with the ASI EAF..... scored a 1.0!!! very little backlash too thanks to hindsight from folks like yourself! Keep up the great work!
Great video Cuiv. Super helpful!
Thanks Cuiv. Now I have watched your other videos, this makes much more sense!
Hi Cuiv, thanks so much for your tutorial on nina vs autofocus features, great video!!!, as I am a beginner I have found all your process very useful and instructive! I will try with my new RC8 and eaf in just three weeks when I will be back to home in Italy (austral Africa for work at time I am writing). please keep update with other videos!!! as this one has two years now, I guess however that with the new 2.0 nina release it will be not highlighted relevant changes … keep going!!!! … and thanks a lot for your time!
After a year of using EAF through NINA, it is still touch and go. Sometimes it works very smoothly; sometimes I have to fiddle with it quite a bit. It is an area that still needs a great deal of improvement. If compared to regular photography with an AF capable camera, it is like telling the photographer: First get your camera in focus as best you can, then offset the focus a little and then run autofocus. Only us astrophotographers would put up with this as long as we have.
Wow Cuiv, this is your best video yet! I got my focusing squared away a while ago, but still learned a ton from this. Not enough people are watching your videos...considering the number of people using NINA now. They should be! Maybe make a quick post on the Computers & Software area of CN to let folks know. If you don't, I will! LOL
Thank you Steve! I'm not big on self-promotion, but yes I do think it could help a lot of people. Should it be on Computers & Software (which I didn't know was a separate board until your comment!), or in Beginning and Intermediate Imaging (which is where I usually prowl)?
I think either one would work. That super long NINA thread is in B&II, but I always wondered why the mods didn't move it over to the Software forum. I don't think it matters which one you post it in, as long as it's somewhere on CN for a lot of folks to find!@@CuivTheLazyGeek
@@sbradley7007 Makes sense, thanks! I want to cover a couple more topics on AF first, so I can create a playlist, and then I will share that on CN :)
Hi Cuiv, thanks for making this overview video. I have my EAF from ZWO coming and this helps me understand the NINA settings. However, a second and third viewing is needed to ensure i fully understood all your setup and how everything links together....
- What does the "measure focuser backlash" button do? Is it not a useful tool?
- As someone with some engineering experience, I would suggest you can really dial out backlash by using a "dial micrometer" positioned on the back of the focuser barrel. Setting the adjustment increment to be 1 step per increment and looking for a needle deflection change would confirm the steps of backlash for a specific direction of the screw. As you stated, it is likely going to be symmetrical but thats depends on wear and how well the screw was machined.
Another great video, Cuiv. Keep them coming.
Will do! Thanks!
Thanks Cuiv. I don’t use NINA yet, but I’m thinking about it. Your videos are steadily pushing me towards it. Very interesting and informative. It’s the autofocus part that attracts me as APT is a bit basic in its setup and the info it gives although I love APT’s other features and I’m not sold on the NINA interface. Probably just a familiarity thing. Keep up the good work. Clear skies.
Thank you! Well, it really depends on whether APT gives you unsatisfactory focus. If it does, it may indeed pay to take the time to switch to NINA. Otherwise, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! I had the exact same feeling at first about the NINA interface... Clear skies to you too.
Hi Cuiv, Thanks for all the great content! I was wondering if you can you get repeatability with the EAF? I just bought one but did not get it outside yet for a real world test. I did ZWO's backlash compensation method and it seems the focuser knob is not ending up in the same place if I move it out 50 steps a few times and then move it back the same amount of times. I have a robofocus on my other scope and there is no backlash. I can go outside type in the steps where it is in focus and it is always right even when I double check with autofocus. I like to take my flats inside and I am now worried I wont be able to find the right position for multiple filters, any advice is appreciated.
Great video Cuiv. I am brand new to all of this and I have a question. The temperatures outside have been extremely cold lately and have not been able to set up my telescope, but I wanted to ask you, would I be able to use an artificial star (square plate with a pinhole shining a light behind it to simulate a star) to figure out the backlash and prime focus for each one of my filters or do I need to do it outside pointing at the sky and plate solve the image?... I just bought the Primalucelab SESTO SENSO 2 Autofocuser and received earlier this week. Also, I have the ZWO 2-inch 7 position filter wheel, the ZWO ASI1600mm Pro and using a .7x focal reducer. The scope is a 140mm aperture, f/6.5 focal ratio and focal length of 910 refractor. The back focus is perfect so that's taken care of.
How many minutes did it take for a focus run once you had the backlash set? It seem like turning on the star annotation for checking backlash would work good. Thank you
Brilliant video Cuiv, I agree with Steve, your best video yet. I actually did many of the things you recommended last night. I pick up several new tips from this video in particular. I was wondering NINA got the manual step size movement value from - thanks for clearing that up and many other things. I am still using APT for most things which I love as well but the focusing and autofocus in NINA is much better. I turn off the camera in APT and turn it on on NINA and do all of the focusing or checking it periodically then go back to APY to finish. The beauty of NINA is I can do the focusing while on the target image rather than going to a bright star. - Cheers Kurt
I have never used APT - only SGP before switching to NINA, but since I worked so hard on enhancing the focusing in NINA (weighed curve-fitting, HFR, Unlinked Stretch, star detection, etc.), it means a lot to see someone using NINA just for focusing.
Hi Cuiv. I just wanted to let you know that I think your videos are awesome! YOU are awesome! Thank you so much for everything you have done. You have helped me so much. Thank you, mate. If I am ever in Hong Kong I would like to buy you a drink. All the best, John.
Thanks so much John! I'm so glad it's being helpful :) Hong Kong is a bit far from Tokyo (but then it's a blast to visit - I lived there for one year as an exchange student), but if you're ever in Tokyo, let me know!
great tutorial. I'm doing my first attemps with NINA and EAF and I really appreaciate your effort to guide us in this path. Honestly, EAF is my first focuser, so I really don't know if it's ALWAYS so "garbage" as you told us. For me, currently it works quite fine with a draft backlash estimation around 50
To be fair, there is indeed quite a variability between the EAF units - the minimum backlash I have heard of up to now with the EAF was 60, so thanks to you I am updating that figure to 50 :) I've just been spoiled by a Moonlite focuser in the past, and those have like 2 steps of backlash... I should never have sold it! Glad that it's working for you!
Awesome just what I needed!
Excellent! Glad this is helpful!
Another great NINA setup video. I'm sure this will help a lot of people setup auto focusing. I struggled a lot in the beginning with this part of NINA. But with your help and others on CN i got it worked out. It just works amazingly well with my DIY auto focuser. One question Hyperbolic or Parabolic fittings how do i determine the best to use. Is it based on the shape of my curve or something else. Currently i use trends and hyperbolic fittings.
In most cases hyperbolic vs parabolic doesn't make a huge difference - I touched upon this a bit in my previous focus video. Hyperbolic will tend to work better than parabolic if your curve goes further from the point of best focus (e.g. takes a hyperbolic shape), while parabolic is great if you stay close to best focus. My own curves are kind of in between the two, and I then prefer to use parabolic fitting, for an under the hood reason (parabolic fitting is less computationally intensive - the parabola can be found via direct calculation based on input vectors, while the hyperbolic fitting is recursive guesswork)
Thanks a lot! Really help with my belt focuser!
Excellent! Make sure to use Overshoot Backlash compensation in NINA as well, since we can be approximate then!
Hey, Cuiv. I watched this video a few times while waiting for my own ZWO EAF. I received the new 5v version (does not require a separate power supply.) I was prepared to calculate the backlash based on what I heard from you and others regarding this focuser. It seems, at least on my model and my tests, that they have worked to correct the bad backlash of this focuser. Once more people get the new one installed we'll see if this holds true. Thanks for the great videos!
That is really good news! Also, since this video, override backlash feature was implemented, where you need to just set a value in OUT backlash that is superior to the actual backlash (and set zero in IN)
Great video Cuiv, as usual! One quick remark : before you started your autofocus routine, you changed the step size form 10 to 20. So when you clicked twice on the double arrow button, you actually moved by 200 steps and not 100. This is why the stars were so out of focus, because the backlash was over compensated. Thanks again for all your videos, I learned so much about this great piece of software thanks to you.
Thank you so much! Also, good catch Samir - that was indeed the issue!! I'm impressed stars were still detected so far out of focus then :D
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Is there a reason you never hit that big button that says "Measure Focuser Backlash"?? 🤔
Very helpful thank you Cuiv!
Thank you Riaan!
Hi Cuiv, thanks for this video. I am currently going through quite a few of them, as I am contemplating on switching over from SGP. I've already downloaded NINA and set up my profiles for two of my cameras (QSI and Atik), but of course there's bad weather now, so I can't really test it yet.
In regards to the "donut" and why it's recommended to focus off-center on i.e some Takahashi refractors, the reason for this is that with many fast scopes, while the imaging plane (CCD or CMOS sensor) is fully flat, the incoming light is actually not, but lightly curved from the center to the edges. This can get especially tricky when the focal ratio is very fast (like f/3.x on the reduced FSQ's for instance). This could mean that the area of critical focus is very tight (a few microns), and you could have in-focus stars in the very center, but the ones on the outer edge may then be a little bit out of focus. To avoid this one can set the point of attention for focusing a bit off-center of the image, so that the area to both, the edges as well as the very center, will fall within the focus-range sufficiently to have the stars over the full frame in focus. (or one direction may be slightly out of focus in one direction, while the other may be slightly out of focus in the other direction, but to such a small extent that it should not be noticeable).
Owning an FSQ myself this is actually a really neat feature in NINA, that I will definitely test out.
Thanks cdh! Yes, it was explained to me later why exactly those doughnuts were useful:)
The jump to NINA will be a big one, but you won't regret it! I come from an SGP world originally as well. And well, NINA lacked features I needed at the time (better support for OSC, better AF, direct guider, etc.) but I liked it enough to code those features myself :D
Hi Cuiv,
A quick question. I just got a ZWO EAF focuser. I am putting it on a Explore Scientific 8" reflector. Which works best, installing it on the 'fast' focus knob side or the gear reduction knob on the other side of the focus control?
Thanks,
Dan
Cuiv, this so helpful. Thank you for your energy and patience in coding this - then explaining it to us!
Maybe I missed a post, but where do I find out what the "Measure Focus Backlash" button does & how it works? The Help documentation only names it.
Many thanks!
That button will attempt to measure the focuser backlash. You need to start in focus (so manually focusing), and you can than launch it. It will use the linearity of the focus points far from focus to measure the backlash. However, as it relies on a decent step size, and a backlash that is not too large compared to the step size, it reports wrong values if that's not the case...
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks Cuiv. I will try it plus the process you describe in the video. Compare results.
My autofocuser is not from ZWO.
Thanks Cuiv really good videos! I got the ZWO EAF (cause why not!) it is has got a bit of backlash but what was confusing me was the total backlash including my scopes focuser (i am using an Orion 8" astrograph) .... have spent two hours testing last night i have got 915 steps total backlash which seems excessive! It does seem consistent though so i am hoping that things will still work with the autofocus routine in NINA.
Wow, that is a HUGE amount of backlash... unless you somehow connected the focuser to the tiny adjustments knob? Still, it sounds like a huge, huge lot. I mean doable, if you set overshoot backlash (that's new, make sure to use it) with maybe 1000 steps of backlash in the OUT direction (and 0 in the IN direction). Good luck!
tried it last night, I followed every step, it looked to me roughly the same as yours (about 150 before i seen anything moving). give it a run with 0 backlash and i did have not a bad curve except for a blip, so I tried my backlash at 50 L and 50 R and it went all over the shop, bringing it down to 20 improved but for some reason it fails and says return to original focus. This is where I have the problem it dosnt go back to original focus it goes way way off. What I did in the end was get it pretty near then using the annodote i used the focus in/out untill my stars were around the 2 mark. They are still sharper than what I had, lots to learn loving it
I'd need to be able to actually see your setup to help... I'm almost wondering whether you don't have any slippage, or if the EAF is solidly connected to the focuser shaft... Or something else is going on. I hope you get it figured out!
Great video Cuiv ! SGP has a cool way of getting a good step size: 1)Record initial focus point(IFP) 2)Move focuser out so FP is 5xHFR 3)Step size = ((IFP - FP) x 2) / (data points - 1) ....if you have 9 data points then you should get a nice V curve with 4 points on the left and 4 on the right and the optimum focus in the middle. Not sure if this algo can apply to NINA
Thank you very much for the feedback! This algo would indeed work quite well for NINA, or any Star HFR/HFD based autofocus system. That being said, depending on the optical system, and imaging conditions, it may simply not work (for me, if I follow that algo in my white zone, the out of focus stars in broadband are no longer detectable quite quickly, and I can't go 5xIFP in the first place!). Still, it could be a great starting point for many people!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks Cuiv, what I probably should have said is 5xHFR. My mistake. Hope that will make more sense. I have edited the original comment
I have just ordered the ZWO EAF to go with my new filter wheel (the filters are not as parfocal as advertised LOL)
I guessI am going to watch this video a few times with NINA on the side :) Thanks Cuiv
Thank you for the video, much was explained here. One minor suggestion I have. On the Equipment\Focuser page. In the basic setting area are two fields, 'Auto Focus Step Size' and 'Auto Focus Initial Offset Steps'. My problem here is one of confusion. The term Steps is used in two contexts one referring to physical motor steps and the other is a product of motor physical steps and a constant which defines a minimum range of positions NINA will use for the focus routine. I would recommend clarifying the two settings by changing 'Auto Focus Step Size' to something like 'Motor Steps per Position' with the tool tip indicating X motor steps per Focus position. i.e.This is the minimum usable resolution of the focuser. The second, change 'Auto Focus Initial Offset Steps' to something like 'Number of Auto Focus Positions' with the tool tip explaining this is the range either side of current focuser position NINA will use for the focus routine, this being N x Motor Step per Position. Using the term Position is now inconsistent with the advanced option 'AF Number of Frames per Point' So another change to 'AF Number of Frames per Position'.
Thank you for this - that makes sense. I'll look into doing so.
Cuiv, thank you for the great tutorials! I have a Pegasus Focus Cube 2.0 and the driver has a backlash setting. Is it better to set the backlash compensation in the driver and leave it set to 0 in NINA or vice-versa or some combo of both?
I prefer to leave the driver to 0, and use Overshoot Backlash in NINA (which was released after this video), as you don't need to know your backlash precisely! There is good documentation on it on the NINA website!
Hey Cuiv! Been checking out some of your videos on NINA. Very informative and helpful. I just started trying i NINA the past couple weeks. Only 3 or 4 times with it so far. I am an SGP user for years. Question of you if I may... Any ideas why I don't get a Vcurve with NINA but still get very good focus? My graph looks like stairs going down but the focus is still spot on.
Thanks for the feedback! You could simply be having too small of a step size. What minimum and maximum HFR are you getting on your curve?
If I'm using a refractor what algorithm would be best to use or does it not matter which you use?
I'm still a little confused about steps and step size.
So my initial thinking was that step size is the minimum amount that the focuser can ever move, but I don't think that makes sense, unless you have a step size of 1? Or can you have a step size of less than 1?
My next thought, while watching this video, was that step size is the amount that the focuser moves between each exposure in an autofocus run, and this seems to make a bit more sense to me. And if so, I assume that when the focuser calculates the position of best focus, it will move to the _exact_ point of best focus, and not just a multiple of the step size?
And when you said you had a backlash of 100, which was 5 steps of 20 focuser steps, this is 100 steps of the minimum amount that the focuser can actually move, and not 100 steps of the step size? The terminology is a bit confusing!
I think I've got it, I'm not totally sure, but I think I figured out what I wanted to know just by writing this comment.
I've already done a few focus runs myself, with decent results, but I was mostly just bluffing myself, pretending I knew what I was doing!
Middle of video there is a Full Screen showing Focus Curve, and even a few buttons below that looks like you could start auto Focus manually. How do I get that to display in NINA ?
Wow Cuiv, I came to your channel when Astroquest1 recommended it. I was not disappointed.
That was an excellent, and very clear discussion of focuser backlash. Now I have to download NINA...
Question - does the direction of final focuser movement matter? I imagine it's better if it moves IN at the end to achieve focus, and that way the focuser drawtube can't slide out under gravity when the telescope aims high in he sky, as there will be no backlash in that direction.
With no autofocuser you would normally lock the drawtube down after you focus, but obviously you can't do that here.Or maybe you tighten the tube down a little bit to increase friction so it can't slide? Thanks for the videos,
Thanks for the positive feedback! It is very rewarding to be able to help so many people like that! Good luck with NINA - I highly recommend you test it during the day as much as possible, to avoid frustration at night - changing imaging software can be a stressful experience.
Concerning the final focuser movement... mmh you may want to check James Lamb's excellent channel, he obsesses over focusing even more than I do. The electronic focuser itself should guarantee the camera can't slide (unless it"s super heavy), so I'm not sure whether finishing in the IN direction makes a big difference, but it definitely can't hurt! The direction is very important for SCT owners, since they always want to push the mirror up on the last focuser movement. Probably much less relevant for Crayfords.
As for the tightening of the drawtube, I tighten it a slight bit - too much and the electronic focuser won't be able to move the drawtube anymore, and too loose and for my telescope the image starts shifting when I change focuser directions - but it never actually slips for my setup.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks for the information! That's v helpful. I'll check out that channel.
I'm putting together an "always assembled" rig and plan to switch from APT to NINA for it. I'll take your advice and have a good play with NINA during the day. I've definitely had the experience of wanting to shove everything onto the ground when it won't work at night.
Best wishes from Ireland.
ASIAIR plus should replace NINA correct? I just want to remove the laptop out of the equation, it’s bulky and requires a box and table, power.
Cuiv, So for my new 80mm Stellarvue SVX i should run Contrast instead of HFR ? I was given this video when i started asking questions in the Nina Discord
I would still use HFR!
Hi Cuiv, just subbed to your channel, N.I.N.A looks a very interesting program. I have been watching videos on how to set up auto focuses for when mine arrives hopefully in the next couple of weeks. There is not one that I have seen tells where to have the focus tube for a start, so I am assuming that one would have to have some sort of focus archived before any focus steps can be worked out, would this be correct? Also does N.I.N.A. support DSLR cameras, Canon EOS1300D? Robert, Vict' Aust'
Thanks for joining the channel! So you are right, you need to be in the vicinity of best focus (e.g. at least be able to see stars on the sensor!) before using and testing the focusing routine in NINA! NINA does support DSLR cameras - I can't speak for any particular model, but many people use Canon DSLRs with it. This is exciting, good luck with your imaging and clear skies!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks for the reply, it may help others out that want to know weather they can use DSLRs with N.I.N.A Robert
Thanks Cuiv great tutorial.
I have assessed my backlash for my lakeside focuser to be 60 following your guide.
This is my resulting V curve, does it look ok to the left side which were the last two measurements?? Do you have a way that I can send you a screenshot please??
You can always send to cuivlazygeek at gmail com , but be aware you should likely be using the overshoot method now! You just need to overstate your backlash in that case!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks, email sent with screen shot
Cuiv, you can buy a small camping lamp, wrap it with red transparent paper, and then you can have better lighting in red light without affecting your imaging (or you can wrap that lamp of yours in red transparent paper)
Good idea! On my balcony I really don't need any light (except to take videos) because of all the nice LP :) But will be useful for shooting. thanks!
you are fast becoming my best friend
:D
How did you solve the Issue Paul. I am still struggling with about the same issue,
@@malcolmdent241169 i didnt solve it as such so i ended up taking 4 sec exposures on a loop with the star HFMW on and watched the numbers while i adjusted in and out with my focuser, does not take long and it was good enough for my needs
Hello Cuiv, thank you for your interesting videos. Do you think N.I.N.A. will come with an autofocus option for DSLR-lens combo? Now I have to switch to an other program, just for focusing and it cannot be implemented in a sequence. Keep up the good work! Erik
Hey! I developed a plugin for NINA that does exactly that. This only works with canon cameras. For plugins, you need the beta version of NINA.
Clear skies!
Hi Cuiv, nice video. What about setting up the other filters? In this video you only setup for the Lum. I'm thinking each filter has a different focus point that should be calculated.
Here we're setting up the focuser itself - its behaviour (backlash etc.) doesn't depend on the filter. You can however set filter offsets in NINA, I believe I have another video on that somewhere!
I can’t find the bouton to enable the autofocus in NiNA’s imaging tab.
Désolé pour le réponse en retard, mais j’ai aussi un EAF. J’ai branché mes équipements pour le 1ère fois hier à NINA - j’avais le ASIAIR Plus qui semble un brique maintenant. J’ai remarqué que les paramètres pour backlash était déjà à 70 comme il était dans le ASIAIR. Est-ce que c’est une valeur par défaut ou est-ce que le EAF garde ces paramètres mêmes avec le changement de logiciel. J’ai trouvé ça bizarre…
Excuse mon français de secondaire en passant.
Hi Cuiv, i have watched this video numerous times, but when i try to apply it to my sesto senso 2 auto focus unit, i do not get anything like the curve you mention, mine is all over the place, i have it setup to 4 points either side of best focus at a step size of 40 as nina keeps telling me my step size is to small, but it sometimes does about 20 steps the comes back with a cannot focus message, nor does it acknowledge the temperature sensor i have attached to the senso, what am i doing wrong ???
First, welcome to the Order Andrew, and thanks for the support!
So, I would first do focus visually. Like your focuser connected to NINA, see how many steps it takes for a star in focus to become a blob rather than a star, and use that as a step size. I suspect that you'll need much more steps than you are using right now. In other words, try to build this curve yourself, manually (take exposure in NINA, move focuser via the NINA arrow buttons, take another exposure, etc.) to see what step size you'd be having manually. See what works for your focuser setup!
On the temperature sensor, I have no idea, I don't use one - you need to check with NINA support on Discord.
Also, on the NINA discord (no need to install anything or even create an account). In the Autofocus Support channel, you can drag and drop autofocus log files to get an analysis of your autofocus run.
I think I need something more basic than this or your other one. I need to understand what a focussing step is and what position my scope's focuser should be in when I attach the motor. Should the focuser be all the way in, all the way out, in the middle?
I have a part about focuser connection in the "Start astrophotography for lazy people" video playlist, and also in one of my Sharp star 61EDPH II videos!
Can you tell me why on some videos by people they’re saying only to put backlash number in either the ‘in’ OR ‘out’ but not both?
This video is quite old, what you mention is for the newer backlash compensation method in NINA, which I recommend using instead
nice explanation Cuiv :)
Thank you!
I can't use my focuser on Nina my focuser in home made ascom myfocuser2 it's not in the focuser tab
I have a thought that might improve autofocus time. Why not just solve for the inflection point maybe after three points past it? Solve the fitted curve at that point. You probably introduce more error as you go further --- we only want the inflection -- not calibrate the motor. Maybe an option to select the number of points past inflection. Thanks!
In ideal conditions yes - but in the real world, in some cases that can really cause the focus to go haywire... I've tested this :) I've seen it be horrible too often!
ok, brand new newbie, i can't even get an image from my camera, i've spent many hours trying, swamping between camera and visual, even tried to focus the moon, getting really frustrated, now what?
Any chance you can show how you collimate your newtonian - perhaps using NINA? Also have a Newt.
Well, if I were to collimate my Newt, I'd be using a Cheshire eyepiece, or a barlowed laser (never a collimation laser without barlow), not NINA directly. However, the advantage of this Vixen newt is that it has very thick spider vanes, and is pre-collimated. In theory, there is no need to collimate it again on the end user side!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek I didn't know that about Vixen.
@@tchallalemou5307 It's just this particular Newt model! I'm sure that eventually I'll need to collimate it, but if that's the case I'll just ask Vixen to do it for me :)
@@CuivTheLazyGeek ah man. Wish I could do that
Pouvez vous nous donner des explications avec des termes moins technique sur le sujet, où alors avez-vous des schémas très simple à comprendre? Pas de problème si ils sont en français où en anglais. Un livre sur le sujet serait le top.
My focus curve looks like a flattened U shape. Does that mean the step size is too small?
You may want to post a screenshot of it on the NINA Discord channel - it could indeed be that your step size is too small, but it's difficult to tell with just that description!
Hello Cuiv I have and idea for you. Why don't you live stream some of your imaging runs on Twitch with NINA.That way we could interact with you ask questions ect. You could even have some of Developers and Contributors on as guest. I think we all could learn alot from you guys. I for one would watch every stream. Like Steve said there is a lot of people using NINA now. With a little advertising this could take off and be great.Jest and idea and i think all your subscribers would love to pass the word around
That's a very good idea - my main problem is that it's hard for me to actually schedule such times, and also my workflow takes like 10 minutes to complete. Then I'm just doing something else. But if I can find a way of making this useful and productive.... Let me think about this.
Thank you for this nice tutorial! I have one question: if I have set the backlash of my EAF focuser in the ASCOM driver, I should leave the Blacklash IN/OUT value in NINA at zero, right?
Correct, you should only set the backlash in one place (either NINA or the driver) - that being said I would recommend setting Overshoot Backlash in NINA rather than using absolute values in the driver.
I love your videos, but I didn't understand this one at all. :-( Maybe there is an earlier one about focusing which would explain what you mean by 'backlash' and what the focus graph means?
There is indeed a prerequisite video here: th-cam.com/video/XsjT-We9Wn0/w-d-xo.html , I hope this helps!
@@CuivTheLazyGeek awesome! Thanks Cuiv
NINA does not recognize my new ZWO EAF, so I need a video that starts at the very beginning with NINA.
Maybe something changed with the USB-only EAF (which I don't have), you should try checking with the NINA team on their Discord!
Man this seems crazy complex. Isn't there something I can just press and have the software AF correctly?
Shouldn't the software just take a stack of pictures and look for the smallest stars possible?
That's what the software does :) But this is not just software - this is software/hardware integration - different setups mean different configurations. Things did get better with overshoot backlash compensation.
@@CuivTheLazyGeek yeah it does and it doesn't. All that stuff about step size, backlash compensation... that can all be automated. Waiting the product that just lets me press a button and walk away for perfect AF
@@beatsntoons That already exists! As long as your configuration is correct. And I spent a sh*tload of time coding lots and lots of AF enhancements in NINA so that if configuration is correct, it just works (TM). I press a button, walk away, and get perfect focus (and centering, and also my whole sequence).
Now you want to automate the initial configuration itself (which needs to be done once only). I did have a few brainstorming sessions to achieve that, back in the day. I kept finding corner cases (or not so corner cases) that make this exceedingly hard - protocols that seem like they could work don't. This is because of the nature of autofocus (very small range of values where the system can even identify stars). You could have a protocol that tries to find a correct step size at first. Then measure approximate backlash (that has its own challenge - I coded a backlash measurement tool back in the day, which worked in theory and on my equipment, but not on other's equipment. It was removed. Maybe a hyperbolic fit could be used instead?), add 50% and set that as overshoot backlash. But with the whole process there are obstacles (with step size and how one setup could have a good step size of 4 - like lenses - while another could have a good step size of 400, with backlash measurement it's a whole can of worms), and you would need a star field the whole time with good tracking. It could work quickly for some focusers, and take forever for others. It could fall victim to noise detected as star if it found a step size that was too big, getting it out of the sweet spot zone. It could easily generate incorrect numbers.
On the other hand setting up the parameters needs to be done once, and a human can spend a whole of 5-10 minutes to get the right values.
Yeah, I ain't going to automate something like that, that has so many potential issues, and the ROI is minuscule!
Oh, and of course if there are mechanical issues like slippage, nothing is ever going to compensate for that...
Is NINA free?