ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

User avatar
oopfan
Posts: 1321
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:37 pm
Location: New York
Contact:

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#11

Post by oopfan »

Minos,

"When you say set the stars max pixel value to xxxx, is this something in Astroimagej?"

There might be a better way of doing it in SC 3.2. What I do is capture a test frame, open it with Siril, draw a box around the star. Right-click and select "Statistics". One of the stats it gives is max pixel value. Do not trust any stat that gives you the max pixel value for the full frame. There may be hot pixels that will throw you off.

Regarding AIJ, I use it for post-capture analysis but people do use it in realtime especially for generating neat plots of Exoplanet transits.

Brian
User avatar
oopfan
Posts: 1321
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:37 pm
Location: New York
Contact:

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#12

Post by oopfan »

Minos,

The "Hubble 5-star Artificial Star(s)" from CCTS looks promising. The one thing I would be concerned about is the battery life. The LEDs will dim as the batteries drain unless the circuit board has a quality voltage regulator which I doubt. You might want to see if you can hack it to see if you can power it with a wall-wart. But before you dismantle it run a test to see if the LED brightness changes significantly over the course of an hour.

Brian
mAnKiNd
Posts: 308
Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:55 pm
Location: Long Island, NY
Contact:

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#13

Post by mAnKiNd »

Thanks for all the guidance Brian, I will try to test indoors and share the results.
mAnKiNd
Posts: 308
Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:55 pm
Location: Long Island, NY
Contact:

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#14

Post by mAnKiNd »

Looks like I have to wait for clear skies to test this, as I don't have enough backtravel on my focuser to get the artificial star in focus in my small apartment.

Perhaps in the meantime, someone who has this camera can chip in their understanding on binning and bit depth? Hopefully be able to answer YES/NO to my previous 3 questions.

Thanks again and I will return to this topic in due course.
Minos
User avatar
oopfan
Posts: 1321
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:37 pm
Location: New York
Contact:

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#15

Post by oopfan »

Minos, how far do you still need to go? I've got a 2-inch diameter extension that I can send you.
mAnKiNd
Posts: 308
Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:55 pm
Location: Long Island, NY
Contact:

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#16

Post by mAnKiNd »

That's very kind of you my friend, thank you. I'll go to CCTS tomorrow here in Stony Brook and pick one up. I'm good friends with Jeff the owner and actually my first job when I came to the states two years ago was at his telescope store for six months, until I got my appointment at SBU. I will purchase a suitable extension and bring it home for the test.

Thanks again,
Minos
User avatar
oopfan
Posts: 1321
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:37 pm
Location: New York
Contact:

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#17

Post by oopfan »

If I recall correctly I bought two from Agena:

https://agenaastro.com/blue-fireball-2- ... nsion.html
and
https://agenaastro.com/blue-fireball-2- ... nsion.html

I no longer use the 80mm (the first one). I can send it to you.
scpanish
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:11 pm
Location: Milton, New Hampshire, USA

Re: ASI1600MM-P BIN mode and Bit depth

#18

Post by scpanish »

I've had this camera for several months now. If you look at the histogram files generated by SharpCap when using software bin2, they have 4096 values. It also makes sense to me that when software binning, the full 12 bit depth would have to be read from the hardware, then why shouldn't it be preserved by the software? None of which is definitive, but it makes some sense.

Figuring out the calibration frame issues was a pain, but after that, results are very nice on DSOs using my C11. Then again, I'm a newbie.

Steve
Post Reply