More Explicit Directions: recreating master dark from individual dark captures

[mgCatskills]

I'm in the process of preparing a talk about EAA to my local Astronomy Association, and would like to use SharpCap in Folder Camera mode to illustrate SharpCap in "action".

Today, I normally don't save my raw files, but I used to do so. I've found a session from last February which would be perfect for this demo. However, I've deleted the master dark from my dark library. However, I also used to save the individual dark frames, and have found them in a folder from a couple of weeks before the session I want to use. Presumably those are the source files for the deleted Master.

Researching this topic on this forum, it's clear that it's possible to recreate a master dark. But the instructions are really vague: basically some variation of "use the folder camera to average the dark frames".

Well, I've tried that and find myself quite confused. Have you ever written up more explicit instructions? I presume I'm supposed to stack them but I get errors that there are no stars to align the frames with. That seems like an insurmountable problem. Do I auto color correct the histogram? Do I load them as lights or darks? Do I adjust the histogram? Anyway, I'm pretty confused.

I suspect a few bullet points would set me straight.

Thanks,
Michael

[admin]

Hi Michael,

I think the procedure would be

* Open the folder monitor camera
* Browse to the folder with the individual dark frames in, select one of the files and press the 'All *.??? Files' button to get the folder monitor camera working on those files
* Choose Capture->Capture Dark
* Choose a number of frames 2 less than the number of dark images you have (to avoid running out)
* Press the 'Start' button to start capturing dark frames
* Press the 'Play' button in the folder monitor camera controls on the right

That should get everything going in the right order and there should be enough frames to complete the dark creation process (if not, rewind the frames in the folder monitor controls on the right - it might mean a frame gets used twice, but that shouldn't be a big deal).

cheers,

Robin

[mgCatskills]

Hi, Robin

Thanks for the help. I was able to rebuild the original master dark and can now replay capturing M51 for my upcoming talk!

Cheers,
Michael