DSO PHOTOGRAPHY, CAMERA EXPOSURE TIME/SETTINGS

[mixon]

Hello all !
Newbie here!!, totally green! Needing advice will be most appreciated. Recently unpacked my telescope that was given to me by my wife 8 years ago as a Christmas gift. So spare the details, I recently learned how to set it up, align it and take pictures. Celestron Nexstar 130 SLT, beginners scope of course. Go-to, I have assorted mag. eyepieces, DSLR camera. I modified as Prime Focus. bringing the primary mirror closer to focal plane. I have achieved great pics of the Moon.
Next step, I recently purchased the ZWO-ASI120MC-s High speed/high sensitivity/low noise Planetary camera. I understand it is cable of DSO as well.
Well.... since I have received it, 2 weeks ago, Nothing but cloudy skies every single night!!! Errrr!
I will be using SharpCap Pro 4.0 as well. Laptop of course. So, that being said, I have the basic tools to achieve better results than I would from my nikon D40 DSLR. Well...I say that because the ZWO is capable of doing a much better image, at least that is what I'm being told.
I have browsed thru SharpCap, watch Tutorials and what not. Huge learning curve and quite the challenge I must say. However, I'm hooked ! Very eager to see clear skies so I can trial and error the camera set up.
Questions: 1. I'm curios to know, what is the best camera settings for the ZWO, camera exposure, exposure times, and gain.?? I know, it all depends on what DSO or object I want to photograph. I have a focusing aid Bahtinov mask. Laptop, and using Cartes du Ciel for sky chart and scope guiding/slewing.
I want to practice shooting pics of the moon, but I can't achieve that until we have clear night to do so.
Would love to receive some positive feedback on this subject, guidance, advice - I have joined the local Astronomy Club in my area recently. first meeting not until later this month. I hope to gain more knowledge from others while doing so. Can't wait for the first meet and greet. Excited and stoked to learn more.
Thanks and hope to hear from someone !

[turfpit]

Mixon

Do a forum search (top right of forum web page) for ASI120MC. This will turn up some useful posts (several of them mine) relating to lunar/planetary/deep sky captures with this camera. It will give you a start. My posts in the search from around 2017/2018 will give you some idea of the type of problems you will encounter.

Dave

[bluesilver]

I can't help you with planetary work as i have not done this with sharpCap, but have with another program.
For DSO this is a good read, I am just going through this bit myself and i think i have the basics understood enough now.
http://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/3.2/15_SmartHistogram.htm
Hope this helps.

[mixon]

Ok, but the Smart histogram is complicated, I don't understand it. This is a huge learning curve. Thanks for link thought.

[bluesilver]

All good,
I may not be the best to ask about this, but in general, all i do is click on the brain icon in the smart histogram,
Near the measure icon, i select darkest, then i just click on the measure icon, it will go off and do its thing for a minute or two and come back with some results.
Below the measure icon there will be a box saying unity gain or max dynamic range.
One of these will give you longer exposure times and one shorter.
I choose the shorter time one and then just click apply.
It will automatically set your camera settings to those and you are good to go.
Very basic run down, but may be enough to get you started.

[mixon]

what versions of SharpCap are you using? Pro 4.0, I'm using that one. Would you have a screen shot of that smart histogram?
Appreciate it.

[bluesilver]

Yes, using the latest version of SharpCap Pro
I don't currently have any screen shots of it working. cloudy weather here for the next week according to the forecasts.
But it is very similar to that one in the link

[mixon]

At a complete loss and very frustrated! Videos and forum threads, advice. I still don't get it. Last night I tried capturing images of the Beehive with my ZWO ASI120MC-S planetary / DSO camera.
I am more of a visual learner, with a huge learning curve.
Failed at all aspects trying to set gain, exposure and what now. Have no idea what I'm doing, would love to learn more.
I know the camera has a tighter FOV. When I connect the camera and turn up the gain and exposure, Am I suppose to see the image/Stars I'm trying to capture? I see nothing but a black screen. do I need to configure any settings? where do I go? what do i do?
Guess i need to buy a dummies book for dummy like me. LOL!!!

Any advice or help will be greatly appreciated. Please don't send me any links to articles or videos, i have done that already, still don't grasp the concept how to initially set/configure the settings.

I know the camera works, I use Cartes du Ciel for skycharts, my telescope is aligned and connected , slew the scope to Venus, and bam, it came into view. very bright. So, I know the scope/camera is working. But When I slew over to the Beehive cluster, I see nothing but black screen.

Shouldn't i see the cluster if i turn the exposure and gain full blast, and then work down from there?

I just don't understand ! LOL!

Thank you!

[turfpit]

Please don't send me any links to articles or videos

In view of that statement, I think your best route to making progress is to seek the help of someone at the local astronomy club you mentioned above.

slew the scope to Venus, and bam, it came into view. very bright. So, I know the scope/camera is working.

Perhaps start off with Venus and capture that?

M44 is quite a large object given your optical configuration - use of a focal reducer will help to better frame the object. From http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

M44.JPG (37.21 KiB) Viewed 2577 times

M44_field-of-view.JPG (99.77 KiB) Viewed 2577 times

Dave