DSLR Shutter/Canon XTi

Questions about hardware and software not obtained from Shoestring Astronomy, but related to our products
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midcon07
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Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:03 pm
Location: Cornville AZ 34°43'43" - 111°58'12"

DSLR Shutter/Canon XTi

Post by midcon07 » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:27 pm

When using DSLR Shutter I usually shoot 300 second exposures. For some reason my exposure times vary from between 293 seconds to 370 seconds. Also some times when I set the program to take, say, 9 exposures it will only take 3 though the camera still has plenty of battery power. I have a feeling the problem is probably in the way I'm inputing the Delay Control settings. I have varied them but can't seem to get rid of these problems. Is there a "suggested" or "default" settings for the Delay Controls other then what shows when you boot the program?
Also, will the program allow you to shoot darks utilizing the cameras long exposure noise reduction feature?
Thanks,
Jerry
Jerry

dpanderson
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Re: DSLR Shutter/Canon XTi

Post by dpanderson » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:27 pm

Jerry,

Its not obvious to me what might be causing the variability in exposure time. Do you have other programs running on your computer while running DSLR Shutter? Perhaps they are taking over the computer and throwing the timing off.

I have never tried using the built-in noise reduction, but my guess is that after the shutter is released on the normal exposure, the camera then automatically tries to fire for the same amount of time to create the dark frame. It seems like as long as the dead time between exposures is longer than the exposure time, the camera should be able to do this. On the other hand, maybe the camera alternates between taking a light and dark frame each time the shutter is activated. As I said, I have never tried this myself.

A better place to get help might be:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/star ... -software/
Doug Anderson
Shoestring Astronomy
http://www.ShoestringAstronomy.com

midcon07
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:03 pm
Location: Cornville AZ 34°43'43" - 111°58'12"

Re: DSLR Shutter/Canon XTi

Post by midcon07 » Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:56 pm

I got it solved and it was pretty simple, perhaps something you might want to pass on to newbies like myself. Prior to using DSLR Shutter, when using my Canon either at prime focus or piggyback I always set the delay feature on it to compensate for possible vibrations, etc. So the way I had my camera and DSLR Shutter configured (with a delay on both), I would hit "Start Sequence", the DSLR Shutter program would countdown its delay seconds then send the command to "fire" to the camera which it did. The camera then began its own delay countdown before the shutter would actually open. However DSLR Shutter had already started its own "Sequence" count for the entire operation not knowing the shutter isn't open yet. Once I changed the delay setting to normal on my camera everything worked fine. Simple solution but not so obvious because of the habit of setting the delay on the camera.
Jerry

dpanderson
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Re: DSLR Shutter/Canon XTi

Post by dpanderson » Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:50 pm

Jerry,

Thanks for the follow-up post.
Doug Anderson
Shoestring Astronomy
http://www.ShoestringAstronomy.com

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