DSLR Control with ASI Air

Adrian

Hi Saturoldan, thanks for your advice, I've got the right hump and shut it all down now but earlier I couldnt get the AIR to take exposures properly unless I had mirror lockup enabled which I simply dont understand. I’ll try again tomorrow.
I havent seen that option to reduce shutter noise, where is it?
Also confused about using manual or bulb setting, some say manual with bulb setting but isnt it one or the other? Manual seems to work but it’s all trial and error.
I also bought a dummy battery for the DSLR with USB connector to operate from a power bank. Camera works fine that way until I plug the USB connector into the AIR and the camera just freezes with a blank display. I guess the AIR is drawing too much power.
Endless problems, wasted time and not much help around so I really appreciate your reply.
I also tried some exposures with an ASI 294MC-PRO which I thought was going to be a step up from my DSLR when I had a few clear nights a while back but cant interpret the histogram on the AIR like I can on the DSLR and the stars were bloated. I think I had too much gain (100 for 180secs) for M31 or it might have been poor guiding or it might have been backlash in my HEQ5 Pro which I've subsequently eliminated. Trouble is weather in the UK has been poor for the last few weeks and I havent had a chance to get back out to try it again.
Happy days huh? !!

saturoldan

Adrian Hi again Adrian! I’ll help you as much as I can, although I’m still waiting for a power bank for my newly arrived AsiAir Pro. I haven’t 5D IV but have 5D III and a Fullspectrum Eos R, basically are all the same (except for CR3 on the R that ASI can’t decipher).
When I try AsiAir I may be in conditions to help, but in the meantime:

In the drive mode (push drive-af button) and in the upper screen select “S” (Silent single shooting). That will make the sound of the shutter way less audible because it is dampening the mirror. This has a bad effect on FPS, but this is something that doesn’t concern to astrophotography.
I use a dummy battery also, but instead of powering from AsiAir, y use a separate power bank. Actually I use Lanparte PB-600, that is 44.4 Wh (like 3.2x 1850mA LP-E6N batteries), enough for a whole night. It also works with EOS R, so there should be no problem with 5DIV. When I can test AsiAir, I may say more about that. I am guessing that your dummy battery has a piece of electronic in the middle that converts 5V from USB to 7.4V of the battery, right? You cannot plug it directly.
Manual an Bulb are way different settings. In Manual you must specify a shutter speed, up to 30 seconds, no more. In Bulb you define your shutter speed by pressing the shutter button, 1sec (or less if you are fast pressing 😉 ore more, until you lift your finger from the button. Both are Incompatible, it is one or another. Due to long exposures it is used Bulb position, and usually commanded by an intervalometer (you can find cheap options on Amazon or eBay). In this case AsiAir should act like an intervalometer, I may say more when I test it.

I have never used Asi294MC, so I can’t tell you anything about that.

Hopefully I will receive some gear next week and try some things. If I find something interesting, I will let you know!

Adrian

saturoldan

Hi again 🙂

Well I have a bit more patience this morning and things are becoming a bit clearer now!

Manual operation works okay and annoyed that ZWO confuse the issue stating Manual and Bulb without qualifying that statement.
I had decided that silent shutter was probably the way to go before reading your reply 🙂
The shutter operates correctly with mirror lock disabled and takes just over 15 seconds to load a previewed image, seems a bit of a long wait but its quite a high resolution image over wifi. With mirror lock enabled, there's something like an additional 5 seconds delay, sounds like the mirror is immediately raised before exposing the image about 5 seconds later. Might be settling time in the software.
I recently downloaded the Canon Camera Connect app for my tablet (BTW I wholeheartedly recommend the Huawei MediaPad T5, excellent battery life and good screen). The app is great for remote viewing but when using the cabled USB3 connection it cuts the wifi but I guess you cant have it all ..
All camera functions are disabled when connected to the AIR and just says BUSY when pressing any buttons.
Focussing is a pain, the image updates every 3 or 4 seconds, I tried BIN 4 instead of BIN 1 with no improvement. I guess its the file size again.
I cant get previewed images to download to the 5D4, only to a 64Gb memory stick in the AIR. I have the option enabled but nothing doing.

I tried another dummy battery that I had knocking around which works from AC. At least it did better than the one that powers from USB which just leaves a blank screen when the USB cable is connected but I got the dreaded warning about not using clones and decided not to risk it in the 5D4. Too much to lose!
I have an external battery grip which would give me 2 batteries but the extra weight is going to be problematic balancing the scope, I don’t have enough horizontal movement left with the hardware that I've got. Your PB-600 looks like a very good alternative and will solve another problem but stock availability appears limited at the moment.
My main DC power source is DIY and comprises two 12V 12A wheelchair batteries in a case together with an adapter which gives me 3 x 12V cigar sockets and 4 x USB sockets including USB3. It works well!

To be honest I would also very much like to have the function to implement a shutter release via the DSLR port which was the original question in this thread, makes total sense and would make life so very much easier for the likes of myself. ZWO dont seem to give a lot of replies in this forum though and there must be many others running into similar problems when using DSLR’s.

It would be great to keep in touch, sounds like we're both on a similar journey. I have quite a bit of Canon gear and was also considering the EOS-R, I'm kind of envious of you there, still wondering whether to dip my toes into mirrorless and would appreciate any feedback.

I'm guessing you're in the UK, I'm in Surrey.

My best and thanks again. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your ASIAIR Pro, especially for polar alignment and plate solving which is a breeze and my main reason for buying one.

saturoldan

Adrian Hi Adrian!
I’m sure things will get better with time and Asi will improve the AsiAir. I have some suggestions for Asi, but first I have to see the way it works. If so, it should get faster (but may be its nonsense what I think, so better wait).

I use Lampart to avoid the vertical grip which is heavy and bulky, although it’s way better to connect it to AsiAir, but the dummy battery must have the electronics to transform 5V (USB) or 12V (DC port) to 7.4V. I am guessing that maybe you don’t have it and that is why your camera is going blank (no power)...

Regarding EOS R, I turned mine into Fullspectrum by myself, but I wouldn’t recommend it as it is pretty scary. Eos Ra is a better option, and you can even turn it into an “R” with a simple filter (let me know if you are interested for me to make a search). Mirrorless is the way to go, way faster and simple, the only go-down is power but it’s not bad at all.

I think it’s great to keep in touch! BTW, I’m from Seville, Spain...😁. I will make you know if I find something interesting next week. Cheers!

Adrian

saturoldan
Hi again, hope you're getting to grips with your new kit?
I had a couple of hours of clear sky last night except for some very high haze and poor seeing.
The 5D4 worked okay, guiding was a problem though, I had difficulty finding a suitable guide star.
I took 60 lights, 30 seconds at ISO400 stacked in AstroPixelProcessor, final image appears to be over exposed so that's a work in progress.
There's more fine detail from the 5D4 than the ASI 294MC but much wider field of view, a lot of coma and vignetting most of which I've corrected in Photoshop.
No calibration frames and not very good processing, please let me know if the link works as I've set it to Private viewing on Flickr ..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41279068@N08/50713895737/in/dateposted/

Adrian

@saturoldan

Thanks for your advice again.

I also have the older Canon 60Da which provided some half decent results on an Astrotrac but polar alignment was always difficult at my age and cranking my head underneath to positions which it didnt want to go has put an end to that.

The ASIAIR helps enormously and I wanted to try full frame thinking and hoping that I can bring out nebula colours in post processing but if the data isnt there from the outset I might be out of luck at which point I'll probably be taking a serious look at the EOS-Ra.

For the last few weeks I’ve been using a William Optics GT-81 IV, ASI 294MC-Pro cooled colour camera, ASI120MM-Mini for guiding on an old HEQ5 Pro. I bought the belt modification kit but found ways to eliminate the backlash with the existing metal gears and hoping that will improve guiding before going all out with the belt modification. I dont mind the noisy gears and will be interesting to see how it performs when we get some clear nights again. Results so far have been rather disappointing, the Sony sensor in the 294MC is a crop sensor hence my enthusiasm to try full frame but it’s still trial and error with so many different things that can go wrong where my setup is at fault.

I heard somewhere else that the Ra can be converted to the R and glad you confirmed that.

You're obviously a talented man converting the R to full spectrum and I can understand your reasons considering the additional price for the Ra. Supply and demand = +£££'s I guess. Your command of the English language is also very good!

Looking forward to hearing more from you when your new kit arrives 🙂

saturoldan

Adrian Adrian Hi Adrian! Still waiting for the gear! May be this week or next... things are going slow with Christmas and everything...

Sorry dude, but your link didn’t work for me 😔 I guess coma and vignetting is due to lack of tube optimization with a 24x36mm sensor like 5DIV, as ASI294MC is 4/3 (4/3 gives also 2X focal distance)
Looking forward to see your image soon!

Adrian

saturoldan

Okay, try these, one is with extreme processesing in Photoshop (with more noise), the other is more 'traditional' !!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41279068@N08/50715177283/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41279068@N08/50713895737/in/photostream/
There's a lot more data in the 5D4 files to work with and the final image can be cropped which makes me think the EOS-Ra might be on my Christmas list .. More light and calibration frames will obviously help.

saturoldan

Adrian amazing Adrian!! Those pics are trully beautiful!!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
5DIV and EOS R (Ra) both have a similar sensor, but IR behavior is pretty enhanced in Ra... if you are into it you’re gonna enjoy it a lot!

Adrian

saturoldan
Thanks for your vote of confidence 🙂
I'm pleased having only taken 60 lights / 30 minutes and not the best seeing conditions. More to come when the skies clear again whenever that may be ..
Hopefully your new kit will arrive soon.

Adrian

Wondering how you're getting on with your EOS-R?
Large CR2 files from my 5D4 make processing a lengthy process!
Having trouble with guiding at the moment and have watched various videos showing where I've made a lot of errors ...

saturoldan

Adrian Hi! Actually I’ve taken not a single frame... waiting for a Eq6r in order to do something... I hope you are doing well and getting better with guiding!

Warm regards, Adrian!

amonpuschel

Adrian Hi Adrian, I came across your reply because I'm looking for a cabled remote shutter release for my Canon 5D4 which will work with mirror lockup! Would you be so kind to tell me the name of yours so that I can order it.
Best regards
Amon