An other issue / problem with may 294 MC Pro and calibrating frames

Tobi294MCPro

Hello hello everyone,

it would be boring, if there would be no issues or something else with this camera, especially with calibration etc.

A few session go it was everything fine, but now it cames back it seems.

I do everything exactly the same in every single session, also calibration frames. The only thing that changed was that I updated my AsiAir Pro a few days ago. Nothing other changed.

I do every Session at the end flats and dark flats with the same temperature and gain, the flats and darkflats also with the same exposure time and same gain and temperature as my lights.

My AisAir is runnign with the ZWO 12V adapter over my power tank and the 294 mc pro is running at the 12v output at the AsiAir.

Since two sessions/nights at M31 Narrowband I i have some calibration issues. The ampglow in thr right upper corner didn´t calibrate out fully, also the amglow in the lower right corner.

Like i said, I have do ALL things like every other session in the past and there was no such a issue.

What´s wrong here? I stack it in DSS, APP and AsiDeepStack but its the same issue in all this stacking programs.

I do last night test-based three flat sessions with 28k avg, 30k avg and 32k avg but the issue is the same.

Is it maybe the dark flats oder darks? Because of the banding?

In my 300 seconds light exposure in the asiair in preview is no banding.

Hope anybody can help me.

Best regards

Tobias

iosif

Bad Dark frame.

Take new dark frame.

Tobi294MCPro

iosif two days ago I had done new darks but it changed nothing. The old darks worked well before the last sessions a few weeks ago.

Tech@ZWO

@"Tobi294MCPro"#p80677I remember the earlier discussion in another post on a similar problem that was caused by the BPM right?
Could you send me some dark and light for analysis if this is another problem? thank you.

Tobi294MCPro

Tech@ZWO you're right but before it was the transparent spike from the ampglow where the deactivated BPM fixed this issue. This time nothing fix it, also the deactivated bpm not.

Yes, I will sind some Lights and Darks. How many of them? I have two nights with each 34 lights and the darks are 30.

Best regards and thank you for your help.

Tobi294MCPro

Tech@ZWO Would you like to have the flats and darkflats too?

Tobi294MCPro

Tech@ZWO here are the two nights just the lights and the darks for that.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1He-J7rf4dkJZpZOzs1s0y2_kY0sU200M?usp=sharing

Tobi294MCPro

Oh man, im so annoyed right now with that f****** issue.
I do new darks, I do flats between 25-32k adu, I do stack with multiple programs....but nothing helps or works and it seems nobody can help me..... it is no longer fun with that sh** and I don't know what to do anymore.

ZWO Asi 294 MC Pro
TS Photoline 72 SD 432mm f/6
TS 0.79 Reducer
Antlia ALP-T 5nm Narrowband Filter
Gain 121 for Lights, Darks, Flats and Darkflats
Flats and Darkflats at 5 seconds, Flats Adu 25-32k
Lights and Darks 300 sec.
All Frames at -10° Stacked in APP, DSS, AsiDeepStack.....

If anybody can help me, so please, pleeease help me! 😔😔😔

Tobi294MCPro

Tech@ZWO

Tobi294MCPro Thanks, i got your images, and will analyze it as soon as possible.
Another question, will this issue disappear or improve if you stack more lights?

Corsair

On your device running the ASIAIR: completely remove the app and any app data, restart your device, then reinstall the app.
Test what happens without the filter. I.e. what happens when you don't use a filter at all.
Test what happens with just a UV/IR Cut filter or something similar if you have one.
Then check again with the narrowband filter.

If the above doesn't help:
What version of the ASIAIR Pro firmware are you using?

If you're using Android device/BlueStacks 5 on a PC to control the ASIAIR: Are you able to try downgrading the firmware on the ASIAIR Pro back to the version you were on before? It will also running the previous version of the ASIAIR App on your device and turning off auto update for the App (since the App on your device and the firmware on the ASIAIR itself are a matched set).

Astrop

The 294MC is an absolute joke of a camera in my experience, I've used at least half a dozen and nothing else behaves like the 294MC does.

Getting it to calibrate is a mission impossible endeavour, I'm surprised anyone gets any use out of it. Mine suffers from red green random swirl patterns (it's a problem caused by the glass stuck to the sensor) so you can't really stretch the data at all. You issue looks similar but there's red around the periphery which may suggest something else, almost as if the anti dew system isnt working or something if it is inside this model of camera.

Sorry I cant be of more help, but I don't think this camera should ever have come onto the market.

Tobi294MCPro

Tech@ZWO Okay, thanks.

No it didn't disappear or improve.

And maybe I have found the problem. I do new darks last night but this time not in the fridge.

The cooler runs between 70-75%. But this time when I stack just with these new darks it overcorrect the ampglow because I have a black dot there.

Here ist a result out of APP.

Astrop

Stacking is effectively an adding process, if every sub has the issue it will only look worse stacking more subs.

Corsair

This is one of the images in my gallery at Cloudy Nights done (just last night in fact) in Live Mode (i.e. Live Stacking) with calibration frames.
https://www.cloudynights.com/gallery/image/221449-stacked38-ic4628-300s-bin1-294mc-gain121-20240903-215323-00c/

I do unguided EAA so almost exclusively use Live Mode for Live Stacking. I take my calibration frames ahead of imaging session because of this. I do the following:

Master Flat (Stack 20, Exp 5.0s, Bin1, Gain121, cooled to 0°C)
Master Bias as Dark Flat/Flat Dark (Stack 20, Exp 5.0s, Bin1, Gain121, cooled to 0°C)
Master Dark (Stack 20, Exp 30.0s, Bin1, Gain121, cooled to 0°C)

I'm happy with the results I achieve.

Astrop

Tobi294MCPro Black dot?

iosif

I have told you, bad dark frame.
After light frame, make dark frame, dont't change anything.
With same condition,

Tobi294MCPro

iosif but why it works by so many when they took their darks at home or in fridge etc.?

Astrop

Amp glow usually doesn't surround the border of the sensor so I think you have something else going on here. My 294MC has the typical star burst pattern of amp glow on one side of the sensor only, in one burst, my 183 also does and that camera is notorious for its hideous amp glow which calibrates out perfectly, even with years old darks.

To @Corsair, you won't necessarily see the issues with the 294mc using it live or in EAA, you have to stretch the linear data, a process normally done to reveal faint nebulosity or IFN, within 3 or 4 histogram stretches you will normally see the issue with the 294 whereas other colour sensors you can stretch the data more than double the amount with no strange colour issues.

Tobi294MCPro

ISSUE SOLVED

Guys, I made it. The ampglow now is completely gone. 🙏🥳

You all was right about the darks. The darks were he issue all the time.
And now I know about what you guys mean with the same temperature as the lights. The ambient tmperature. Thought alle the time -10° is -10° and works for all frames. But then I took my camera out to a clear night and put it on my scope and shoot the darks as close as possible at the ambient temperature as my lights from IC 1805.....and here it is, it was the key and works 100%!

Sorry for all the posts I put in here with my issue and sorry to annoy you all with that.

Cheers and Clear Skies!

And most of it: THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!

Tech@ZWO

Tobi294MCPro I'm glad to hear the problem has been resolved. However, it's a bit unusual that the ambient temperatures for both the dark and light conditions need to be identical.

The amp-glow is typically caused by heat or near-infrared (NIR) light from the supporting circuits. When you set the target cooling temperature to -10 degrees, which means the sensor will cool to that temperature as well, allowing the amp-glow to be properly calibrated.

Could you let me know how you were capturing the darks previously? Also, what was the difference in ambient temperature between the dark and light conditions?
If you would share some new darks with us we appreciate that. thanks in advance.