Several Questions About the Flat Frame Tool

curtismacc

Here are several questions I and others have about the new Flat Frame Tool. Would appreciate answers to each one.

Can you confirm that the Seestar was using internal Flats created at the factory prior to the user Flat option becoming available? I ask this because the text below the "Flat Shoot" function seems to indicate that it did as it says "If the built-in flat-field cannot meet the calibration requirements, you can control Seestar lens at the uniform light source and click the Shoot button, and the system will automatically take and save the flat-field file"
And, assuming that the answer to question #1 is true, was the same Flat installed on every Seestar S50 or were the Flats customized to each individual Seestar.
And, assuming that the answer to question #1 is true, will the original factory Flat be used if a "Reset" is performed on the Seestar?
Does the Flat algorithm use a fixed exposure/gain setting or does it vary the settings depending upon the intensity of the light?
Can the Seestar report a failed Flat for any other reason than the level of the light was either too high or too low to make a good Flat?

Thank you
Curtis

UzHIoL3s

And regarding #3 I’d like to know how to perform a reset of the Seestar to restore the factory flats.

Support@Seestar

Please see our responses to each point below:

1. Was the Seestar using internal flats created at the factory before the user flat option became available?
Yes, Seestar had a built-in flat field calibration applied at the factory. This internal flat was automatically used in image calibration before we provided the option for users to create their own flats.

2. Were the same flat frames installed on every Seestar S50, or were they customized per unit?
The same flat-field data was installed on all Seestar S50 units at the time of production. It was not customized individually for each device.

3. If a user performs a factory reset, will the original factory flat be restored?
No, performing a factory reset does not affect the flat-field calibration data. The reset only restores system and application settings.

4. Does the flat algorithm use a fixed exposure/gain, or does it adjust based on the light intensity?
The flat capture process automatically calculates the appropriate exposure and gain values based on the average brightness of the light source. It is not fixed and will adapt for optimal results.

5. Can a flat capture fail for any reason other than the brightness level being too high or too low?
Yes, a flat may also fail if the light source is not uniform.

curtismacc

Thank you for the quick response. While I was fairly certain what your answers would be I wanted to confirm my beliefs, especially since I already spoke about these in the Seestar Flat Frame Video Tutorial I posted over the weekend on my channel.

I was convinced that the Seestar was using a generic factory flat as it is obvious from the text I quoted above. But it is good to have that confirmed. I did not know that the new flat overwrites the factory flat and so on but should have guessed. I was also certain that the Flat algorithm checked the light level and adjusted the exposure to get the light curve in the center of the histogram as is normal for flats taken for standard astrophotography. I confirmed this for myself by determining that the time it took to complete the flats more than doubled when I used a stack of 5 sheets of paper versus a single sheet. My last question was to dispel the notion some folks have that if the Flat algorithm "succeeds" the flat must be good. That is not necessarily true, as you replied. A gap in the sheet of paper, or wrinkles in the t-shirt could lead to very bad flats and the user would have no way to know unless they could see that clearly in their images.

The one question I forgot to ask, was "How many flats does the Seestar take to create the Master Flat?" Since the flat exposures are very short I would expect that it would take quite a bit more than the 5 taken for the longer exposures needed for the dark frames.

Finally, is there a way to make contact with whomever at ZWO works with Beta testers to see if I could help in that regards. I worked with the founder, Sam, back in 2016 with his first highly successful camera, the ASI224, when the company was just starting to make a big name for itself.

Best Regards,
Curtis