Everything you need to know to image with the ASIAIR TONIGHT!
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- :50 physical set up and cables
3:25 app and wifi connection
4:23 connecting your devices
5:00 compatible cameras
6:40 establishing focus
7:45 overview of all the features
- wi-Fi icon and station mode
- 11:01 guiding set up & dither
- 15:07 electronic auto focus
- 16:03 auto run and plan log
16:39 full imaging tutorial!
16:46 preview photo/syncing the mount
18:05 polar alignment
20:55 camera rotation & matching your prev. Target
22:38 initiate guiding and calibration
24:46 electronic autofocus run
25:15 adjusting 12v out for dew heaters
22:17 star detect and annotate
28:28 object selection
28:45 mosaic
29:20 autorun (lights, flats, darks, bias)
32:32 final image!
Check out my first ever full length Photoshop tutorial where I go through my complete workflow!
www.patreon.com/DarkRangersIn...
This is a comprehensive tutorial that will cover literally almost every feature of the ASIAIR and the app, including how to connect the physical hardware to the device for all 3 current models (Plus, Mini, Pro).
For what to do after you capture the images please see my tutorials on Pixinsite in Photoshop. As always let me know anything else you guys need to know.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments, as well as any suggestions for a future videos. If you could please like and subscribe, I would greatly appreciate it. Clear Skies!
If you’re interested in seeing more of my work check out website and other social media!
Website: www.darkrangersinc.com
Instagram: luxadinfinitum
Facebook: Ryan Voykin
STARIZONA ACTION PACK:
starizona.com/products/stariz...
Gear:
Camera: 2600MC and MM Pro
Mount: AM5, with 290mm guide cam
ASIAIR Plus, and Mini
Starfield Gear 90mm FPL-53 APO
1x: 540mm F6 .8k 432mm F4.8
Pixinsite with RC-Astro Plugins, and Photoshop
Video: GoPro Hero 11 & 9 black with DJI mics
Nikon Z72 for landscape photos
Your vids are great. Just signed up as a patreon member for you. You do such a thorough job of explaining things in an easy to follow format. Thanks for all of the hard work you put into your videos.
This is incredibly helpful…so glad I happened across your channel!
That's great glad it helped!
Super helpful and somewhat intimidating. LOTS of controls to be familiar with, but so glad they're all there. Thanks for your hard work, and I hope you work things out with ZWO so they up their game. Michael
Great tutorial, mostly match with my expriences, many thanks and CS!
Glad it was helpful. Thanks for the kind words and I appreciate you being a part of the channel!
Thank you Ryan, just got a bunch of ZWO equipment and your video helped me get everything up and running.
I muddled my way tjrough my first session with the ASI Air Plus last night. I wish I'd found this video one day earlier! Very helpful and informative. Many thanks. Subbed.
Thanks for being a part of the channel… I wish the CZcams algorithm would get me out to more people a little earlier too 😂. Hope it helps you going forward!
I found a guide that shows how you save a custom target, but it looks like you can get back there by simply opening a previous image! That seems a lot easier!!
Yeah, that’s how I’ve always done it and it guarantees that your rotation is the same too because it will correct it if it’s wrong
Awesome video. I'm not new to Astrotography but started using the ASIair Plus since Jan 2023. The best choice I've made, fantastic piece of kit makes life a lot easier for the not so advanced. This is way up there with the best video I've seen yet. Thank you. Just wished you were close by to pick your brains a little :)
It’s probably the easiest system to use for sure it does have some limitations once you get a little further along, but you can get pretty far with it and it definitely makes the learning curve a lot easier !
We do have a growing Patreon community group… It’s a private Facebook group where you can talk to other members and myself. It’s a cool little community that is growing each week.
If you have any one off questions, you can always hit me up via email 👍🏼
Very helpful - many thanks
I've been using an asi air for 3.5 years now starting with the original plastic version. The hardware and software has been so well developed over that time I wouldn't go back to a laptop or a mini pc. The only downside is as you point out being locked into zwo products. Good tutorial for someone new to an asi air 👍
Thank you and yes I hope they open it up at some point. If not there’s always the Primaluce Eagle but obviously a much bigger investment
As an astrophotographer, fireworks are my enemy. The real fireworks are in the heavens above . Clear skies ✨️
The moon is my enemy. Fireworks are kool. Very Annoying distraction during this video however.
Awesome video. Thank you
I’m new so this is brilliant, thank you sir
Glad you like it. I was thinking about doing a second one since this is old, but not much. New has changed with it, glad it’s still helpful
If powering AM5 + ASIair + cooled camera, make sure your power supply has at least 10 amps. IIRC, the ZWO PS just has 5 amps.
Definitely , I think I mention in the video that I use a separate power supply for my camera for the reason you stated.
I wish my guiding was anywhere close to what you are getting... Thanks for all the info...
Make sure the tripod is level and everything is balanced, with a good polar alignment most mounts should be able to achieve that
@@darkrangersinc I level it with the bubble level at the top of the tripod and get my polar under 1 arc min. for both.
I'm using a 30mm SVBony guide scope with an ASI120mm mini camera.
Mount is the Sky-Watcher AZ/GTi with EQ mod that I adjusted per "Cuiv the lazy geeks" video (it has no backlash now) mounted on a wedge.
Main scope is the Shy-Watcher 50ED Evoguide with Starizona field flattener. Camera is the ASI533MC Pro and filter wheel.
Thanks so much, this tutorial like a Charm for my Nexstar Evo 9.25 on Wedge + Asi533mc, AAPlus, EAF and Asi120mm w/30mm guide scope. The only issue I have to work with is to have the GoTo center precisley the target because its a bit off. Astroblender, if you any tips I would appreciate any info. Thanks for you great work and tutorials for this Newbie 👌
Enjoyed that, well done 👍🏻
Mosquitos 🦟 suck!!!😂
Thanks man they were going crazy! Usually I smoke a cigar when I’m setting up and the smoke seems to help but couldn’t do that while video recording lol
@@darkrangersinc 🤣 Yeah Smoke 💨 on the vids not great
Maybe a zapper for the little buggers
How dare they interrupt an imaging session 🤣
@@Si-fp2ij yeah I’m actually looking into one I can take camping with me too they make some smaller battery powered mosquito repellents. Definitely worth the investment!
@@darkrangersinc in Australia 🇦🇺 we take the trusty can of Aerogard 🤣
Thanks, I learned many valuable steps. As a newbie, I have managed to take my first DSO photo. However, after completing PA is there a need to unclamp RA and DEC and hand move the mount/scope back to the Home Position before using GoTo to acquire the desired target? Another CZcams content provider indicated this was necessay.
I usually just pick my target and go straight there. I’d like to calibrate my guiding from the actual target itself. That way I know it’s calibrated to the direction I’m pointing.
I haven’t found the need to go back to Home but it’s not going to hurt anything if you do. Since you just plate solved for PA. The scope should know where it’s pointed. You can always do one quick preview exposure and solve just to be certain but I don’t routinely go back to home, no.
Thank you. I almost drove my camera into the tripod leg after PA so I am trying to be cautious. @@darkrangersinc
Excellent run through! One question: If you don’t change anything from night to night, why do you have readjust your camera?
You can get some rotation from night tonight and if you do bump your scope or something like that taking the cover on and off I just want to show how to do it and I always like to double check that it’s perfect because if it’s not then you’re going to have more stacking artifacts and smaller percentage of usable data
Your quick response to comments/questions is amazing. THANK YOU! If you don’t mind, another quick question. Skies permitting, I will leave my scope untouched until the next night. Even though I may have excellent polar alignment on the first night, I find the next night’s PA just isn’t nearly as close (so I’ve been running another PA routine). I was all ears to hear you mention that PA wouldn’t be necessary (assuming nothing has changed) night to night. Should I not be concerned about the PA shift I get night to night?
@@josephluciani5531 if you’re doing auto guiding, it doesn’t need to be perfect from night tonight. Unfortunately, these mounts are not super high-quality so they don’t hold their polar alignment. When you get into higher end, observatory grade mounts from companies like astrophysics or software bisque, etc. they will hold it perfectly.
But with auto guiding you should be OK I double check it every few days just to make sure it hasn’t gotten too far out of whack and then correct it when it’s getting up near 10 minutes or when guiding can’t hold sub arc minute.
I usually get around .5 to .9 guiding regardless of how close the polar alignment is as long as it’s reasonably close it it’s fine
I've had my ASIAir Plus 256 with V2.2.1 10.74 software running on a Gen 9 iPad for about a month and its been one frustrating journey so far. I have an 8" Celestron SCT with an AVX mount. I beginning to think ASIAir was not developed for or was never tested with an SCT and the AVX mount. I use an ASI585MC planetary camera. ASIAir can't plate solve with native focal length. If I put on a 6.3 focal reducer then ASI seems to be able to plate solve. But the GO TO feature doesn't seem to want to work consistently. Sometimes it finds targets then out of the blue on the next target it gets lost.
The software V2.2.1 mount direction controls don't work for me.Most of the time the direction arrows seem stuck and the mount continues slewing even after lifting your finger off the icon.
Home on the ASIAir Plus is a different location than the AVX mount's index marks.
The experience so far using the ASIAIr Plus has made astrophotography a chore so far.
Sorry to hear. I don’t any experience with the AVX but I do with the CGEM2 it’s big brother. I always had to do a 1 or 2 star alignment first to get the device to communicate using the hand controller, once connection was established it would work fairly well.
Important factors plate solving are making sure the focal length is correct in the app for the scope and the scope is in good focus.
Also what bottle class are you in and are you using any filters?
Spoke too soon. Added a 6.3 focal reducer to my C8 SCT to my 585MC, set it 105mm for back focus, BIN=1. The GO TO feature couldn't find targets. Tried Bin = 2 with not success. I later swapped out to my Nikon D5100 and restarted the session with ASIAIR from scratch and it worked. The next night with the D5100 I took the 6.3 focal reducer off and had lots of GO TO issues. After the third reset session it started to work. I don't understand why ASIAir is so unreliable at Go To on my 8" SCT. I figured it was because of my ASI585MC small sensor but my Nikon D5100 is 23.6x15.6. Watching everyones youTubes on ASIAir looked so good but looking back now one was using an SCT other than one using a RASA 8" at F/2. I'm wondering once the focal length exceeds 1000m the ASIAir plate solving isn't precise enough, maybe it needs a wider field of view more than an SCT at F.6.3 or F/10. Thanks
When you do a 1 or 2 star alignment do you just chose it, chose a star, wait for it to slew and stop then hit enter and align buttons. You don't actually position the star in an eyepiece then press the Align button? Thanks
Good job on the introduction. I have been using ASIAIR for over 6 months. I learned everything i know by trial and error. Wish I had your guide early on. One thing I do not understand is the star size numbers. How do you determine what the best number for your rig should be? What is the meaning of those numbers? Thanks...
Glad to hear, and yes, after explaining how to use it to enough people I finally realized I know this won’t apply to a lot of my experienced viewers, but it will be an asset to people that are new… I did the same thing, but over a few years, I kind of figured out all the features that actually better and how to use them and wanted to take the guess work out
Regarding the star question the smaller the number of the better so it’s pretty simple. It’s the FWHM (full width half maximum) and you want the number to be as small as you can.
It’ll vary depending on your set up but for me if I’m under 2.3 I’m super focused and can get as low as 1.8 with really good seeing conditions.
I just found your channel and really enjoying the videos. I want to run two separate astrophotography rigs, both with ASIAir Mini's. Can I use my tablet to run both Mini's? Or do I need two different tablets?
You’re enjoying the content appreciate you being a part of the channel! Yes you can use one tablet just be aware that you’ll have to keep switching your Wi-Fi from one ASI to the other. Not a big deal only takes a few seconds but it is possible.
Sometimes you’ll have to close the app go and switch the Wi-Fi and re-open it, they both will have their own signal and that’s how the app will know which one you’re using. I usually do one on my tablet and on my phone if I’m running 2
Every time I watch an asiair tutorial (probably over 15), new features are revealed. And explained. I've been using mine for over ten months, and just learned a few more. Like the auto gain for flats etc. Wish zwo would teach all this! Thanks !
On a side note, all the distractions, camera issues, fireworks, mosquitoes etc. Made the video annoying, and hard to concentrate. Should have picked a different nigt, or re-shoot some of it. Your distinct indicators on screen captures are super helpful! Just saying.
Sorry I couldn’t control the mosquitoes for you - and my free content I produced for no other reason than to help people like you learn something to enrich your life and make the hobby easier didn’t live up to your expectations.
Please accept my apologies, and if you can bestow your Godlike powers upon me so I can force Mother Nature to not exist and for all humans in the area to not make noise that would be an amazing way to return the favor 👍🏼
I'm sorry. Please accept my apologies. Didn't mean to be off putting. I understand how annoying Mosquitos are. Like I said a great deal was learned.
@@mikehardy8247 it’s all good I was just having little fun with ya. You have to understand. I have a full-time life and I’m doing this on the side for free. It already takes way more time than I should probably be giving away with nothing really in return other than just trying to be good to the community. So when somebody says I should reshoot it because of mosquitoes or fireworks which are completely out of my control It’s kind of tough to hear.
Imagine if you put 10 hours into a video you didn’t get paid to do just to help people and somebody was like, you shot it when it was cloudy outside instead of sunny you should reshoot it when it’s sunny out… you’d probably feel a little off about it. And for this video because I was newer to editing, it probably took me a lot more than 10 hours.
Rather than thinking, it’s annoying that there were fireworks maybe think wow he’s using his holiday time off that he could be enjoying the 4th with and relaxing stand outside getting eaten alive by mosquitoes to make content for us… that’s all.
I did see your nice, done another video, so I know you mean the best, we’re all good brother! 👌🏼
I just purchased the Zwo Asiair mini,120mm guide scope and the ZWO ASI585MC Pro USB3 Cooled Color Camera connected everything and I kept on getting plate solve failure. I’m a newbie to this and not sure what I was doing wrong. My scope is 90mm aperture with a FL of 500. Totally confused.
Your tutorial is very helpful. Going to have to watch this about a few times. Now I know what to do. My focus on my main camera must be out of focus and my guide camera needs to be focused before moving on.
good video - I've been Air since 2021 but you taught me something. Never thought about rotating the scope prior to PA. Are you moving the DEC or RA axis ? Thank you for that tip. Worth the price of admission.
That’s good to hear I know it’s a long video and I knew it wouldn’t appeal to a good chunk of my audience, but I figured if people were willing to watch it even if it but using that they probably pick up one or two things.
I rotate the declination axis by hitting the up arrow, which if you’re standing behind it, rotates it clockwise. And then, as it rotates on the right ascension, it will be pointing more vertical.
@@darkrangersinc thank you sir - I will put that into my workflow
Does this work with a SONY a7iii?
The ZWO keeps an up to date list of all their mirrorless and DSLR cameras
Where can this list be found, please?
Do’s anyone make a video about how to understand the “tonight’s best” graphs.
I know the moon will rise tonight around 9 pm but the graph looks like I won’t even see it. It will be 3/4 all night long.
Hey, sorry just saw this. The graph is basically showing the rise and fall of the target. The blue dotted line is when it will be at its highest point and the numbers at the bottom are the time of night in military time.