Orion G3 Subframe, Capture Single, Capture Loop, Capture Sequence, Capture Auto dark

Figure 9. The sliders on the Histogram can be adjusted to reveal lighter or darker depths of the image.

Subframe

You can selectively download a segment of the whole field of view to provide extremely fast download times. This is useful for focusing since you typically just concentrate on one star. Click and drag the mouse across part of the image to form a square (Figure 7), then check the Subframe box. The subframe size and coordinates will also be displayed in the Subframe dialog.

Note: Make sure the Subframe box is unchecked when you start capturing your astrophotos, or you could unin- tentionally subframe your images into a small square!

Capture – Single

Takes a single exposure only. The exposure length will be determined by the Exposure value in seconds you entered.

Capture – Loop

Continuously takes exposures until you press Stop. The Stop button will only appear a single or looping exposure. The Loop is useful for focusing when you are at the telescope and wish to monitor the focusing progress on your monitor.

Capture – Sequence

Figure 7. Subframing a small area speeds up the download time and allows you to concentrate on one area of the chip; ideal for focusing.

Figure 8. The Sequence dialog allows you to set your exposure then automatically image while you are away from the computer.

Capture – Color: Raw, YCbCr, RGB (for StarShoot G3 Color only)

These modes determine what kind of images will be captured. If you are using the StarShoot G3 Color, we recommend always capturing in Raw to allow for image calibration later (See “Image Processing – Calibrate Raws”). The image will appear black and white at first, but can later be converted to color. But for quick

imaging to instantly get color, you can select YCbCr (the most natural color from the camera), or software-processed RGB.

Note: The StarShoot G3 Monochrome will have this feature disabled since the images can only be captured in monochrome.

Capture – Auto dark

If you save a dark frame you can optionally check the Auto dark box to automatically calibrate the saved dark frame each time you capture an image. While this can be convenient, we recommend keeping this feature off under normal use, since enabling it permanently affects the raw data you capture.

Capture – New buffer

Check this box to display a new window each time a new image is captured. This is useful to compare or keep the image open without saving it. Keep in mind that more images will consume more system memory. The New buffer box should be left unchecked during multiple looping exposures or long sequences.

3.3 Histogram (Figure 9)

The Histogram window displays how the bright and dark pixels are distributed in your image. You can make all the adjustments to the Histrogram you want to reveal the details within the image, and it will not affect the image data, only the way it is displayed. Choose the presets like Medium, or drag the light and dark markers manually to adjust the image on your screen. Your computer monitor

Automatically capture and save images. This is a very convenient feature. It allows you to save your images while you sleep or do other tasks. In the Sequence window (Figure 8), you can set your destination Directory to save your images to, as well as specify the same parameters you would in the Capture tab, like Exposure, Type, and Bin. In the Sequence window you can also specify Repeat, to set the total number of exposures you want to automatically capture. Click Run Sequence when you are ready to begin.

only displays 8-bits of depth from black to white, whereas your StarShoot G3 camera takes images with 16 bits of depth. That’s the difference between 255 counts and 65,535 counts! So you need to check the Histogram to see how much image detail you really have.

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