Orion G3 instruction manual Software Walk‑Through

Once your prerequisites have been installed, you will be prompted to install the G3 ASCOM driver and Camera Studio software (Figure 4.3). Note that ASCOM is only required

if you intend to use the camera in another program, such as Nebulosity and MaxIm DL, or if you wish to use the camera as an autoguider. Click Orion Camera Studio Application to install the software.

Do no plug the StarShoot G3 camera into your computer until you have com- pleted the software and driver instal- lation.

Connecting the Camera to the PC

After the software and drivers have been installed, connect the camera to the USB port on your computer using the supplied USB cable. You do not need to plug in external power yet. Windows will automatically detect the camera and install it onto your com- puter. Wait for the message to appear, Device Installed Successfully.

3.Software Walk‑Through

Figure 4.3.

Figure 5. Camera Control window.

Connect/Disconnect

Connects the G3 and instantly dis- plays the CCD temperature. The G3 camera must be plugged into your PC before you click Connect.

Cooling

The CCD Temperature will always display while the camera is connected. To use the TEC, plug the 12V power cable from your power source (field battery or other) to the G3 camera. The fan will automatically power on. Click Cooler On. Set the Target (°C)

to approximately 7°C lower than the Figure 6. Capture window. current CCD temperature reading. Do

not click Cooler On until external power has been plugged into the G3.

Gain

This feature allows you to manually adjust the analog gain and offset. The default values have been selected for your camera and should normally not need adjustment. However, you may make adjustments to customize your settings. Default values are Offset 127 and Gain 185.

3.2Capture (Figure 6)

The Capture tab sets your exposure time, exposure type, save path, subframing, and other options.

Exposure

Set the exposure time in seconds. You can also specify fractions of seconds, like 0.5 seconds or 1.75 seconds, for example.

Camera Studio is an easy to use yet comprehensive imaging program that controls your G3 for image capture, and provides the processing tools to assemble your image and export it. The following section of the manual will walk you through the basic features of the software – Camera Control, Capture, Calibrate, Process and Save & Export.

3.1 Camera Control (Figure 5)

The Camera Control tab first appears on the right hand side of the screen when you open Camera Studio. This tab allows you to connect to the camera, activate the cooler and set the cooling temperature, adjust the gain and offset (not rec- ommended), or enable faster readout for quick image downloads.

Type

Choose from Light, Dark, Flat, and Bias. Most of the time you will only need to choose from Light and Dark frames, but for the best results, you can also take Flat frames. See “Astronomical Imaging – Dark Frames, Flat Fields”. To start imaging or focusing, take Light frames.

Bin

You can bin 1x1, 1x2, 2x1, and 2x2. For most imaging, you should always keep the setting at 1x1, which provides the full resolution of the camera. Binning 1x2 or 2x2 for example, will group the pixels together to collect more light at the expense of resolution. 1x2 will group 2 vertical pixels for every 1 horizontal pixel, 2x2 will group 2 horizontal and 2 vertical pixels, and is most commonly used to quickly find and frame a celestial object. Binning in these modes provides faster download times and greater sensitivity.

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