April 26, 2017 I have recently installed Astro Photography Tool on my dedicated astrophotography laptop. From my very first imaging sequence, I knew I was going to like this application. There is no better way to learn a new imaging application than to put it to use for a night of deep sky imaging. With clear night ahead of me, I dive into Astro Photography Tool to plan my Whale Galaxy astrophotography project.
In the video below, I also discuss my ongoing transition from a DSLR camera to a. The process of controlling a dedicated astronomy camera like the ZWO ASI071MC Cool is much different than a DSLR camera. I feel confident investing time learning a new software application that is flexible enough to any future upgrades I make to my camera equipment. The regular updates and support groups dedicated to this software are a reassuring sign. The Astro Photography Tool community is active on. In this early review, I’ll talk about why APT is now my primary image acquisition and automation software.
After a long run using BackyardEOS, I have progressed to a camera control software that allows me to run both my DSLR camera and a CCD camera. After spending 2 amazing clear nights with it, I am extremely satisfied with APT’s intuitive user experience and helpful tools. This program allows you to spend more time gathering light on your deep-sky object, and less time staring at a computer screen. A User-Friendly Approach I managed to successfully shoot lights, darks, bias, and flats my very first night using APT. This is more than I can say about my first run with Sequence Generator Pro! SGP is a fantastic astrophotography tool, but I find APT to be a better fit for my needs. As I continue to learn how to get the most of my image control software, I will dive into some of the more advanced features.
Features such as PointCraft and the Collimation aid (for my reflector) have gone unused thus far. Click on the image below for a larger, uncropped version. NGC 4631 – The Whale Galaxy You can read more about my experiences photographing the Whale Galaxy, including the complete photography details here: Astro Photography Tool Review APT is the third image acquisition software I’ve used in the past 4 months. My first camera control software experience was. Then, came into the picture due to my need for CCD image control. Finally, Astro Photography Tool has graced my imaging laptop screen, and I am happy to report that it appears as though I saved the best for last.
BackyardEOS & BackyardNIKON BackyardEOS (for Canon cameras) and BackyardNIKON (for Nikon cameras) was designed and developed for astrophotography. This highly acclaimed software is in use all around the world by thousands of users.
I’d like to thank Steve at for the recommendation. I should have taken his advice sooner. Using Pixel Aid in Astro Photography Tool Astro Photography Tool reminds me a lot of BackyardEOS, and I don’t just mean the snazzy red interface. In my opinion, the user interface is much more friendly for beginners than SGP was. Fans of BackyardEOS will enjoy a similar feeling and user experience using APT. The of APT actually launched the software before BYE.
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So you might say that the APT had a role in inspiring future astro imaging tools. This software application has a loyal following of users, no doubt a result of the excellent customer service offered by the author. The fact that I jumped straight from Sequence Generator Pro to APT between imaging sessions gave me a direct head-to-head comparison. APT calls itself the “Swiss army knife” of Astro imaging sessions. It offers an extensive support to a wide variety of cameras including brands like, Canon, QHY, Atik, Orion and more. I run this software on my Windows 7 laptop.
The software boasts native support for SBIG and SBIG cameras, with ASCOM support for all other compatible cameras, filter wheels, focusers, and telescopes. One feature I appreciated right away, was the detailed tooltip popup windows. Literally, every button has an associated tooltip indicating what the button does, and when to use it. APT also presents helpful reminders at critical stages of your imaging session, such as “remember to cover the telescope”, before you run a series of darks. The developer clearly had the backyard astrophotography in mind when designing this software. Once you have a good understanding of the interface, you can easily turn off the tooltips by clicking the “i” button on the top right of the screen.
Why Astrophotographers use Camera Control Software On the most basic level, astrophotography imaging software is used to control your DSLR or CCD camera. The application connects directly to your camera and provides an advanced interface to automate the exposure sequences. My telescope and camera pointed towards the Whale Galaxy My first experience using a dedicated software for deep sky imaging was BackyardEOS. Making the jump from Canon EOS Utilities to BYEOS for camera control was an eye-opener.
Not only could I run a series of events, but it had astrophotography specific tools for focusing and framing my object, and a lot more. This completely changed the way I approached deep sky astrophotography. The old days of using Canon EOS Utilities or a remote shutter release cable are long gone. Applications like APT will make you a better photographer, by structuring your image events. Camera control software lets you maximize the amount of light you collect on a clear night. A Better Imaging Experience. Running APT on my imaging laptop All of the applications I have used for controlling my camera have had one thing in common; they make life easier.
The tools built into the software help me spend less time getting set up, and more time collecting photons. The following list of benefits are true of all imaging control software: Key benefits. controlling your camera. framing your target. focusing your telescope.
monitoring your images. automatic dithering Plate solving is the act of using the software in conjunction with your telescope mount to align your target over multiple nights.
I am yet to use this feature of APT, or any other of the imaging applications. This could be a real time saver in the future, not to mention having frames that register perfectly with minimal overlapping. An impressive exclusive feature to APT is the Bahtinov Aid. This uses the Bahtinov Grabber technology to further improve the precision of your focus using a.
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If you’d like to see how I use APT for star alignment, and focus using a Bahtinov mask, feel free to watch the following video where I take you through my deep sky astrophotography process in the backyard. Using APT with a CCD Camera Astro Photography tool is a great option for owners of one-shot-color CMOS imaging cameras such as the, or the. However, newcomers to CCD-style imaging may experience the frustration of not being able to preview the.FIT files created by these cameras. Luckily, APT automatically creates small.PNG format thumbnail images to accompany each.fit file. These images will come in handy when reviewing your image files to stack.
I prefer to have a quick glance at the “APT thumbs” in Adobe Bridge to remove any unwanted pictures. This pre-screens the worst images before loading them into.
Reviewing.FIT image files in Adobe Bridge Sensor Temperature and Control BackyardEOS would give me a readout as to how red-hot the sensor in my Canon T3i would get. In the summer months, the sensor would rise to above 30 degrees using ISO 800 or above.
Running a DSLR in warm weather without any cooling can create a lot of noise in your astro image. The noise was reduced by shooting dark frames, but noise removal was a still a time-consuming stage of my image processing workflow.
However, since I started using the ZWO ASI071MC-Cool, thermal noise is a thing of the past. Running the Cooling Aid in APT Astro Photography Tool includes a function called Cooling Aid, that assists you in controlling the temperature of your CCD Camera. The tooltips of this function taught me a valuable lesson about cooling a CCD camera. It suggested to slowly drop the temperature of the cooler in 3-degree intervals – over a period of 4-5 minutes. This prevents thermal shock to the camera, and I had no idea about this issue until using the cooling aid in APT! In my case, I set the target temperature for the ASI071 to -20 degrees C. Not only does this level of control result in noise-free images but it also confirms that the dark frames I shoot are the exact same temperature.
Shooting dark frames in Astro Photography Tool is very straight forward. SGP Before I compare these two image capture applications, I should mention, that Sequence Generator Pro was designed with the goal of complete automation in mind. This includes having a permanent setup including an astrophotography mount on a pier, in a roofed observatory. Perhaps if I was at this level, I would appreciate the features of SGP more. Many of the advanced options within SGP went unused during my 45-day trial. This includes plate solving, mount control, focus control and a lot more. I do appreciate that SGP offers a free “Lite” version that continues to provide camera control and automatic dithering.
The Leo Triplet – captured using SGP for camera control I am a more basic user, who sets up all of my astrophotography equipment each night. I spend a lot of time outside next to my gear, not in a warm room or in the house. Sequence Generator Pro What I really liked about Sequence Generator Pro, was the Equipment Profile Manager. Here, I was able to input my unique gear including camera and autoguiding preferences. SGP would save all of the information for a quick setup the next time I was out imaging. I also enjoyed the Flats wizard, once I learned how to use it! The learning curve was due to my lack of CCD experience in general, rather than the process of taking flats.
Once I discovered that each camera has a target ADU for a successful flat frame, I was able to use the wizard to produce the right flats for the ASI071 through my telescope. I found Sequence Generator Pro a bit daunting to use at first. I think that advanced imagers can have a hard time viewing software through the eyes of a beginner, as I know I have been guilty of excluding information about my workflow. Astro Photography Tool At this point, I have only used APT for its most basic operations including running my exposure sequences and camera cooling. The biggest difference I noticed when using this program was the overall ease of use and simplicity for my needs. My laptop running APT and PHD2 Guiding I was able to spend minimal time adjusting settings, and get up and running right out of the gate.
Perhaps I got nostalgic about BackyardEOS and felt like this was the best CCD alternative. APT is much more affordable than SGP, at $20US compared to $99US.
For my personal style and imaging goals, Astro Photography Tool will likely be my imaging control software of choice for years to come! To see where APT fits into my deep sky astrophotography workflow, have a look at my.
Supported DLSR’s Which DSLR cameras can you use with Astro Photography Tool? At the moment, Astro Photography Tool includes the ability to shoot with a Canon DSLR cameras. Support for Nikon DSLR cameras in the future has been, but it will take some time. Unfortunately, because of the non-tethering nature of the API in Sony DSLR’s, software like APT or SGP do not have plans of supporting those cameras at this time. If you have any experience using APT and have something to add, please let me know on.
Related Posts Resources. Congratulations on your new auto guiding set up, you deserve it.
The information you share is insightful and your delivery is easy to understand. Also congrats on the number of people viewing your videos, FB page, and your Astro Backyard page as well. This speaks highly of your content, and your approach to astronomy, and your delivery method as well. I hope you will continue this for many years to come. May your skies be forever clear (unless you need the rain) and my you’re soon to be wife’s patients for you and your hobby never run out. Thank you so much for yet another really well presented and informative video/review.
The information from your tutorials and reviews has helped me to bring my love of astronomy, and my new found passion for astrophotography, to a much higher level than I ever hoped to achieve this soon. I was very close to hitting the frustration level maximum with my initial set up, but then by researching through your information invested in an Altair ED80 triplet apo and an Altair guidecam/finder set up with a trusty second hand Canon EOS 450D.
I’m going to try out APT too, as it appears to be a very powerful yet easy to use piece of software. Thank you so much again for the time and effort you put in to helping the rest of us just starting out. Now I just need the skies to clear here in North Devon (UK). You have duplicated a sentence in the above,text thought it worth pointing out so you can correct.
It the the last line of this paragraph and first of the next. One feature I appreciated right away, was the detailed tooltip popup windows.
Literally, every button has an associated tooltip indicating what the button does, and when to use it. APT also presents helpful reminders at key moments, such as “remember to cover the telescope”, before you run a series of darks. APT also presents helpful reminders at critical stages of your imaging session, such as “remember to cover the telescope”, before you run a series of darks. The developer clearly had the backyard astrophotography in mind when designing this software. HI Trevor, i’m getting closer and closer to autoguiding.
I currently have in place my laptop (windows 8), ASCOM, EQMOD (with EQDirect interface), Stellarium,and just recently APT and PHD2. The guide scope and cam to come in the not too distant future. My plan is to continue imaging unguided with my Orion Sirius mount and ES ED80 CF scopebut now using EQMOD with Stellarium for GoTo and APT for the camera control and Bahtinov aid while I am saving for the scope and cam. My request of you is to do make another video with a better review of APT as there was very little in the way of review in this video (at least it seems so to a newcomer like myself).I am certain that in the past year you have become quite well acquainted with APT and maybe you could make a more detailed review of its uses. Thanks a bunch and love the chanel.