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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Problems on SX694 with short exposures

  • Posts: 20
  • Thank you received: 2
Hi all, I am trying to use INDI/astroberry with an SX694 camera. It works well when I am taking long exposures, but does not work when taking exposures of about one second or less (eg flats or bias). The images have a consistent pattern of blotches, that are not related to the flats panel I'm using as a target. A jpg of the results is attached. I am using indi-sx version 1.14 (trying to install 1.2 on astroberry 2.01 gives me a DistroTemplateException).
The blotches are large scale and have a range max/min of several hundred levels, swamping the usuals flats calibration data. They are not apparent using the same camera and an ASCOM driver, using APT.

I ran the same exposures using INDI through Ekos, and ASCOM through APT. The inspections were all using KStars FITS viewer, with an Ha filter (the Lum filter gave similar results but the CCD became saturated at a lower exposure making the results less clear). The results are interesting.


INDI/Ekos
Exp Min Max Mean SD Appearance
0.005 5549 27047 16968 1494 Blotchy
0.01 6770 22167 13897 1196 Blotchy
0.02 11663 23085 16355 937 Blotchy
0.05 25440 33959 28928 658 Blotchy
0.1 42271 54938 51276 552 Blotchy
0.2 55669 65523 63258 186 Cleaner
0.5 55656 65535 63255 186 Cleaner

ASCOM/APT
Exp Min Max Mean SD Appearance
0.005 2405 3045 2707 59 Clean
0.01 2480 3135 2794 62 Clean
0.02 2497 3179 2812 63 Clean
0.05 2657 3404 3015 68 Clean
0.1 2776 3524 3143 71 Clean
0.2 2991 3797 3384 76 Clean
0.5 3866 4934 4403 95 Clean
1 5465 6892 6119 123 Clean
2 8539 10783 9557 169 Clean
5 18076 22123 20002 284 Clean
10 33016 40203 36644 443 Clean

As can be seen, the shorter the exposure using INDI,the greater the variation in the images. The blotches were identical in all cases, and are aligned to the CCD not the flats panel. The shapes are the same, only the intensity varying, as shown by the SD figures. The ASCOM results showed no equivalent problems. I also tried taking the same shots using APT (on a Windows PC) to connect to the INDI server, but got random noise that did not change with exposure! The min level was about 12k, the max 65k and the mean 32k for all shots.

During the latest tests I ran the camera off a large 12v battery to remove any supply ripple. For what it is worth I am running the RPi4b on its own 5V power supply from 240V.

At present, I cannot take bias or flat frames successfully using INDI. I am not sure how to move forward on this, as I like KStars/Ekos/INDI otherwise . Has anyone else seen this problem, or have any suggestions, please.

Thanks

Tim
3 years 11 months ago #51361
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