From: Alan Friedman <alan@greatarrow.com>

Date: February 9, 2008 10:28:06 AM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Focusing

Hi Joe,

I've always focused directly off the computer screen. All of my imaging scopes have a feathertouch dual speed focuser and I find this works very well. Focusing problems come in a couple of flavors. The biggest challenge is achieving sharp focus in poor seeing, but then everything is a challenge in poor seeing! For solar imaging I usually bring out a large rubbermaid bin laid on it's side and place a two sided cloth over it (black on the inside, silver lame on the outside - my wife is a costume designer!) to cut the glare from the sun. Another challenge is imaging dim subjects where the FPS rate might drop to 15 or 7.5 - the lag in the screen refresh rate can make focusing more difficult. Here I usually focus with the camera set to maximum gain and then make adjustments for the capture after I am comfortable that focus is good.

best of luck with your new camera!

Alan

On Feb 9, 2008, at 11:09 AM, Joe Breault wrote:

I am new to the group, and have just ordered a ¼” chip imagining source color cam without IR cutoff (firewire) to connect up to my macbook using the Astro IIDC software I just downloaded. So I am trying to get oriented not having used anything but a DSLR in the past and focused for that using mechanical focusing aids (http://www.stellar-international.com/).

How does accurate focusing occur with these cameras and Astro IIDC? Do you mechanically focus your scope based on the image on the screen in the software? Or based on other indicators in the software? If by image that sounds like a challenge for solar imaging when the sun will be washing out good screen viewing even with covers. Is there a feedback loop from the software to control a motorized focuser for telescopes?

Sorry I do not know anything about this yet, just a newbie trying to understand how this works.

Joe

WB2MXJ.com