Orion 52080 User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Orion® StarShoot

™

Deep Space Color Imager II

#5 208 0

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

Customer Support (800) 676-1343

E-mail: support@telescope.com

Corpo rate Of fices ( 831) 76 3-700 0

P.O. Box 1815, Santa Cruz, CA 95061

IN 308 Rev. B 07/07

Welcome to a new world of adventure. Your new

StarShoot Deep Space Color Imaging Camera II (SSDSIII) is capable of capturing detailed, full-color images of astronomical objects. Galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae, as well as the planets, Moon, and Sun (with optional solar ﬁlter) can all be imaged to create spectacular views on your computer (laptop recommended, see “System Requirements”) which can be saved for emailing or printing later. You’ll ﬁnd that this relatively inexpensive, yet powerful, camera will enhance your astronomical journeys with your telescope.

Please read this instruction manual before attempting to use the camera or install the needed software. For the most detailed information on speciﬁc camera and software functions, consult the Maxim DL Essentials the tutorials found there are especially useful for familiarizing yourself with how the software and camera are typically used.

Help menu;

Parts List

Figure 1.

To use the SSDSI-II, a telescope, mount, and computer are required.

• StarShoot Deep Space Color Imager II

• USB cable

• 3V Power supply for TEC (requires 2x D-cell batteries, not included)

• CD-ROM

System Requirements (refer to Figure 1)

Telescope

The SSDSI-II can be used with virtually any telescope that is compatible with

1.25" format eyepieces. The camera simply is inserted into a focuser in the same way as a standard eyepiece (Figure 2a).

Important Note: Be sure to always ﬁrmly tighten the thumbscrew(s) that secures the SSDSI-II in the telescope focuser, or it could fall out and onto the ground!

If your telescope is has T-threads for direct camera attachment, a more secure connection can be made. First, unthread the nosepiece from the SSDSI-II. This exposes the camera’s T-threads. Now, simply thread the camera onto your telescope (Figure 2b).

Securing thumbscrew

Figure 2a. The SSDSI-II ﬁts into 1.25" focuser, just like a standard 1.25" eyepiece.

Firmly tighten the thumbscrew that secures the SSDSI in the focuser.

T-threads

Figure 2b. If your telescope has T-threads, remove the nosepiece from the SSDSI-

II and thread the camera directly onto the telescope. This provides the most secure connection.

In order to reach focus, the telescope must have approximately 0.6" (15mm) of inward focus travel relative to where a standard eyepiece focuses. If your telescope does not have enough inward focus travel, you will need to use and optional 1.25" barlow lens to extend the telescope’s focal plane to the camera’s imaging plane.

For most types of astro-imaging with the SSDSI-II (except planetary imag ing), using a telescope with a focal length of under 1000mm is recommended. Otherwise, the ﬁeld of view may be too small to capture the entire deep sky object. To decrease the effective focal length of your telescope, use a focal reducer lens (available from Orion). If you are imaging planets, however, you will beneﬁt from using a telescope with a long (over 1000mm) focal length. Or you can use a barlow lens to extend the effective focal length of your telescope to increase planetary image scale.

Mount

An equatorial mount with right ascension motor drive is required for deep sky imaging with the SSDSI-II. Otherwise, objects will drift in the ﬁeld of view as the image is being captured. It is also very important that the mount tracks very accurately with little periodic error. If not, stars will not appear round in the ﬁnal image. Use a sturdy mount that is appropriately sized for the telescope tube being used. Accurate polar alignment will also be required.

Computer

A computer is needed. For astro-imaging in the ﬁeld at night, a laptop com

puter is highly recommended. Maxim DL Essentials requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista.

The following hardware is also required:

• Processor – Pentium™ or equivalent, or higher

• Recommended minimum memory size is 64 MB.

• Disk Space – 67 MB for program installation, 100 MB swap ﬁle recom mended

• Video Display – 800 X 600, 16-bit color or higher. 1024x768 or higher is recommended.

• Mouse

• Internet Explorer 4 or higher required to display on-line help

• USB port (USB 2.0 recommended)

Maxim DL Essentials beneﬁts greatly from increased memory size.

Note: Some computers have USB ports that are known to not meet the USB speciﬁcation for the output voltage. These computers may not be able to run the SSDSI-2 without the use of an external powered hub. The vast majority of computers, however, do meet the proper USB speciﬁcation, and should have no problems running the SSDSI-2 off of regular USB power. The SSDSI-2 itself is fully USB compliant regarding its power requirements.

Power and the TEC

In order to provide power for the SSDSI-II’s thermoelectric cooler (TEC), an external 3VDC power supply is needed. The SSDSI-II camera itself runs off the

power supplied by your computer’s USB port; only the TEC requires external power. So, if you happen to run out of external 3VDC power in the ﬁeld, you can still run the camera without the TEC.

The TEC is like a refrigerator in the camera. When the camera is running, it produces internal heat, which causes “noise” in images. The TEC counteracts this by cooling the CCD chip, which reduces thermal noise. This produces bet

ter quality images than similar uncooled cameras can provide. Also, cameras with simple air-cooling (i.e. with an onboard fan) cannot reduce the internal camera temperature below ambient (outside) temperature, and therefore pro

duce images that are inherently inferior. The TEC in the SSDSI-II will reduce the temperature of the camera’s interior to approximately 36°F (20° C) below the ambient outside temperature.

The included 3VDC power supply requires two D-cell batteries (not included). To install the batteries, open the battery holder by pulling and lifting the tab on the cover labeled “OPEN”. Then, insert the batteries so the polarity is as indicated on the interior of the holder.

Tab

- +

USB

cable

D-cell batteries (2)

3VDC Power supply

Figure 3. The 3V power supply (with two D-cell batteries installed) turns the TEC on

when it is plugged into the SSDSI-II.

When the 3VDC power supply is plugged into the SSDSI-II, the TEC is on (Figure 3). It takes about a minute for the TEC to provide maximum cooling, so wait a couple of minutes before you begin to capture images. When the power source is not plugged in, the TEC is off. Remember to unplug the TEC when it is not in use, or you will drain the power supply. Keeping a spare set of D-cell batteries in your equipment case is also a good idea!

Input jack for TEC power

Software and Driver Installation

Before the camera can be used, software and camera drivers must be installed onto your computer. Turn on your computer and allow the Windows operating system to load as normal. Insert the included CD-ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM drive, and the install the Maxim DL Essentials software. After the software is installed, the drivers will install automatically once the SSDSI-II is initially connected to the computer. Do not connect the camera to your computer before you have installed the software.

Launcher will appear (Figure 4). This allows you to

Figure 4. The Launcher provides an

easy menu for software installation.

Software Installation

To install Maxim DL Essentials Edition:

1. Insert the CD-ROM into the drive. The Launcher will appear. For Windows

Vista computers, the AutoPlay window will appear. Select Run Launcher.exe, then the Launcher will appear.

2. Click

3. The InstallShield Wizard will start. Click

4. Read the Maxim DL License Agreement. If you agree with the terms, then

5. You are now ready to install. Click

6. The installation is now complete. Click the

You can start Maxim DL Essentials Edition using the desktop icon, or using the Windows Start menu.

Camera Driver Installation

Now that the software is installed, the camera driver must also be installed. The system will automatically guide you through driver installation when the SSDSI-II is initially connected to the computer. You must plug-in the camera before starting Maxim DL Essentials Edition, or the software and computer will not recognize the camera.

To install the camera driver on a Windows XP computer:

1. Make sure the CD-ROM is in the computer.

2. Connect the Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imager II to a USB port on the

Note: For best results, use a USB 2.0 port. If you only have USB 1.1, the cam era will run slower. We highly recommend upgrading to USB 2.0 if you have USB 1.1. A USB upgrade card can be found from a computer parts supplier.

Note: You do not need to connect the SSDSI-II to the external 3VDC power supply at this time. The external power is for the camera’s thermoelectric cooler (TEC) only, and normal camera operation does not require it to be on (i.e. when the TEC is powered it is on, when it is not powered it is off). Use of the TEC is highly recommended for long exposure astro-imaging, however (see “Imaging Deep Sky Objects”).

3. Select No, not this time and click

4. Select Install from a list of speciﬁc location (Advanced) and click

5. Select Search removable media (ﬂoppy, CD-ROM...). Turn off the other

6. Windows will start looking for the driver ﬁles on the CD-ROM.

Install.

Next.

select I accept the terms in this license agreement and click Next.

Install. The installation will proceed.

Finish button.

computer with the supplied USB cable. Windows will automatically detect the camera and start the Found New Hardware Wizard (Figure 5a).

Next.

options. Click

Next.

Figure 5b. When

initially connecting the SSDSI-II to a Windows Vista computer, the Found New Hardware window will appear and guide you through driver installation.

Figure 5a. When initially connecting the SSDSI-II to a Windows

XP computer, the Found New Hardware Wizard will appear and guide you through driver installation.

7. Windows will note that the driver has not passed Windows Logo testing. This is normal. Click the Continue Anyway button.

8. When the Wizard has completed, click the Finish button. This completes the driver installation process.

Now, start the Maxim DL Essentials Edition software. The camera will now be recognized, and the Camera Control Window (Figure 6) will appear. Once the driver is installed, the computer and software will recognize the SSDSI-II whenever it is plugged in.

To install the camera driver on Windows Vista computer:

1. Make sure the CD-ROM is in the computer.

2. Connect the SSDSI-II to a USB port on the computer with the supplied USB cable. Windows will automatically detect the camera and display the Found New Hardware window (Figure 5b.)

3. Select Locate and install driver software (recommended).

4. In the next window that appears, select Don’t search online

5. The next window that appears will ask you to “Insert the disc that came with your StarShoot Camera”. Click Next.

6. A Windows Security window will appear and mention that “Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software”. Choose Install this driver soft

ware anyway

7. When the window appears telling you “The software for this device has been successfully installed”, click

Close. This completes the driver instal-

lation process.

Now, start the MaxIm DL Essentials Edition software. The camera will now be recognized, and the Camera Control Window (Figure 6) will appear. Once the driver is installed, the computer and software will recognize the SSDSI-II whenever it is plugged in.

Figure 6.

The Camera Control Window

automatically appears when the SSDSI is connected to the computer and the Maxim DL Essentials program is started.

Note: If your computer (Windows XP or Vista) has multiple USB ports, you will need to install the driver again if the SSDSI-II is connected to a different USB port.

Getting Started During Daylight

We recommend using the SSDSI-II for the ﬁrst time during the day. This way, you can become familiar with the camera and its functions without having to stumble around in the dark. Setup your telescope and mount so the optical tube is pointing at an object that is at least a couple of hundred feet away. Insert an eyepiece and focus as you normally would.

Since the SSDSI-II camera is so sensitive to light, you will need to “stop down” your telescope aperture to do any imaging in daylight. This can be done by creating a simple aperture mask out of a piece of cardboard. The piece of cardboard should be larger than the telescope’s aperture. Cut a circular hole in the cardboard approximately 1⁄2" in diameter, and place the cardboard over the front of the telescope so that it completely covers the aperture except for the 1⁄2" circle. If you are using a refractor telescope, then the hole should be cut so it is centered on the piece of cardboard. If you are using a reﬂector that has a central aperture obstruction, then the hole should be cut off to one side (in order to bypass the central obstruction). Afﬁx your aperture mask to your telescope with tape (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Because the SSDSI-II is sensitive to light, an aperture mask is needed

on the telescope for any imaging during daylight. For a refractor, the hole should be centered on the aperture mask. For a reﬂector, the hole should be off to one side of the aperture mask.

Obtaining First Images

To obtain ﬁrst images (in daylight) with the SSDSI-II, follow these step-by-step instructions:

1. With an eyepiece inserted in the telescope, center and focus an object that is approximately 1⁄4 mile away. If you cannot focus your telescope this closely (due to lack of back-focus travel), then you will need to utilize an optional extension tube (available from Orion).

2. Plug the camera into your computer’s USB port.

3. Open Maxim DL Essentials by clicking on the icon now installed on your computer’s desktop.

4. Once open, Essentials should connect directly to your camera with the

Camera Control Window

5. To connect the camera to the telescope, simply replace the telescope’s eyepiece with the camera. Make sure the securing thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube is ﬁrmly tightened. If your telescope has built-in Tthreads, then remove the eyepiece from the telescope and the nosepiece from the SSDSI-II, and thread the camera onto the telescope (see Figures 2a-b).

6. You will now need to refocus the camera for the centered object. Focusing will be the hardest thing to do in the initial stages. In the Camera Control Window, set the mode to Light Color 1x1. Set the Seconds (exposure time) to .01 to begin with. In the box underneath the Make sure the Dark Subtract box is unchecked.

7. Press the will now rapidly take short exposures and display them on the computer screen. For daytime imaging, open the Screen Stretch Window (in the View menu), and set the stretch mode to

8. If the image brightness is too bright for the camera, an all (or mostly) black screen will result. You will also notice that the Max Pixel (in the lower right corner of the Camera Control Window, see Figure 6) will be at 65535, which is the maximum pixel brightness value. Try to get a Max Pixel of around 50000 to 60000 by increasing or decreasing exposure time (.002 sec is the minimum exposure time). If the (daytime) image is still too bright to produce an acceptable image on your computer screen, you may need to stop-down the aperture of your telescope further. Try making another aperture mask with a diameter of only 1⁄4".

9. Now, turn the telescope’s focus knob so the focuser drawtube moves slowly inward. The drawtube needs to go approximately 15mm inward from where the eyepiece focuses (for most eyepieces). Look at the computer screen and adjust the focus knob accordingly to determine best image focus.

Expose button in the Camera Control Window. The camera

Mode box, select Focus.

Moon.

Note: The camera’s ﬁeld of view is fairly small. It is approximately equivalent to the ﬁeld of view through the telescope when looking through a typical (i.e. not wide-ﬁeld) 10mm focal length eyepiece. So make sure the object to be imaged is well centered in the telescope before connecting the SSDSI-II, otherwise it may not appear in the ﬁeld of view of the camera

10. Once focused, image orientation can be changed by rotating the camera within the focuser drawtube. Simply loosen the thumbscrew on the draw tube and rotate the camera until the desired image orientation is achieved. Retighten the thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube when done. You may need to slightly refocus (using the telescope’s focus knob) if the focuser drawtube has moved a bit inward or outward when the camera was rotat ed.

11. When the image is focused and the image looks acceptable, press the Stop button in the Camera Control Window.

12. Beneath the

13. Click the

Mode box in the Camera Control Window select Single.

Expose button in the Camera Control Window. An image will

appear in a window.

14. You can now save the image for later processing, if you wish. This is done by selecting

Save from the File menu.

You have captured your ﬁrst image with the SSDSI-II! This simple method of imaging is exactly how the camera could be used to capture terrestrial subjects during daylight hours. Close-up images of birds and other wildlife or faraway vistas can all be obtained in this way with the SSDSI-II. Solar images can also be taken during the day with an optional full-aperture solar ﬁlter over the front of the telescope.

Take some time to use the camera and Maxim DL Essential software during the day to become familiar and comfortable with their basic operation.

Note: In the Camera Control Window, there is a

Setup button. Clicking on

this button will allow you to toggle the High Speed Readout Mode on and off. High Speed Readout Mode should generally be left on unless there is a speciﬁc reason (i.e. your computer system cannot process the higher speed readout) to turn it off.

Screen Stretch Window

The function of the Screen Stretch Window (Figure 9) is to properly map the image brightness levels captured by the camera into corresponding image brightness levels on the computer screen. A typical camera image has each pixel (light detecting site, over 437,000 pixels form a single SSDSI-II image) represented as a number (from 1 to 65535) depending on brightness. This has to be mapped into the video monitor’s brightness range (from 1 to 255). It is important to set the screen stretch appropriately, or a great image may look terrible!

Figure 9.

image will appear on your computer screen.

The settings in the Screen Stretch Window greatly determine how an

Figure 10. A histogram is a visual

representation of the range and levels of brightness in an image.

Number of pixels

at brightness

level

Range of brightness levels

When an image is displayed, you will notice a graph in the Screen Stretch Window. This is called the “histogram” of the currently displayed image (Figure

10). A histogram is a simple bar graph that shows the range of brightness in an image. Each bar in the graph represents a level of brightness; the bar to the far left in the histogram represents the dimmest pixels, and the bar to the far right is for the brightest pixels. The height of the bar is the total number of pixels at that brightness level in the image. Every image has a different histo

gram depending on how much of the image is bright or dark. Directly viewing the histogram of your image in the Screen Stretch Window provides an easy interface for making decisions on how the screen stretch should be set.

In Maxim DL Essentials, the two parameters entered in the Screen Stretch Window are Minimum and Maximum. A pixel that is at the Minimum value is set to zero (black), and a pixel at the An easy way to adjust the

Maximum and Minimum values is to move the

Maximum value is set to 255 (white).

slider arrows located directly under the histogram of the image in the Screen

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