Orion 52098 User Manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Orion® StarShoot All-In-One

Astronomy Camera

#52098

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

Customer Support:

www.OrionTelescopes.com/contactus

Corporate Offices:

89 Hangar Way, Watsonville CA 95076 - USA

IN 508 Rev. A 08/13

Figure 1. All-In-One parts list.

Congratulations on your purchase of the Orion StarShoot All-In-One Astronomy Camera (SSAIO).

The SSAIO is a high speed CMOS camera designed for astronomical use.

The ultra fast frame rate (up to 200FPS in lowest resolution and up to 30FPS in highest resolution) makes the SSAIO ideal for Solar system imaging (Planets, Moon, Sun).

Long exposures of up to 10 Minutes make the SSAIO capable of imaging many of the Deep Space objects such as Galaxies, Nebulas, and Clusters.

The light weight, slim form factor, sensitivity and built in ST4 port make the SSAIO ideal for use as a guide camera.

By using the included ﬁnder bracket and 8mm lens the SSAIO becomes an advanced digital ﬁnder.

For those with an internet connection the SSAIO can also be used to broadcast live video over the internet when used with services such as Skype or www. nightskiesnetwork.com.

In summary the SSAIO can be used for the following purposes:

• Planetary Imaging

• Lunar Imaging

• Solar Imaging

• Terrestrial Imaging

• Entry Level Deep Space Imaging

• Wide Field Digital Finder

• AutoGuiding

• Live internet broadcasting

The SSAIO can even be used as a high resolution AllSky camera when used with an optional Fish Eye Lens with meteor detection and time-lapse software (sold separately, Item #52052 All-In-One AllSky Solution).

Parts List

StarShoot All-In-One Astronomy Camera (SSAIO)

Par Focal Ring

C mount adapter with IR ﬁlter

CS mount adapter with IR ﬁlter

1.25" Nosepiece

8mm Wide Field Lens

Adjustable Finder Bracket

USB Cable

Autoguider cable

Software CD

Manual

Par Focal Ring

Attach the ring to the body of the SSAIO and position as desired and lock using thumb screw. The ring aids in preventing the SSAIO from falling too far into a focuser and also helps to match the SSAIO focus position to an eyepiece. Focus ﬁrst using your eyepiece, then replace eyepiece with SSAIO camera and move camera until near focus. Lock the ring at this position so that camera and eyepiece are now close to matching focus.

C Mount and CS mount adapters

Use the C mount adapter to attach nosepiece to camera.

Use the CS mount adapter to attach lenses such as the included 8mm Wide Angle lens or the Fish Eye lens (sold separately).

1.25" Nosepiece

Attach the 1.25" nosepiece to camera using the C mount adapter.

This is the normal setup for using with a Telescope.

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The nosepiece is ﬁtted with ﬁlter threads.

For light polluted skies we recommend using the Orion SkyGlow Astrophotography ﬁlters (Item #05559).

(Filters available through Orion, check the catalog or OrionTelescopes.com for more information).

8mm Wide Field Lens

Attach the 8mm Wide Field lens to the SSAIO using the CS mount adapter.

Software and Driver Installation

Before the SSAIO can be used, software and camera drivers must be installed onto your computer.

Do not connect the camera to your computer before you have installed the software.

Adjustable Finder Bracket

Place the ﬁnder bracket into the dovetail ﬁnder base on your telescope and lock using thumb screw.

The bracket base also features a ¼ 20 thread underneath to attach to a standard tripod. The bracket base can be removed from the rings to reveal another ¼ 20 thread underneath the rings to also attach to a standard tripod. This makes using the camera and bracket with a standard tripod more convenient and portable than using a telescope with mount and tripod.

Place the SSAIO camera through the rings of the Finder Bracket and adjust the nylon tip screws to center view to be the same as view through telescope.

Use the reticules built into the software to aid in centering and for use as a digital ﬁn der.

Autoguider cable

Plug the autoguider cable into ST4 port located on rear of the SSAIO and also into guide port located on mount. Use PHD software for guiding.

System Requirements

Computer

The SSAIO requires a PC running Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8.

The computer hardware should have at least the following:

• Pentium™ III Processor

• CD-ROM

• Connection to the Internet

• 512MB RAM

• Disk Space – 10GB or more is recommended

• Video Display –16-bit color or higher, 1280 x 960 or higher is

recommended

• Mouse

• USB High Speed 2.0 port

Software Installation

1. Insert the CD-ROM and wait for the Launcher window to appear (Figure 2). If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, the AutoPlay window will appear ﬁrst, and then select Run autorun.exe

2. When the launcher appears, select Install Camera Driver. Next select between 32bit and 64bit depending upon your target PC. Go through the prompts until the driver is installed.

3. Once the camera driver is installed select Install Capture Software (which will install Orion AstroCap). Go through the prompts until the software is installed.

4. If you intend to use the SSAIO as an autoguider, or if you wish to use the camera to image in a program other than Orion AstroCap, select Install ASCOM Camera Driver. A link is provided to also download the ASCOM platform which is necessary to use with the ASCOM driver.

5. If you intend to use the SSAIO to broadcast over the internet select Install WDM Driver. Go through the prompts until the driver is installed.

6. Links are also provided in order to download PHD Guiding software and post processing software Registax.

Please note that to use PHD guiding or other capture software such as MaximDL the Camera Driver, ASCOM driver and the ASCOM platform must be installed.

Figure 2. The launcher window.

Installing the Camera

1. Once the software installation is complete from the steps above, connect the SSAIO to your computer’s USB port using the provided USB cable.

2. In Windows XP a Found New Hardware Wizard will appear. Windows 7, 8 or Vista will automatically install the device.

3. Windows XP will ask if you want to search for drivers and updates online. Select No, not this time and click Next.

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4. Next, choose Install the software automatically.

5. Windows may note that the driver has not passed Windows Logo testing. This is normal. Click the Continue Anyway button. When the Wizard has completed, click the Finish button.

Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Window 8 will automatically detect and

Figure 3: The Orion AstroCap software.

install the camera to your computer.

Camera Installation Troubleshooting Tip

If Windows is unable to automatically locate and install the camera (after you performed the driver installation), then install the drivers manually by doing the following:

Figure 4: Connecting to camera and selecting resolution.

1. With the camera plugged into the USB, go to the Device Manager from the Windows Control Panel.

2. Locate the “AstroImaging Equipment” device tree, and right click on the device “AllInOne_B”.

3. Select “Update Driver”, then browse the ﬁle path to the directory you installed the drivers, the default is: C:\Program Files\

Orion\AllInOneDrivers

Figure 5: The video Capture interface

Getting Started

showing Gain, Exposure and Gamma settings.

Let’s start by exploring the interface of the capture software “Orion AstroCap”.

Connect the SSAIO to computer and run the “Orion AstroCap” software.

Camera

In order to connect with the camera, select the desired resolution from the camera drop down menu (Figure 4).

When the SSAIO camera is plugged in, the Orion AstroCap software will recognize the camera and display a drop down list of available resolutions.

Select from the available resolutions to connect to the camera.

If no camera is seen, check cable connections and camera driver installation.

Video Capture

GAIN: The fist slider is for GAIN. (Figure 5) This is represented as a percentage of the total gain. Move the slider back and forth to adjust gain. By pressing the button displaying the percentage amount, a number pad pop up will appear allowing for more precise settings of the gain to be entered.

EXPOSURE: The next slider is for EXPOSURE. This is represented in microseconds, milliseconds and seconds. Move the slider back and forth to adjust exposure. By pressing the button displaying the exposure amount, a number pad pop up will appear allowing for more precise settings of the exposure to be entered (Figure 6).

Note: Choose between MicroSeconds

Figure 6: Exposure number pad interface.

(µs), MilliSeconds (ms) and Seconds (s) when selecting exposure values (Figure 6).

GAMMA: Gamma can be adjusted from 0.7 to 2.2.

SNAP: This will take a still image in the format speciﬁed by record options (Figure 5).

REC: This will record a movie the format specified by record options (Figure 5).

Figure 7: Color Balance interface.

Color Balance

Press Global WB to automatically set the white balance (Figure 7).

Or Press SPOT WB and click on image to set white balance.

Or alternatively use sliders to manually adjust color.

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Focus Aid

Select FWHM (Full Width Half Maximum) and double click on a star on the live image. A box will now appear around the star. In the Focus Aid window the star can be seen magniﬁed (Figure 8). Adjust focus until the on screen number shows the smallest value.

Histogram

Displays a histogram graph of the live image.

Can be used to detect under and over exposure.

Each color channel is displayed showing on the X-Axis the brightness level and the Y-Axis the number of pixels at that tone (Figure 9).

Display LUT

Select from a drop down list of false color lookup tables to exchange for the real color (Figure 10).

Figure 8: FWHM Focus Aid.

Figure 9: Histogram graph.

SER and FIT formats are raw captures that can only be done when the camera color is disabled.

This format is much smaller in data size and produces a much faster capture rate.

Image processing programs like MaxImDL or RegiStax can convert the raw monochrome images (SER or FIT) back into color.

When imaging solar system objects we recommend setting number of recorded frames to Unlimited. This will record continuously until the user presses the REC button again.

Timelapse

To create time-lapse images or movies click the checkbox and select number of frames delay before each image is captured (F igure 11).

Tools

Figure 11: Record Options.

Record Options

AVI, SER, BMP, JPG, TIF & FIT:

We recommend AVI format to begin with (Figure 11), as this format easily stores your capture ﬁles as a video which can easily be played back without any processing and can also later be used to export to post processing software such as MaximDL or RegiStax.

Figure 10: Color Lookup Tables

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Guide Port Interface

Connect the SSAIO to mount guide port via included guide cable. The guide port interface (Figure 12) can be used to center objects when planetary imaging as well as provide a means to check that the guide port and cables are functioning properly.

Note: This is not for actual guiding. We recommend PHD guiding software which can be downloaded free on the developer’s web site via the link on the CD launcher (Figure 3).

Figure 12. Guide port interface.

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