DSLR Troubleshooting

Q. My long exposure (bulb) cable won't trigger the camera. Is this a hardware or software problem?

A. The fastest way to find out is to try the DSLR Cable Tester utility, available on our web site.

Q. My stars are flat on top in the fast readout mode. Why?

A. The fast readout uses significantly fewer bits for data. You just can’t get the range in there you need to show the range of star magnitudes. To focus pick a star and exposure times that prevent the star from maxing out the values through the center. A star with soft edges means there is more range of data to compute the focus.

Q. The picture is B&W and dithered. It looks bad! Why?

A. This is the RAW, unprocessed image. The ”dithering” is because each pixel has a different color filter on it. The Image must be processed before it will look good.

Q. I tried to combine several images together. Now when I convert then to color, the color is all wrong!

A. You must calibrate the image first. Then color convert. Then stack the images. You can’t vary this order. Period. Or you will junk your images.

Q. Wouldn’t it be better if you stacked a bunch of JPEGS coming out of the camera? Why mess with these ugly B&W images?

A. JPEG has 8 bits per color. We get 12 or 14 bits using RAW. We also can do Dark frame subtraction on a per pixel level, rather than on an area averaged out around the pixel. The data is more accurate and with better processing it will look superior in the end. EOS Digital cameras don’t really have any RGB pixels. They are only one color at a time. Any format that crams them together and cuts the bit depth will lose information, especially for the high dynamic range images from the heavens.

Q. It is really slow when I focus. What am I doing wrong?

A. Set the camera to download in JPEG mode instead of RAW. This will speed up focus immensely. For best results, use the RAW mode when actually capturing images.

Q. I don’t know what I did, but the camera is hung up. It is not showing any progress and the Start/Expose button is gray and it has been several minutes. What can I do?

A. If you cycle the camera driver (disconnect then reconnect) this often will clear up any issues. If that does not work: disconnect and power cycle the camera, then connect again. If that still does not work: reboot your computer and power cycle your camera. If you can reproduce a hanging situation please report it to technical support.

Q. My camera keeps disconnecting. I push a button and it goes back on. What is up?

A. The camera has a sleep mode, if you don’t use it, it goes to sleep. To keep it from doing that, use an AC adapter. You can also set the auto power off delay setting to OFF through the camera's built-in menus.

Q. When I try to expose and image the camera clicks and no image downloads?

A. If you have a camera with the Mirror lock functionality, turn it off in the camera's built-in menus; some cameras cannot accommodate computer controlled mirror lock. Also if you are using an autofocus lens on the camera, switch to manual focus mode.