Camera quality issues?

[ChrisGolden]

Hi Don,

Thanks for your list of comments. I'll try and answer them as best I can:

1) Mac Compatibility: It's good that you've managed to get it working in parallels. This is useful to know for anyone else who wants to do this. I haven't tried this myself, but will give it a go when I get a chance. Unfortunately, a mac compatible version of the infinity software isn't currently on the list. However, I am working hard on getting the main Artemis DLL into a cross platform state and once that is finished, we can think about other things. One thought on the XP situation though: There have been a few problems with infinity running on the normal XP version of windows. I have managed to fix these as they appear, but the latest version of the software is missing some of these fixes. I'll include these in the next installer. But if you want to test it out beforehand, give me an email on ChrisG@atik-cameras.com and I'll try to set you up.

2) Nmr SD: I've just checked the manual, and you're correct! It doesn't mention this option explicitly. The Mean SD option sets the black and white levels according to the mean, plus or minus the (standard deviation * NmrSD). The mean and SD are of the pixel values in the image.

3) Exposure Countdown: We experimented with a countdown in early version of infinity. (You can see it in early demo videos of the software). In the end, we decided that a green bar next to the play button was a nicer way of showing this info. However, I can see why a 'number of seconds' would be a good thing to see, particularly on longer exposures. I'll add it to the list of suggestions and see what we can do for a future version.

4) Switch off histogram tags: This should be easy to change. I'll add it to the list for the next version.

5) Better Histogram Control: This is something I'm always thinking about. It is difficult to get it right though. The problem is the number of things you need to adjust: There are the three levels (Black, White, Gray) and then there is the amount you wish to adjust by. It's difficult to make this intuitive. I'll review the situation again before the next release though.

6) Comparison to 414EX: The gain levels should be set very similarly for these cameras and so there shouldn't be much difference. What would you say is the length of time between the two?

I hope that's answered all your questions. Feel free to post again if you have any more.

Chris.

[StarMike]

My Atik Mono did not have any dust on it when it arrived.  Don, there is an exposure countdown of sorts.  It is a bar graph in the upper left hand corner of the software screen.  It shows you how long you have left on each exposure.

[Astrogate]

Hi Don,

Thanks for your list of comments. I'll try and answer them as best I can:

1) Mac Compatibility: It's good that you've managed to get it working in parallels. This is useful to know for anyone else who wants to do this. I haven't tried this myself, but will give it a go when I get a chance. Unfortunately, a mac compatible version of the infinity software isn't currently on the list. However, I am working hard on getting the main Artemis DLL into a cross platform state and once that is finished, we can think about other things. One thought on the XP situation though: There have been a few problems with infinity running on the normal XP version of windows. I have managed to fix these as they appear, but the latest version of the software is missing some of these fixes. I'll include these in the next installer. But if you want to test it out beforehand, give me an email on ChrisG@atik-cameras.com and I'll try to set you up.

2) Nmr SD: I've just checked the manual, and you're correct! It doesn't mention this option explicitly. The Mean SD option sets the black and white levels according to the mean, plus or minus the (standard deviation * NmrSD). The mean and SD are of the pixel values in the image.

3) Exposure Countdown: We experimented with a countdown in early version of infinity. (You can see it in early demo videos of the software). In the end, we decided that a green bar next to the play button was a nicer way of showing this info. However, I can see why a 'number of seconds' would be a good thing to see, particularly on longer exposures. I'll add it to the list of suggestions and see what we can do for a future version.

4) Switch off histogram tags: This should be easy to change. I'll add it to the list for the next version.

5) Better Histogram Control: This is something I'm always thinking about. It is difficult to get it right though. The problem is the number of things you need to adjust: There are the three levels (Black, White, Gray) and then there is the amount you wish to adjust by. It's difficult to make this intuitive. I'll review the situation again before the next release though.

6) Comparison to 414EX: The gain levels should be set very similarly for these cameras and so there shouldn't be much difference. What would you say is the length of time between the two?

I hope that's answered all your questions. Feel free to post again if you have any more.

Chris.

Hi Chris

There were a few other very important suggest brought up that you missed or may have talked about in the past

1. Can you please incorporate a crosshairs into the Infinity software for easier more accurate mount alignment when using the camera>

2. The colour seems a bit washed out and I know there is a separate RGB colour adjuster but this only adjusts one colour at a time. The auto colour balance feature is great but again colour seems washed out or weak therefore I would like to suggest a saturation colour slider if you can make it happen?

3. Since the stacking feature works so well and greatly improves the signal to noise ratio it does seem that the images could benefit from some sharpness applied therefore I would like to suggest some sort of smart sharpness filter again as a slider.

Thank you!

Chris Appleton

[ChrisGolden]

Hi Chris

Thanks for adding those, I must have missed them when I was looking through.

Anyways:

1) Adding a cross-hair has been mentioned before and has been on the list for a while. I nearly added it to the most recent version, but ran out of time. It's likely that it'll be there for the next version.

2) Good suggestion. The difficulty here is how to add it to the software, without over complicating the layout. It's quite difficult to arrange all the colour options without have loads of sliders. For example, why stop at saturation, when we could also add hue and brightness? I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible, but unfortunately this results in loss of some functionality. At any rate, it would be good to see it in there, and it's definitely on the list. It's something I'll keep thinking about, if not for the next version.

3) Sharpness: This has been suggested before and it is a good idea, however, it is a more difficult thing to add in. The main problem here is how expensive (in terms of CPU) it is to perform this operation. One of my aims early on was to ensure that the processing time of the image was a short as possible. The current processing includes hot pixel removal and debayering (if colour), then we have to stack the image and calculate the FWHM, and final apply the pixel stretching and colour adjustments. All this takes place in a reasonably short space of time. I admit that I haven't actually looked very far into sharpness yet, but my initial impression was that it is quite an expensive task, and might significantly increase the calculation time, particularly if recalculated on a slider. It might be that when I sit down to do it, that this will prove unfounded and that it's a lot easier than feared. And at any rate, you can always have an on/off option for people who want to try it and don't care how long it takes. But it's not something that will be added to the next version, and is unlikely to be added in the short term.

Let me know if you have any more questions

Chris.

[StarMike]

Wow, Chris Golden, I am glad you are on top of things and are working to make it better.  We all want more options, but I agree, keep it fast or don't do it.  So far the software is great

[Astrogate]

Hi Chris

Thanks for adding those, I must have missed them when I was looking through.

Anyways:

1) Adding a cross-hair has been mentioned before and has been on the list for a while. I nearly added it to the most recent version, but ran out of time. It's likely that it'll be there for the next version.

2) Good suggestion. The difficulty here is how to add it to the software, without over complicating the layout. It's quite difficult to arrange all the colour options without have loads of sliders. For example, why stop at saturation, when we could also add hue and brightness? I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible, but unfortunately this results in loss of some functionality. At any rate, it would be good to see it in there, and it's definitely on the list. It's something I'll keep thinking about, if not for the next version.

3) Sharpness: This has been suggested before and it is a good idea, however, it is a more difficult thing to add in. The main problem here is how expensive (in terms of CPU) it is to perform this operation. One of my aims early on was to ensure that the processing time of the image was a short as possible. The current processing includes hot pixel removal and debayering (if colour), then we have to stack the image and calculate the FWHM, and final apply the pixel stretching and colour adjustments. All this takes place in a reasonably short space of time. I admit that I haven't actually looked very far into sharpness yet, but my initial impression was that it is quite an expensive task, and might significantly increase the calculation time, particularly if recalculated on a slider. It might be that when I sit down to do it, that this will prove unfounded and that it's a lot easier than feared. And at any rate, you can always have an on/off option for people who want to try it and don't care how long it takes. But it's not something that will be added to the next version, and is unlikely to be added in the short term.

Let me know if you have any more questions

Chris.

Thank you Chris for the quick responses. After been observing and testing for many years I have also come to the conclusion regarding simplicity. This was one of the big reasons for me to go with an Atik Infinity and the software sure makes things very easy to do esp. when one is broadcasting and responding to the audience.

** I would keep it very simple by just adding a saturation slider which will allow control when adjusting a level/slider in order to increase the colour saturation. . We do not need to go with more features like hue since we can already manually change the colour balance if required & brightness since it can be manually adjusted using a histograms gamma and white point settings.

From what I have seen so far the images are a bit soft looking and I do not know why this is the case until I had a chance to test it out with my equipment. I think keeping it simple by adding a sharpness slider scale from 1 - 10 (no need to get advance using threshold or radius) to add a mild form of sharpness. Having an off/on option would be a great idea for those with slower computers!

Cheers,

Chris A

[John Quill]

I have had the Infinity for a few weeks now and have not had any issues with the camera. The  physical build is excellent and the software performs as described. A great unit.