Atik Cameras

Author Topic: Software issue with the Horoizon camera  (Read 6234 times)

Astrogate

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Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« on: December 08, 2017, 04:50:53 am »
Hi Chris

I was helping Johns first light on NSN.com with his new colour Atik Horizon camera and noticed a couple of issues.

1. There seems to be again an auto histogram issue with the black point is set too far from the peak of the histogram. Also when manually moving the black point the gamma moves with it.

2. I asked John to bin at 2 x 2 and the binning works but there is no colour. I understand if this was a CCD sensor using hardware binning but a CMOS using software binning should maintain the colour I believe?

What is the quick display for since none of us on NSN.com could find the answer in the manual?

Thank you, Chris and great new camera

Chris Appleton
Astrogate

ChrisGolden

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2017, 01:20:43 pm »
Hi Chris

Hope you are well. Anyways, to answer the questions:

1) Could you send me a screen shot of the issue? The only thing I can think of is that the gain / offset values may be set too low and so the histogram ends up 'below 200'. I should probably change the histogram for 0 -> 65K on the horizon camera anyways.
1b) When moving the black and white bars, the Gamma bar will keep the same ratio as it had before, therefore it'll move with the sliders.

2) For binning on the horizon, I simply add the pixel values together, which will create a mono image. We've actually discussed the idea of adding a special option for 2x2 binning, where it actually creates a single colour pixel from the 4 pixel square. This would be really handy in the Infinity software as it'll significantly reduce the memory usage, whilst keeping a colour image. I'll keep this idea high on the list and let you know what happens.

3) The 'Quick Display' mode is something I would encourage you to use with the Horizon camera. If it's switched off, then the infinity software will draw every single pixel of the final image. This is fairly wasteful as realistically, you aren't going to see every single pixel. So instead, when the option is switched on, the software makes a smaller image which gets drawn instead. If you toggle the option on/off you'll be able to see the difference (it's subtle, but you'll notice a slight change in pixels). However, with the option switched on, it takes a much shorter time to draw the image, so the performance is much better. At the moment, it only bases it on zoom level, so if you zoom in far enough, it'll still draw the whole image. However, the next step here is to just draw the area the screen is looking at. This has been high on the list for a while, so I'm hopeful I'll add this in before too long.

I hope that helps.

Chris.

Astrogate

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2017, 07:41:14 pm »
Hi Chris

Thank you, I am doing well. I sent the information to John and he can send you the information required. He had mostly clouds last night so next time he is on NSN.com we will capture a screenshot for you. Happy Christmas to you, Jo, Steve and family members.

Chris Appleton
Toronto, Canada

ChrisGolden

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2017, 12:07:59 pm »
Hi Chris,

I have added a new feature into infinity to allow 'Colour binning'. It's 'Advanced Settings -> Colour Bin Mode'. If set to 'Standard' it will bin as usual and display a mono image. However, if you select 'Colour' it will instead create a binned colour image. If works by asking the camera for a 1x1 (non)binned image, debayering that image, then adding the pixel values together for each channel.

You can download the latest from here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bdlv7nwyh40koth/AABepTYLsG5c2Hb35UMKvC1na?dl=0

It'll work for all colour cameras (that work with the infinity software) but probably makes more sense with the Horizon. If you get a chance to use it, let me know what you think. I'll probably update the website when I get back after xmas.

Chris.




Astrogate

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2017, 12:31:07 am »
Hi Chris

This is great and thanks very much for implementing this feature into the Infinity software. Cloudy and cold here currently but the next clear night I will try this out for you and will let you know.

Happy Christmas to you and the Atik staff!

Chris Appleton

Astrogate

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2017, 01:49:44 am »
Hi Chris

I had a chance to try out the new 2 x 2 binning for colour and it worked extremely well. I think a lot of people will really like this feature esp. for Horizon and even Infinity users for broadcasting. Here are two captures using almost the same amount of sub-images but same exposure time captured with Infinity software. The unbinned was 11 x 40 seconds and the 2 x 2 binned was 10 x 40 seconds. You can clearly see a big improvement in signal/noise ratio in the 2 x 2 binned image even though it had one less sub-image. This is why it is fantastic for broadcasting and you do not see the resolution loss. Also great for sampling arcsec/pixel using the Horizon with it's smaller 3.8 um pixels on larger longer focal length scopes.

Astrogate

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2017, 01:55:30 am »
Here is the Unbinned image but I had to re-size it by 25% for it to download here.

Cheers,

Chris Appleton

Astrogate

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2018, 09:12:45 pm »
Chris, I further tested the colour binning and it works flawlessly.

Chris A

Astrogate

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2018, 11:37:59 pm »
Chris, I am just curious and was wondering if you binned the Infinity using hardware or software binning? I ask this because I thought one cannot be binned using hardware to a color CCD sensor. Thank you!

Chris A

ChrisGolden

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2018, 09:05:44 am »
Hi Chris,

Happy new year. Thanks for testing the binning, the images are looking pretty good. In answer to you question, when the 'Colour Bin Mode' is set to 'Colour', the infinity software will ask the camera for a 1x1 image. It'll then debayer the image as it would normally, then, it'll add the pixels together for each colour channel to create the final binned image. It's all in the software.

I hope that helps.

Chris

Astrogate

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Re: Software issue with the Horoizon camera
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2018, 06:37:51 am »
Hi Chris

Glad to always test things out for Atik. Thank you for the information and doing this colour binning. Cheers

Chris A