How to Photograph the Astro DarkUpdated 8 months ago

The logic for shooting Astro Dark:

1. Turn off the lights of DWARF II. 
2. Place DWARF II in a sufficiently dark environment. 
3. Switch to dark frame mode in App, click to take the shot, and spend 10 minutes completing it.

Note:

• When shooting in the dark, DWARF II should be placed in a sufficiently dark environment.
• The ambient temperature when shooting in the dark needs to be similar to the ambient temperature when shooting deep space photography, otherwise it will be difficult to remove walking noise when shooting deep space.
• If more walking noise is observed when shooting deep space objects than before, it is recommended to retake the dark field.
• DWARF II generates a BadPixelMap based on Astro Dark data to correct bad spots.   BadPixelMap is stored inside DWARF II even if the SD card's memory is cleared, and Astro Dark data from the SD card is only used by the user for post-processing.

1. Place DWARF II in a dark environment

1.1 Power on DWARF II
1.2 Connect DWARF II with DWARFLAB App
1.3 Turn the DWARF II lenses downward vertically, then put DWARF II in the carrying bag and zip it up to ensure DWARF II is sheltered from light.

1.4 Put the carrying bag in a cabinet and close the door to ensure that the environment is dark enough.

2. Photograph the dark frame in the App

2.1 Please turn off the lights in the app settings or update the app and firmware to the latest version, and turn off the ring light and power indicator light automatically when shooting Astro Dark.  

2.2 Switch App mode to Astro Dark, click "Feature", it will display the dark frame guidance, then tap the shoot button, and wait for the progress bar to reach 100%, then the dark frame photography is completed. The whole process takes about 10 minutes.

3. Retake pictures of the Dark

3.1 Switch the App mode to Astro Dark, click the shoot button.

*The dark frames are shot with Gain 30~150. If you set the gain beyond this range, there will also be walking noise in your Astro image. 

3.2 Select "Restart" to retake photos, and wait for the progress bar to reach 100% and then a new ASTRO Dark photography is completed.