Atik Instruments Series 3 user manual Version 1.
Table of contents 1 2 3 Introduction............................................................................................................3 Pack Contents.........................................................................................................4 Atik Instruments Series 3.......................................................................................5 3.1 Camera Parts ..................................................................................................5 3.2 CCD ......
1 Introduction Atik Instruments Cameras represents today’s affordable and easy way to achieve high quality images with a superior design. This version has new redesigned hardware in order to answer the growing demand in fine quality astrophotography cameras. A wide range of accessories is also available in order to answer the needs of the most demanding astrophotographer.
2 Pack Contents This pack includes: • • • • • 1- Atik Instruments ATK314L/E 2- USB cable 3- Car lighter type power cable 4- CD-ROM with Software and manuals 5- Quick start guide Page 4
3 Atik Instruments Series 3 3.1 Camera Parts • • • • 1- Autoguider port 2- Power input 3- 1.
3.2 CCD The used CCD in your camera depends on the model and on the fact if it’s a color or black and white camera. Below is a table showing the CCD used in the two options: Black and White Color Atik Instruments 314L SONY ICX285AL SONY ICX285AQ Atik Instruments 314E SONY ICX205AL SONY ICX205AQ Due to the very clean nature of these CCD’s dark frames are in most cases unnecessary. This is due to the low noise which stands at an amazing less than 5 electron RMS.
4 Ports 4.1 USB Port An USB 2.0 High Speed connection is use on the new Series 3 cameras. This meand tha downloads are now very fast, taking less than 2 seconds. This improves greatly on the readout gradient that is usually present on slower readout speeds. A higher speed “preview” mode is also present, providing roughly twice the speed. 4.2 Auto Guiding Port Atik Instruments Series 3 cameras are compliant with this industry’s demanding features.
6 Additional Technical Information Atik 314L Atik 314E Sensor Type Sony ExView Sony SuperHAD Horizontal Resolution 1392 pixels 1392 pixels Vertical Resolution 1040 pixels 1040 pixels Pixel Size 6.45 uM x 6.45 uM 4.65 uM x 4.65 uM ADC 16 bit 16 bit Readout Noise (Typ.) 4 e- 4 e- Interface USB USB Power 12v DC 0.8A 12v DC 0.
The following table refers to the angular resolution per pixel with certain focal distances. The formula to calculate any other focal length not described is: Pixel Size (mms) / Focal Distance (mms) * 206,3 = result in arc seconds/pixel (angular resolution) Focal Distance (mm) 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 Angular resolution (arcsec/pixel) – 314L 3.80 3.33 2.96 2.66 2.42 2.22 2.05 1.90 1.77 1.66 1.57 1.48 1.40 1.33 Angular resolution (arcsec/pixel) – 314E 2.74 2.40 2.13 1.92 1.
8 Accessories There are several accessories from Atik Instruments that will allow you to go further into this never ending journey of discovering new worlds. These include the following • • • • IR Filter Focal Reducer 0,5x Manual Filter wheel Motorized filter wheel Other accessories will follow up very shortly, which will enhance even further the joy of astrophotography.
9 Artemis/ATK Capture Artemis/ATK Capture is a standalone program which allows you to control your Atik Series 3 camera, take images, preview them, and save them to standard FITS files. It does not perform any image processing, other than simple histogram manipulation for mapping the 16-bit images to the display. The data saved in the FITS file is exactly what is read from the camera (raw), so any adjustment is purely for display purposes.
9.2 Using Artemis Capture The main Screen When you first start the program, you will be warned if your Atik Series 3 camera is not connected or powered up. It is possible to run the program without the camera by clicking on “ignore”, although most of the functions will be unavailable. The main settings in Artemis Capture are controlled using two dialogs, the ‘display options’ dialog and the ‘exposure settings’ dialog.
9.3 Quick Start WARNING: The cooler is off by default. You should turn it on using the cooler control icon. When the cooler window appears, just press "Cooler On". To turn it off, just press "Warm Up". If you want to simply take a quick shot to verify that the program and camera are working correctly, you can use the F1-F8 buttons to take a single test image. F1-F4 take an exposure of 0.1, 1, 5 or 10 seconds respectively, and F5-F8 use the same exposure times but binned at 2x2 for greater sensitivity.
9.5 Exposure Settings Dialog This dialog is displayed by selecting the ‘View |Exposure Settings’ menu option, or by clicking the toolbar button. Here you are able to set the exposure time for the image, the individual X and Y binning factors, and you can numerically specify a sub-frame if you wish. The "Pre" check box, activates the preview mode, where that image download will be about twice as fast. However, quality will suffer. This mode is specially useful for focusing the camera.
9.6 Display Options Dialog This dialog is displayed using the ‘View |Display Options’ menu item, or by clicking the toolbar button. It allows you to adjust the way in which the 16-bit image is mapped to the PC’s display. In general, two values are chosen within the range of 16 bit numbers present in the image. Pixel values equal to or less than the lower value are displayed as black, and pixel values equal to or greater then the higher value are displayed as white.
9.7 Focus Assist When taking an astronomical image it is critical that focusing be as accurate as possible. To help achieve this, Artemis Capture provides the Focus Assist dialog. When you have the camera roughly focused so that you can see stars in the captured image, you can activate the focus assist dialog by double-clicking on a star. For best results you need to choose one which is bright but not overexposed, and which has a relatively clear area around it.
will search around the previous location when trying to locate the star. You can also specify the radius that will be used to measure the star’s properties once it is located - this should be a little larger than the radius of the star, but smaller than the distance to the next star. 9.8 Colour cameras and the ArtemisRGB utility Basically, the Colour version of the Atik Series 3 camera is the same as the monochrome counterpart, both in aspect and functionality.
Artemis RGB screen To import a file, click the ‘Import’ button and locate a FITs file produced by a colour camera. The name of the file will appear in the list box on the left, and the image will appear in the preview window. It may not look quite right at this stage! The ‘Delete’ button can be used to remove an image from the list - it does not delete it from the hard disk. At the top left is a combo box where you can select whether to view the raw, colour, or luminance image.
colours which weren’t present in the original scene. These are typically seen in regions of high contrast. To help reduce these false colour artifacts, you can run a low-pass filter (blur) on the colour channel. Then, to restore sharpness to the image, you can run a high-pass filter (sharpen) on the luminance channel. If you have multiple images loaded into ArtemisRGB, you can give each one its own set of processing options if you need to.
9.9 Other controls There are a few other controls apart from the dialogs described above. The most important are probably the ‘Camera |Snapshot’ and ‘Camera |Loop’ menu options, also available as the two toolbar buttons (the ‘loop’ button is the one with the red circular arrow on it). The Snapshot command takes a single image, and the Loop command starts the program taking repeated images. You can abort the current exposure by clicking the Snapshot button while the exposure is in progress.
10 Maxim DL™ plug-in Introduction Maxim DL is a powerful astronomical program, from Diffraction Limited. It is able to control most of the equipment used in astronomical imaging, as well as processing the captured images. In order to allow Maxim DL to communicate with a new piece of hardware, a driver is required to be installed in a location known to Maxim DL. Installation The driver file for the Atik Series 3 cameras is installed during the initial camera setup (if you selected to install it).
Using the Autoguider port The internal autoguider port can be used in two different ways. If you use the Atik Series 3 as a guider camera, you should select “Guider Relays” under Maxim’s Guider options. By using this option, the camera internal relays will be used to send commands to the mount as a standard guider. The second option is if you use the Atik Series 3 as the main camera, and use another camera as guider (for example, a webcam).
11 AstroArt Plug-in Introduction AstroArt is a powerful astronomical program, from MSB Limited. It is able to control most of the equipment used in astronomical imaging, as well as processing the captured images. In order to allow AstroArt to communicate with a new piece of hardware, a driver is required to be installed in a location known to AstroArt. Installation The driver file for the Atik Series 3 camera is is installed during the initial camera setup (if you selected to install it).
