Model STF-8300M/C CCD Camera Operating Manual Santa Barbara Instrument Group a Division of Aplegen, Inc. 147A Castilian Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 Phone (805) 571-7244 • Fax (805) 571-1147 Email sbig @ sbig . com • Web www . sbig .
DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY We, Santa Barbara Instrument Group, a division of Aplegen, Inc., 147-A Castilian Drive, Goleta, CA 93117 USA, (805) 571-7244, declare under our sole responsibility that the Model STF-8300 CCD camera complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
Table of Contents 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Getting Started.............................................................................................. 1 Overview and Connections........................................................................... 2 2. Installing the Software on 32-bit or 64-bit Windows Systems...................... 4 Migrating Old Drivers from 32-bit to newer 64-bit Systems.............
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 1. Introduction Congratulations and thank you for buying one of our STF-8300 cooled CCD cameras. The STF-8300 has the following features: • • • • • • • • • • • Uses Kodak’s microlensed, blue enhanced KAF-8300 CCD with 3326 x 2504 pixels, 5.4 micron square pixels. 16-bit A/D converter with correlated double sampling running at 10 megahertz. Temperature regulated Thermo-Electric (TE) cooling with 40 degrees C max. delta for reduction in CCD dark current.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual In addition to this truly fine Operating Manual, the STF-8300 package includes the following items: STF-8300 Camera – The camera body is approximately 4 x 5 x 2 inches. 2 Inch T-Thread Nosepiece – This screws into the front of the camera for telescope work and includes a soft rubber dust cap. Optional Visual Back adapters are available from SBIG. In addition a screw-in T-to-C adapter and 35mm camera lens adapters are available.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual GUIDE PORT: This is where you connect the supplied 6 conductor modular phone style cable to the Autoguider (sometimes labeled "CCD") input port on your mount when using the STF-8300 as an autoguider, or when using Track & Accumulate with mount corrections (see the CCDOPS Manual for details of this mode POWER: Plug in the power supply here, or attach any 12VDC power source (9 - 14V) that provides 3 amps minimum.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 2. Installing the Software on 32-bit or 64-bit Windows Systems This section tells you how to do a fresh install of SBIG Cameras on your 32-bit or 64-bit Versions of Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. The Driver Checker program will automatically install 32-bit or 64-bit drivers based on your version of Windows. 1. Make sure no SBIG cameras are attached to your system. 2. Make sure your account has Administrator privileges then run the SetupBitDriverChecker64.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 4. Run the Driver Checker application and it will ask you about any ST Series Cameras (ST-7/8/9/10/2K) you may plan on using. Prior to 2006 the ST Series cameras had only an internal Tracking CCD. We call this the Classic Model. In 2006 we added the Remote Guide Head capability to the ST Series and we call it the Pro Model. The Driver Checker needs to know whether your ST Series camera is a Classic Model or a Pro model. For the STF-8300 and other models this section does not matter.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 8. Now it's time to try out the new drivers. With your camera disconnected from the PC, power it up and then plug it into the PC with the USB Cable.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 9. If for some reason the Add New Hardware Wizard asks you to manually locate the drivers then navigate to the proper directory under the Driver Checker directory in the Program Files or Program Files (X86) directory. There are 4 possibilities and you must choose the correct set of drivers. There are directories for 32 Bit and 64 Bit drivers, based upon you version of Windows and under them directories for Classic and Pro model cameras.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Some of these may not exist on your system but delete the ones that do. 3. Manually delete the old drivers files from the Device Manager. a. In the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt. b. At the command prompt, type the following command , and then press ENTER: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 c. Type the following command a command prompt, and then press ENTER: start devmgmt.msc d.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual d. e. f. If Windows asks you for the best match select any of the entries with Version 2.41.0.0 then click Next. Click Finish and then you’ll have to go through steps b through d one more time for this camera. Repeats steps a through f for each SBIG camera.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 3. Using the Camera Inside When you first receive the STF-8300 it’s wise to get acquainted with its operation inside the house where it’s warm and not to try to fight the telescope operation in the dark. We’ve included a brief tutorial below to get you acquainted with the STF-8300 and the CCDOps software. Running CCDOps Once installed, it’s easy to run CCDOps from the Windows Start menu.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual This is what’s referred to as a dark frame and it’s what you get when you take a picture with the nosepiece covered and the shutter closed. It’s a picture in the dark. Although there’s not much interesting to look at in this image there are some very important features that you need to understand. The first thing you’ll see is that while the image looks mostly like salt and pepper there are hundreds of bright specks. These are called hot pixels.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Hot pixels are simply the pixels where the dark current is higher than the average and thus they show up as white specs against the salt and pepper background. Again, this is completely normal for CCD images. The second effect you’ll notice is a brightening on the left of the image, as if something bright was just outside the field of view.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual pixels are definitely obscuring it. Now use the Dark Subtract command in the Utility menu. This brings up the Open File dialog where CCDOps wants you to select which image to subtract. Double-click on Image 2, the 10-second dark frame. The displayed image turns completely black! What did we do? Did we destroy the image by dark subtracting? No we didn’t but it’s time to learn something else regarding CCD images.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual and decrease. Click the ones adjacent to the Range setting and you’ll see the image contrast increase and decrease. Here’s a summary of how this works: Increasing the Back decreases the image brightness and vice-versa. Increasing the Range decreases the image contrast and vice-versa. Set the Back to 8,000 and the Range to 20,000 by typing in the fields (without the comma) and then hit the Apply button to get us back to where we started.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Use the Graphics/Comm Setup command in the Misc menu to make sure USB is selected for the Interface. Click OK to set/confirm that and then use the Establish COM Link command in the Camera menu. CCDOps will try to connect to your camera, which can take several seconds to complete.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual memory. To make sure you have the latest firmware periodically run the Driver Checker, which checks our servers for later drivers and updates your system accordingly. Serial Number – If you ever need to know this, here it is. It’s on the label on the back of the camera as well. Readout Mode Table – This shows the various readout modes the STF8300 supports. The High-resolution mode offers the full 3326 x 2504 resolution with 5.4 micron square pixels.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Setpoint – When the Temperature Regulation is on, set this to the absolute temperature in degrees C to which the CCD should be cooled. We know that cooling reduces dark current but there is a limit as to how much the CCD can be cooled by the TE cooler. We recommend choosing a temperature that is 30 to 35 degrees below the ambient temperature.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Here we’re asking for a 1.0-second dark frame of the full CCD. Click the OK button and in a few seconds you’ll see an image that looks a lot like the Image 1 from the tutorial. Hot pixels, readout glow and salt-and-pepper noise, they’re all there. Congratulations: You’ve just taken your first dark frame! That wasn’t so hard was it? Let’s experiment with the settings in the Grab dialog.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual automatically. Use the Focus command in the Camera menu and set it up in the Focus Setup dialog as shown below: Click OK and the camera will go into Focus mode. You’ll see image after image appear in a single window with a new image about every second. The images will vary slightly from image to image, mostly in the random background noise but in general they’ll all look a lot like Image 1. You’ll also notice a new Focus Mode dialog appeared.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual some dim objects though, checking this item, which uses dark subtracted images for Focus mode can help to pull the object out of the noise. It’s slightly slower when using dark frames so only use this when you need to. Filter Warm Pixels – Check this box to automatically filter out warm (bright) pixels that can affect the visual appearance of the focus frame and can contribute to artificially high readings during very short focusing exposures. This is faster than using dark frames.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 4. At the Telescope Connect the camera to the computer and start CCDOps. Establish a link to the camera and run the Camera Setup command. Enable the cooling to ~30 degrees below ambient and then watch the Link Status field to see the temperature come down. Once the temperature reaches the Setpoint it will jump back and forth by about 0.5 degrees. This is normal.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual the frame rate or screen update rate can be increased significantly by using Planet mode. In Planet mode the Focus command takes a full image and then lets you position a variable sized rectangle around the star. On subsequent images the Planet mode only digitizes, downloads, and displays the small area you selected. The increase in frame rate is roughly proportional to the decrease in frame size, assuming you are using a short exposure.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Note: With a 10 second exposure, objects like M51 or the ring-nebula are easily detected with modest amateur telescopes. The cores of most galactic NGC objects can also be seen. Taking an Image Take an image of the object by selecting the Grab command and setting the exposure time. Start out with the Image size set to full. The camera will expose the CCD for the correct time, and digitize and download the image.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 5. Acessories for your CCD Camera This section describes several of the common Accessories designed to work with the STF-8300. Color Filter Wheels Color filter wheels enable collection of LRGB color images, narrowband and photometric images with the STF-8300. The FW5-8300 is a 5-position filter wheel that holds 36mm diameter filters for unvignetted images at fast focal ratios. The FW8-8300 is an 8-position wheel. These can be added at any time.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Extension Power Cable This low loss extension cable lets you put the universal power supply well away from the camera and mount. It is 8 feet long and has locking plugs on both ends. Relay Adapter Box Older telescopes may not be compatible with our optically isolated telescope driver. We also sell a Relay Adapter Box that contains four electromechanical relays with Normally-Open, Normally-Closed and Common connections for each of the four directions.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Options for STF-8300 Cameras: A. T-thread to c-mount adapter B. C-mount lens (user supplied) C. CLA7-8300 35mm camera lens adapter for use without filter wheel (Specify Nikon, Canon FD or Minolta manual focvus) D. Nikon 35mm camera lens (user supplied) E. T-thread visual back for SCT F. 2" T-thread nosepiece (supplied with the camera) G. FW5-8300 5-position, or FW8-8300 8-position filter wheel H. OAG-8300 Off-Axis Guider I. ST-i Autoguider and Planet Camera J.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 6. Glossary Antiblooming- When a CCD pixel has reached its full well capacity, electrons can effectively spill over into an adjoining pixel. This is referred to as blooming. Kodak CCDs like the KAF-0402LE with the antiblooming option can be used to help stop or at least reduce blooming when the brighter parts of the image saturate. Astrometry - Astrometry is the study of stellar positions with respect to a given coordinate system.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual dark. The shutter covers the CCD. Dark Frames are subtracted from normal exposures (light frames) to eliminate fixed pattern and dark current noise from the image. Dark Frames must be of the same integration time and temperature as the light frame being processed. FITS Image File Format - The FITS image file format (which stands for Flexible Image Transport System) is a common format supported by professional astronomical image processing programs such as IRAF and PC Vista.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Readout Noise - Readout noise is associated with errors generated by the actual interrogation and readout of each of the CCD pixels at the end of an exposure. This is the result of fixed pattern noise in the CCD, residual charge in the readout capacitors and to a small extent the noise from the A/D converter and preamplifier. Resolution Mode - The resolution of a CCD camera is determined by pixel size.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual of images of an object. These exposures can be taken unguided as long as the "Snapshot time" does not exceed the length of time before tracking errors of your clock drive become apparent. This allows you to image and track without guiding or the need to connect the CCD Relay port to your drive motors. Track List - The Track List is an ASCII file generated by CCDOPS during a Track and Accumulate session. The Track List logs all the corrections made by CCDOPS for each of the images.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Appendix A – Connector and Cables Power Jack The Power Jack is used to supply 10.0 – 14.5 Volts DC at 3 amps to the camera. The jack is locking and center-positive. The mating plug is the locking model Switchcraft S760K with 0.218 inch outer diameter and 0.080 inch inner diameter (5.5/2.0 mm). Telescope Jack The Telescope Jack is used to provide tracking signals to the telescope drive.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Appendix B – Maintenance This Appendix describes the periodic maintenance items you need to perform on your camera to keep it in optimal condition. Cleaning the Window and Filters 1) Get a can of compressed air from a photo store, as well as a small camera hair brush 2) Thoroughly clean and dry the brush using isopropyl alcohol 3) Remove the front cover of the camera. If you want to clean the Window remove the Filter Wheel.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 1. Unscrew the desiccant container from the side of the camera opposite the connectors and remove the O-ring. 2. Plug the resulting hole by screwing in the supplied bolt or plug 2 or 3 turns. Finger tight is adequate. Don't put a wrench on it. 3. Heat the desiccant container in an oven at 350°F (175 deg C) for 4 hours. The solder used to seal the can melts at 460 degrees F, so be sure to stay at least 50 degrees below this number. Preheating the oven to avoid hot spots is advised. 4.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Appendix C – Camera Specifications The table below lists the specifications for the STF-8300 camera. Specifications are typical and can vary from camera to camera and are subject to change without notice. STF-8300 Typical Specifications CCD Pixel Array CCD Size Kodak KAF-8300 (mono or color) 3326 x 2504 17.96 x 13.52 mm Total Pixels 8.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Appendix D – STF-8300CM Color Camera Supplement The raw single-shot color image: The first thing you notice about the raw images from your single-shot color camera is that they are not in color! This is normal - the color data is being displayed as greyscale values in a raw single-shot color image You might also notice a grid or “screen door” pattern covering the raw image as well. This effect is also normal, and is caused by the RGB color mask that is covering the CCD.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual camera control software to acquire your single-shot color images, make sure to save them in either SBIG or 16-bit FITS file format. You should not crop, resize, or flip the image (using 3rd party software) before importing it into CCDOPS for one-shot color processing.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Easy Processing of Single-shot Color Images with CCDOPS Once you have captured the image, from the Utility drop-down menu in CCDOPS select Single Shot Color --> Color Process and you are ready to go. Processing of Single-Shot Color Camera images is easy. Start by clicking the Defaults button and selecting RGB or DDP for the Method (DDP works great on galaxies with bright cores). Click on “Process.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual If you don't like the color balance of the result, simply modify the color balance pointers and click the "process" button again. For more in-depth color image processing, you can extract the RGB color channels and perform more traditional tri-color image processing techniques (see Processing Separate RGB Images, below). Tip: While in the Single Shot Color Processing dialog box, click on any slider, then use the keyboard right and left arrow keys to make fine adjustments.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual Brightness and Contrast Use the Brightness and Contrast sliders to adjust the image and then hit the Process button to see the results. Enhancements Images of galaxies tend to have a lot of dynamic range and you may find it difficult to reveal the faint details in the arms without causing the core to saturate. Try selecting the DDP instead of RGB in the "Method" drop down box. Hit the Process button. DDP compresses the dynamic range of the image.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual To do this using CCDOPS select Utility --> Single Shot Color --> Extract Color Channel(s)... The Color Extraction dialog box will open and give you the option to extract any (or all) of the individual color channels (Red, Green, Blue) and a synthesized Luminance (greyscale) channel: Once extracted, the R,G and B frames from a Single Shot Color Camera are treated the same as RGB frames shot with a monochrome camera and color filter wheel.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual 2. Normalize the Sky Background - Normalizing the Sky Background means making sure it comes out a neutral gray in the final image, not having a subtle color tint. Bring the Red image to the foreground and then position the Crosshair on an area of the image that represents the Sky Background, free of any stars or faint nebulosity. Right-click the mouse and select the Set RGB Black Level. This tells CCDOps how to normalize the sky background. 3.
SBIG STF-8300 Manual then you would reduce the Red Horizontal item by 1. After each adjustment hit the “Do It” button to see the results. [b] Color Balance – Raise or lower the Factors column to adjust the Color Balance. For example, to make the image redder, raise the Red factor. Hit the Do It button to see the results. [c] Brightness and Contrast - Raise or lower Grey Level item to adjust the Brightness and raise or lower the Contrast Boost item to adjust the image contrast.
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