NINA Setup Walkthrough - Profile Configuration

[@IndianaStones1]

Short and accurate no unnessecary talking....

[@PatriotAstro]

Which is interesting... because I do like to talk. :)

[@alexandrepolozoff8392]

Coming over from ASIAir Plus and this was great starting point for me. Thank you so much!

[@PatriotAstro]

I’m glad to help. I’ve got a ton of Nina videos, which you’ve probably already noticed. :-) Let me know if you end up with any questions. I’ve also put together a new playlist that may help you learn and optimize the Advanced Sequencer.

[@mcjordan74]

Thank you for this video. Had a rough night last night trying to 3-point align for the first time. I missed a few steps setting up ASTAP and NINA so hopefully tonight will be better.

[@PatriotAstro]

Best of luck - let me know if you run into anything!

[@ronaldleedham4719]

Congratulations on a video well done! Im not a good student but I went along with you setting up my profiles. Thank you once again!

[@PatriotAstro]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@astronomynotebook]

You are doing everyone a great favour by your splendid tutorials on Nina…coming to be undeniably the most useful imaging software….🔭✨❤️

[@PatriotAstro]

Thank you so much for the very kind words. I’m certainly trying to put out helpful content. Definitely let me know if you have any suggestions. I have soooo much in the works.

[@SKYST0RY]

I agree with Duncan; your NINA tutorials are amazing. I imagine I am going to spend a lot of time on your channel as I am still doing all my AP the old multi-star align and juggle between guiding and imaging apps way.

[@PatriotAstro]

Happy you find them useful. Reach out anytime if you need help or have questions.

[@duiaita2924]

This video was awesome. Thank you for putting this together. Really helped me get started.

[@PatriotAstro]

Glad it helped!

[@gomanastro]

Great video...picking up where Cuiv left off.....this is very helpful, especially pointing out the "must do's" or "must check this box" items.

[@PatriotAstro]

Thanks! It’s a bit longer than I prefer videos like this to be, but I just couldn’t find another way to do it right, especially for people that need to follow along. Getting the profile right is so critical to the long-term success you will have with Nina, that I just felt like taking my time and going at a nice even pace was going to be better for everyone in the long run. ;) I am sure there are people out there that have been using Nina that could benefit from it as well, but the slow pace might turn them away. In those cases… I may just have to throw little tidbits into other videos so that they pick up those little items along the way.

[@tchallalemou5307]

Dude. Awesome. Keep it coming. Thank you for sharing and leading this. Your channel is fast becoming a place to do astrofoto stuff rather than just pretty picture show n tell.

[@PatriotAstro]

Thanks! I'll try to keep it coming, although for my sanity, I may have to do some more fun stuff from time to time. :) LOL

[@jbflores01]

excellent tutorial! Thanks for all the work you put into ALL your videos!

[@PatriotAstro]

My pleasure!

[@tracyedwards-ec2kk]

3o2

[@tracyedwards-ec2kk]

W

[@kgid8011]

Thanks for these videos. So informative and helpful!

[@PatriotAstro]

No problem!

[@rikutalvio]

22:20 These settings are for Plate Solving tab use only. Sequences use the Center instruction to do this, and sync is on by default but it can be disabled in Options>Equipment>Telescope.

[@PatriotAstro]

Good call. I think I actually edited out some wrong audio, I need to go back and look. I have had so many people have manual plate solve fails because of this. Thanks!

[@MG-Dub]

So should this be left off?

[@PatriotAstro]

@@MG-Dub No, you should turn it on anyway. It’s just that you’re sequences do not need this to be on for them to work effectively with platesolving. This setting will however allow a one off platesolve to work if you ever try to manually force a platesolve. So always turn it on.

[@ThePaulferris1964]

Thanks for the video. These options are greyed out in my instance of NINA, and can't be turned on. Might that be because I'm trying to do so without anything connected?

[@petergrant1348]

WOW! I'm glad I found your channel. Thank you. It is by far and away the best I have seen yet. I am BRAND NEW to the PC side of things coming from running ASIAIRplus via a tablet. I now have a PLL Eagle5S operated via Microsoft Remote Desktop on a Mac and an Askar151PHQ (both arrived this week) with an SS2 auto focuser and using a 2600mcp and 174mm guide camera on a OAG and are yet to leave my desk. I will be watching with interest you following videos. Cheers, Peter. P.S.I will have questions.

[@astrodust96]

You have by far the best NINA tutorials out there, and they have allowed me to transition from SGP much more quickly than I thought possible. One area where I'm having difficulty is setting up the PlateSolve libraries. This was pretty easy in SGP, but I don't find much in instructions that does not seem to make assumptions on how good I am supposed to be in configuring C files. Do you have any instructions on how/where to install ASTAP, PlateSolve 2 or 3 ?

[@tracyedwards-ec2kk]

😂²

[@tracyedwards-ec2kk]

R u stuikkopkme. To the çùrb

[@paulwilson8367]

Very helpful and thorough. I'm new to NINA, having not yet tried to image with it for the first time. I was able to follow along with this vid, using my iPad remotely connected to the mini PC in garage mounted to scope. I could stop and start and go back numerous times. After about 3 days, I think I have everything right. The only thing was right at the end of the video when you go from the imaging tab to a tab for "plate solving" to select the two switches to "on". I have NINA V2, and the plate solving tab was not where yours is. Nowhere to be found on the page, so hopefully those switches just default to "ON", though I will continue to look for them. I'm in NINA specifically for Hocus Focus, as I suffer "extreme" tilt, or field curvature. Since I will need to use it for auto focus, I will re-watch that video. Thanks for your expertise, pretty extensive.

[@PatriotAstro]

The switches you mention should be available on the Plate Solving window within the Imaging page. It may be open and already 'tabbed' on another one of the small panels, OR it needs to be opened by clicking on the correct icon at the top of the Imaging page. As far as working on your tilt, definitely get Hocus Focus working for the Focus part first, then come back to the tilt stuff. It is definitely a more advanced process when dealing with optical aberrations.

[@paulwilson8367]

@@PatriotAstro absolutely! I am just wanting to get it to focus and polar align and guide right now. My usual ASIAIR does those things so easily, but I have shifted gears to deal with excessively bad stars outside of the middle of the field. I’m happy to find there is a nina guru and it’s fun to learn new tricks though I have to rewatch the videos. Thank you!

[@PatriotAstro]

@@paulwilson8367 reach out any time!

[@paulwilson8367]

@@PatriotAstro plate solving is missing. I thought I had established the path to it but it must be wrong. Well, short first night.

[@PatriotAstro]

@@paulwilson8367 Sorry to hear, let me know if I can assist.

[@ddiver7908]

Hi PA. I have a question about the 10:00 mark. When setting the focal ratio, are you taking into account if you are running a reducer/flattner? For example, I have a telescope with an aperture of 6.5 and focal length of 780mm. But i'm running a reducer/flattner of 0.8 which brings my focal length to 624mm. What would my aperture be? Thanks!

[@drfritz142]

Hi Chad - thanks for your excellent videos. A true GoTo resource for me any time! Regarding the profiles in NINA, however, I struggle with two aspects. One: which granularity should I chose? Two: how to transfer good settings from one profile to all others? As for #1: I have 2 mounts, 4 scopes/focal lengths, 3 cameras, 5 locations, off-axis and guide scope guiding... so 2x4x3x5x2=240 profiles??? surely not! I recently discovered the site plugin. Whew. Only 48? Nah - there's got to be a more efficient way, because if not: 48 profiles lead to struggle #2: I spend a few nights with one setup and make changes to a few settings, like the color palette or the connection to an online weather station. How can I efficiently transfer these updated, better settings (which IMHO are nearly rig-independent) to all the other 47 (or hopefully: less) profiles? Your insights would be much appreciated! (PS: running Nina 2.3 HF2)

[@Branhil]

Thanks for this video. As I can see at 6:34 you are using two EAF's. How did you manage that both are displayed in the dropdown menu? I also have two of those installed , but only one is shown there. I can choose a focuser under settings, but not as you do in the dropdown menu. Thanks in advance and cs!

[@OilPainter01]

Thank you very much for this tutorial. I have an IOptron CEM70G mount. It seems that Nina does not recognize the guide camera built into this mount. Is there a reason for this and or a workaround for it?

[@PatriotAstro]

It’s likely just a driver issue. Have you installed the iGuider ASCOM driver yet? (This also requires ASCOM Platform to be installed as well. )

[@KarlKyhl]

Thank you for these @PatriotAstro! I am slowly migrating from APT. Is there a recommended order for viewing this series?

[@jonrobinson1026]

Great video for a newbie to astrophotography. Question.. my version of NINA asks for site elevation as does my skywatcher handset. It's around 200m here in Spain but NINA gives an error that it can't reach this elevation. Do you have any thoughts/ideas. Much appreciated.

[@conradsanders8475]

Great Video for Newbies like me. I did have one question. In Plate Solving you mention to turn on 'SYNC' and 'Reslew to Target'. I turned on Reslew but I don't have 'SYNC' as an option?

[@PatriotAstro]

Are you on the Plate Solving tab of the imaging page in 1.11? Not sure why it wouldn't be there.

[@conradsanders8475]

@@PatriotAstro I am using the Nighttime version (preview version) and I only see Reslew to Target on the imaging page. There is no 'SYNC'. Maybe I should post something in Discord?

[@PatriotAstro]

@@conradsanders8475 First, check in your profile under Options > Telescope. Do you have "Do not sync" set to On? It should be Off unless you cannot sync your mount for some reason.

[@conradsanders8475]

@@PatriotAstro Yup I found it I had Do Not Sync turned on. I turned it off and now I see it on the Imaging tab.

[@PatriotAstro]

@@conradsanders8475 ...and even better, Plate Solving will work. :) Perfect! Glad we found it!

[@michaelarter9521]

Chad, your NINA videos are extremely helpful. Thanks for doing these. I have a question on using profiles. I'm trying to set up profiles to change settings when I add a reducer to my telescope. The main settings "stick", or transfer, but I'm unsure how to handle autofocus settings and filter offsets. Any suggestions?

[@PatriotAstro]

Are you adding a new profile, or 'cloning' an existing profile?

[@michaelarter9521]

@@PatriotAstro thanks for reply. Frankly I don't remember how I did it. I'm pretty sure I cloned it. I've made a little progress since I posted the question, and found out that I need to click somewhere else (like the general tab) and then exit the profile to have it saved, so that helped. What I'm still wrestling with is what autofocus settings "stick" and what doesn't. I have profiles for my native 400mm focal length and for the 280mm focal length with a reducer. It appears that focus offsets will stay with the profile but the initial focus setting won't. Is that your experience?

[@claudiotenreiro3111]

Excellent video, I just wonder where is the file that contain your different set of profiles, in case you want to use another computer with NINA, can you just move the file with the profiles?

[@PatriotAstro]

in your windows file manager, it is a hidden path, go to: %localappdata%\NINA and you will see a profiles folder.

[@claudiotenreiro3111]

@@PatriotAstro Thanks a lot, that is wonderful. Best and CS!

[@zirconzircon8861]

Whoops! Guess I should have read down through the comments first. After reading Conrad Sanders comment and your reply I see why it isn't there. When I get it there, though, neither of the buttons is active. Do I have to have everything connected for them to be switched on or off?

[@PatriotAstro]

I don’t have in front of me, but you may need to have equipment connected for those to show up. For each equipment option, you have simulators you can try if you just wanna see what it looks like. By connecting to a simulator it should enable all the features. Give that a shot and see if it shows up. You only need those to settings when you do a one off platesolve. Otherwise if using the sequencer, you don’t need to have those on for it to work.

[@zirconzircon8861]

Thanks, Chad. I had another comment here before I make the "Whoops" comment in case it didn't make sense at first ... but it seems to have disappeared for some reason. I did edit it, so maybe that caused it to fly away. Basically, I started off that comment by saying that your tutorial is a great resource for anyone just starting out with N.I.N.A. I mentioned that I fit into that category because I have been using another sequencer, but it's been giving me problems ... hanging instead of taking images even though guiding is taking place. Then I asked about the two buttons ... which I later figured out by reading the comments, hence the "whoops" comment. :-) I also mentioned I am using version 1.10 ... not the version you are using here. And I ended by saying thanks for taking the time to do these great videos. Anyway, using your tutorial, I've connected everything without a hitch ... indoors for now because of all the rain we've been getting. I'd like to download and use the version you are using here, but I'm wondering if it would be stable enough for someone just starting out? I don't want to run into problems again right from the start. So what do you think ... stay with 1.10 for now?

[@PatriotAstro]

@@zirconzircon8861 I personally would go ahead and move to 1.11. It has been very stable for months and month on my end. You may want to review the advance sequencer, downloadable sequences, and similar tutorials i have as well though. While the basic sequencer still exists in 1.10, the real power comes from the advanced sequencer. Watching one of my most recent video about not losing images to clouds is just one such advancement.

[@zirconzircon8861]

@@PatriotAstro Thanks for the prompt reply. I've been watching that one ... and quite a few of your other videos as well. Your explanations are VERY well done. It's always great to have a video rather than having to read instructions ... especially when one has to read those instructions from a computer these days.. I'm old school and would much rather have a paper copy in my hands for any lengthy instruction manual I might have to read. :-) Anyway, thanks again for all the work you've put into this!

[@jimngugk4741]

Hi asking a very beginner question here , how and where to do the setting time zone and Hemispheres north and south , is it the time zone are follow the eqmod or need to do its own setting here in NINA ? Or it will follow the pc time zone ? Because I just start to use it , so there is still many thing need to be learned for , and I try to watch so many youtube video cant find anyone are talking about the time zone and Hemispheres , due to the new version of NINA didnt have any setting for the time zone and Hemispheres so I got stuck in the middle of nowhere , hope to have help here , tks And sorry for my bad english

[@PatriotAstro]

The lat/long information you set in nina will tell the app where you are and covers the hemisphere portion of your question. As for time, that comes from your PC so it is important that it is correctly set and accurate.

[@bmcampjr]

I found under the "Set tracking rate" under Manual control on the Telescope page an option for "Solar" on one of my computers and cannot find how I set it. Any ideas? It has disappeared since and I want to track the sun with a solar scope. Thanks.

[@PatriotAstro]

Sorry I'm so behind on responding - did you figure this out? You can set tracking rate in the sequencer using the set tracking instruction.

[@MrBebopbob]

Great video (as always). I am trying to switch to a mini computer from a laptop I have been using for a while. I would like to transfer profile info for Nina, PHD2, and Stellar I um but I can't figure out where these profile are stored. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks again for another helpful video. Bob

[@PatriotAstro]

For NINA type %localappdata% into your File manager (it is a hidden location). Then in NINA/Profiles from there. For PHD2, I think you can just click manage profiles and then export them…, I think. I’m not sure about Stellarium, you may have to Google that one. It might even be easier to open them up side-by-side and just go through the configuration.

[@deeber35]

If telescope is really your mount, what do u put for focal length and ratio?

[@PatriotAstro]

Weird terminology, I know. So Telescope and Mount are used somewhat interchangeably in Nina BUT when it asks for your focal length and ratio, use whatever optics are attached to the primary imaging camera in NINA.

[@arpadjakab-peter5431]

Hi! I have a nikon d3300 and I plug it in my laptop, trying to connect it with nina, buth when I select Nikon from the camera option, it is just loading and never connect. What can I do about it? What I am doing wrong, there are no tutorial videos about connecting a dslr to nina

[@tomrampe832]

Have a question I did step by step then the telescope pointed to the ground did I miss something?

[@brunofigueira4970]

Hi. One thing that I saw inthe video was that you connected the AZGTI via EQMOD (same as an EQ6R for example). Its that ok for the GTI? Shouldn't be via SynScan? Thanks

[@PatriotAstro]

AzGTi supports EQMOD as well. The EQMOD docs cover the settings change required for it to work if you need to dig it out. I have found that I can a bit more reliably connect my mount and PHD2 when using EQMOD, plus it is more familiar to me since my other 2 mounts are an Orion EQ-G and an EQ6-R Pro. I do need to connect using the SynScan app first every night to put the mount into Equatorial mode, but then I close it out and EQMOD connects just fine from there on out.

[@brunofigueira4970]

@@PatriotAstro Nice. I'll try that, i've tried only the SynScan to connect to NINA but didnt tried yet with PHD2. I think i'll try now with eqmod as in my EQ6R pro

[@PatriotAstro]

@@brunofigueira4970 If you go the EQMOD route, make sure you look up the AzGTi parameters. There are a couple numbers you need to change when you set it up as a custom mount in the EQASCOM settings.

[@brunofigueira4970]

@@PatriotAstro Thanks. I've seen that at the EQMOD manual and I'll try this evening

[@raboyle62]

@@PatriotAstro Do you know if this would also apply for an AZ-EQ5?

[@omulet29]

How do I set in NINA that each session has a different folder?

[@PatriotAstro]

When you setup the file naming in the profiles, you can use the same ‘variables’ for folder naming. So something like: d:\myfolders ina\$targetname$_$applicationstartdate\$imagetype$\$targetname$-N$imagenumber$-etc… .fits. You can manipulate this on that page and see an example of your changes. It will show you the folders and file naming sample based on how you set it up using the variables on the page.

[@Yambolic]

Help me out here! I have all these cables - where do they all go?

[@PatriotAstro]

Lol. If you want to send me some pictures and description of what you’ve got via email I’d be glad to try to help. My email is in the about section of my KZbin channel.

[@Yambolic]

@@PatriotAstro You're a good man and your tutorials are very good, I've learnt loads from you and boy, I need to! I commented and asked about cabling as it's not always clear what goes where and most tutorials get straight on with the subject matter they're dealing with. However my issue is simple really and I have sorted things out for myself - I need an EQDIR cable to connect my old Bresser EXOS 2 mount to my laptop and I need a USB hub as my laptop only has 3 USB ports. I can take images but I want to automate more so slowly putting pieces in place as I'm on a budget. There's an old boat joke that fits astrophotography very well - You want to make a small fortune? Start with a big one and get into AP 🤣🤣🤣 Loved your cabling video(s)! Thanks

[@timothysheridan5602]

great video...i am still confused with getting sky atlas to work the way i want it to work. When i do a search in sky atlas no pictures load after you do a search like yours do in this video. I am not sure if i have configured it correctly. It only shows an image if i use the framing assistant. Also in the framing assistant the window will not show the framing box that you can adjust around the image. Do you have any suggestions? Am i missing something??

[@PatriotAstro]

There are 2 databases you need to download and install from the bottom of the NINA downloads page. The SkyAtlas will be extracted to your machine and you tell NINA in options General where this folder is located. Then, for framing, you can download the framingAssistant database and install that on the same system as well. 2 different types of data so they need to be separately installed.

[@IndianaStones1]

My only problem is that the repisotory isnt loading.

[@PatriotAstro]

The images of the targets in the skyatlas? if so, make sure you extracted that large file you downloaded from the nina website into the right folder and told NINA where you put them on the optons page of your profile.

[@IndianaStones1]

@@PatriotAstro i restarted the programm than it worked.