Using The ASIAIR Pro For Making Flats & Dark Flats

[@freeflysi1707]

Most helpful video I've found on this subject. Thank you.

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks for the comment!

[@larrymedina2466]

Fantastic!! Clear as a bell what to do.

[@AstroQuest1]

thanks for the comments Larry! Cheers

[@drandrewclarke]

thank goodness I found this video. just starting out really (ie in my second season) and have wasted a bit of money trying to obtain some darkening filters for my lightbox. Looking forward to using printing paper. Thanks. love your style, subscribed.

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks for the comments. Good luck!

[@larrymedina2466]

Thank you, you were right on! absolutely everything i needed to know to create dark and light flats. Great Job.

[@AstroQuest1]

Glad it was helpful Larry! - good Luck!

[@bobjor3]

Hi, I know this is a year old video now, but I just happened to run across it. Regarding a "lens cap" for the scope, I bought a 80mm refractor that was missing the cap. I bought 99 cent shower cap. Works pretty darn well!

[@AstroQuest1]

Hey Robert, Those make perfect caps, better than the original in some cases. Cheers !

[@RussellsAstrophotography]

Some great tips Kurt, thank you. I love what you've done with the white T-shirt and ring, that looks really useful. I've just stumbled onto your channel...cant wait to watch more.

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks for the comments Russell. I just started following you as well. - Cheers Kurt

[@davidleejenkins]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I didn’t realize that my flats should have an exposure time between 2 and 10 seconds. All this time, I’ve been using ASIAIR’s Auto exposure setting without dimming down my light box. As a result, my exposure times were a fraction of a second. After watching your video, I redid my flats for my latest project. Thanks again!!!

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks for commenting David. Your fraction of a second flats may be OK but ideally they should be longer. - Cheers Kurt

[@chrislee8886]

Indeed i have compared the ASI short exposure flats to self generated at 1-2secs and frankly i find no difference 😊

[@michaelfeigenbaum2415]

Thanks Kurt, very helpful!

[@AstroQuest1]

Glad it was helpful Mike! I find making flats (and dark flats) with the ASI air to be pretty easy in the long run. Cheers

[@AstroForumSpace]

Your t-shirt solution is far superior to mine Kurt! Still working with rubber bands. Nice tutorial, clear skies!

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks Wido! Yeah I stared with rubber bands on the CB and then saw a couple of other people using these. Cheers Kurt

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Nice tutorial Kurt, I never even thought about the possible issues of doing flats with the Hyperstar. Looking forward to your future reviews of the Edge 8/Hyperstar combo!

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks Joe. I never though about it either until 'saw the light' (red that is). Cheers Kurt

[@Mistr_A]

Perfect Kurt thanks for the Video

[@AstroQuest1]

You bet, thanks for the comment Nick. - Cheers Kurt

[@stevensiwinski]

I've been struggling to take good flats with the "auto" mode. Seems like they're always a little off and the image still has issues after calibration. Thanks for this guide, seems like my problem is probably too bright of a light and too short of exposures.

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks, Good flats are tough to get depending what camera you have. Good Luck.

[@Grumpydadwithtech]

14:14, i was under the impression that the darks need to have same exposure and focus left the same so any marks on the sensor or lens gets removed, removing the camera wont allow this

[@AstroQuest1]

Hey Craig, you may be getting caught in the finer details. 1) flats - same focus, same gain as lights; 2) dark flats - same focus, same gain, same exposure as flats; 3) darks - same gain, same exposure, same temp as lights; 4) bias - same gain as lights - quick exposure as possible. Cheers

[@malanstecker]

Thanks for your excellent video. After the flats, darks and lights are made, how are they stacked together for the final image?

[@AstroQuest1]

Good question! They are stacked using PixInsight when I do a normal stacking of an image. I use the default settings.

[@gregorymckenna6609]

Re the plastic bag, I would suggest using a materiel that does not cause static. The plastic bag may cause enough static to attract dust to the scope.

[@AstroQuest1]

Good point Gregory! - Cheers

[@tamfrize202]

Great video Kurt, can I ask you how did you moved your mount and telescope into that position for taking flats, manually or using the asiair? Thanks

[@AstroQuest1]

Hi Tam, I just did it manually. - Cheers Kurt

[@richardhendrick5835]

Richard _ Belgium - Love your videos Kurt - I'm using the same drawing board with 3 dim positions, and I made 2 sets of paper shields, 1 for narowband & 1 for LRGB. It works perfectly well.

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks for the comment Richard. Good to know you are doing the same. - Cheers Kurt

[@petecarpenter1068]

Hi Kurt, I was wondering whether the auto exposure capability of the ASI Air for flats would give you a comparable result? I use a drawing panel with mine too and have noticed that when I review the flat with auto stretch as the air likes to do I have one side of the image which has a magenta cast and green the other, the reset button by the histogram does improve this. The flats still seem to calibrate the image pretty well so I guess there’s not too much to worry about. I enjoyed your chat with Steven Miller by the way 👍

[@AstroQuest1]

Thanks for watch Pete. Actually I use, or have been using the auto exposure to give me an idea of the time and then make light adustments based on it. That is if I would like a 2-4 sec flat I will see what the autoexposure time is and if it less I will make it dimmer or if it is too long I will make it brighter. As long as the average ADU is between 15,000-45,000 for the ASI294. Cheers Kurt

[@peruzatto]

Great video! I have one question: Should I have shoot flats before or after shooting lights frames? Because focus might changeduring the night.

[@AstroQuest1]

Hi Alex. Great question and this is where ideally vs. reality may not be the same. Ideally, flats should be shoot after lights with the same focus (and other settings such as gain/ISO - temp is not that important for flats) as the lights. If you leave your camera on the scope you can you those same flats on multiple nights. Good flats will get rid of gradients and dust bunnies on the sensor. You can do the flats days ort weeks after but they may not be as good. I did a set week later and they worked. I have post that explains what happened and a little more info about flats - www.astrobin.com/pw85k8/?nc=collection&nce=712. Good luck

[@peruzatto]

@@AstroQuest1 Thank you so much!😊

[@michaelclose3166]

when doing the auto flat process when done is an average of all the flats done?

[@AstroQuest1]

I usually do the auto flat to get an approximate time for optimal flats, then I adjust the time to the nearest whole number and do 20 flats.

[@johnwood3789]

I use a dslr with the asiair pro.I have followed a similar route to get my flats.When I checked the files on the air thumb v there seems to be a set of jpg flats but also “ Gimp” flat files ( which I suspect are Tiffs).Which do I use in processing?Also I have two scopes.will one library of flats do both or should I take two sets of flats ?

[@AstroQuest1]

Hi John, use the tiff/gimp files for processing. Also, the flats should be specific for each scope so you should make a second set for the second scope. - Cheers

[@oburg2008]

Kurt, I am a oldie getting into astrophotography after a 40 year absence. Are you using a 294mm or 294 color?

[@AstroQuest1]

Hi, I am using the ASI 294MC with this setup! Works well but the ASI 294MM gives you more options for binning and such. Cheers

[@oburg2008]

@@AstroQuest1 Kurt, if I can figure out OSC, I plan to go to monochrome.

[@malanstecker]

Can you give us a link for the light boards for making flats?

[@AstroQuest1]

Hi Michael, Sorry I did not leave the link, but here it is: Huion A3 Thin Light Box LED Light Pad Light Tracer for Artcraft Tracing Animation Drawing Sketching Calligraph It says it is currently unavailable from Amazon but any similar model will work. Cheers

[@chrislee8886]

Can i ask why you don’t just create master flats using “live” menu and select flats then auto? I know the ADU value it selects can be highish but saves all the effort later?

[@AstroQuest1]

Good question. I actually did that but for some reason I did not get a good result, however, whebn I redid them entering the constraints on my own, it worked well. True it is a little more work but not that much more.

[@magedsyehia]

Hello Kurt, Quick question. Is it a must to use the T-Shirt as you already using the white sheets of paper which does the same job the the T-Shirt? thx

[@AstroQuest1]

Good question and the answer is no. At this point the T-shirt is not necessary. Some people just use a control the light panel if it gets dim enough. The t-shirt just disperses the light evenly but if that is already done then it is not needed. Cheers

[@jtepsr]

please explain something with dark flats. do you remove the light panel or if i used a white t shirt on scope with light panel. i am not sure of the setup.

[@AstroQuest1]

The flats are done with a light panel/T-shirt. The Dark Flats are done just as normal darks are done except the settings are exactly the same as the flats are done which is why they are done right after you do the normal flats. good luck.

[@manhcuongct05]

How about flat frame with mm cmos camera ?

[@AstroQuest1]

Should be the the same procedure! - Cheers

[@astrodad656]

Do you miss APT? I am conflicted: ASI Pro or NINA/APT with a 12 volt Win 10 pc. Thnx.

[@EODHammer]

I had an asiair but I a dome now and moved over to NINA. Never looked back. IMHO NINA is the bomb. The asiair is very nice though and if having a laptop outside or where ever bothers you it's a better way to go than a micro PC. Another reason I moved away is I'm using QHY cameras now, won't work with ASI's products

[@AstroQuest1]

I still use APT every so often if I am doing some type of testing but NINA still has a better Autofocus. In my shed I use a laptop where I run NINA and APT, but for my outside front lawn setup I use the ASIAIR. It is so much easier than having to bring a laptop and more wires and such. I have been very impressed with it so far. - Cheers

[@boaty1968]

How would you say nina autofocus is still better than the new APT autofocus routine

[@EODHammer]

@@boaty1968 Im not familiar with APT, I don’t think it’s compatible with QHY cmos cameras. NINA’s autofocus so spot on. There isn’t anything about Nina that isn’t good. You should try it and see. Great support baked into the app and a really good discord channel.

[@AstroQuest1]

@@boaty1968 'Better' is a poor choice of words. I have had it work more consistently over the years and once I used the backlash overshoot method, it took away any backlash issues. APT can do that as well but you have to go through a couple of steps in order to set it up. Once you have it set in APT it should work just as well as as NINA.