Meade LPI Camera Program ® The Basics Parts Listing When first opening the packing box, note carefully the following parts: · · · · · · · LPI camera Parfocal ring USB cable DB-9 to RJ-11 adapter LX200 serial cable Autostar #497 serial cable CD ROM, including the Operating Instruction in .pdf format Recommended Minimum System: PC running Windows 98SE with 64 MB and 100 MB free disk space. To get the best view and resolution for the images in this manual, zoom in to 200% using the viewing controls in the Acrobat Reader control bar. 2 Install the Autostar Suite Software The following procedure is also found on the printed Quick Start Guide supplied with this product. Before you can operate the LPI camera, you must install the Autostar Suite software. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Do not plug the USB cable into your PC at this time. You will be asked to do so later in this installation. Turn on your PC. Allow Windows to load. Place the CD ROM into your PC's CD drive. The Main Menu screen displays. Click "Install Autostar Suite." You are prompted to choose a directory in which to install the driver. You may accept the default directory or create your own directory path. Click "Next" when done. The "Select Components" window displays. This window allows you to choose whether or not to install the Guide Star Catalog. Note: This is an optional catalog that may be used by the Planetarium program and contains all of the locations of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Guide stars. This file is very large and takes up a large amount of memory. Only download if you have enough memory or wish to use this amount of memory of your hard drive. Memory totals for the file and your hard drive are displayed in this window. If you wish to install the catalog, check the GSC check box. If you do not wish to install the catalog, uncheck the GSC check box. Then click "Next." The "Start Installation" window displays. The program is now ready to install the Autostar Suite. Click "Next" to begin installation. The "Microsoft Text to Speech Engine" window displays. Click "Yes" to agree to the terms and to continue with the installation. The "Microsoft .Net Framework installation" window displays. You must click "Yes" for the LPI to operate. Once .Net Framework installs, the .Net Framework agreement displays. Click "OK" to continue. A window displays that allows you to install Adobe Acrobat Reader if you do not already have it installed on your PC. Click "Yes" or "No." The "InstallShield Wizard for the Meade LPI" displays. Click "Next." A window displays prompting you to do a complete or custom install of InstallShield Wizard. Click on the "Complete" button and then click "Install" to begin installation. (XP versions only) "Windows Logo Test" window displays. Clicking "Continue Anyway" will install a driver that should operate with most PC configurations. InstallShield Wizard completes installation. Click "Finish." A window displays that tells you that Autostar Suite has been installed. Click "Finish." 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 3 Connect The LPI Camera to Your PC To connect the LPI Camera to your PC, you need to install the LPI device driver and connect the USB cable: Connect one end of the USB Cable to the LPI camera. Connect the other end of the USB Cable to your PC or to a USB hub. "Found camera" displays at the bottom right of your PC screen. The "Hardware Wizard" window displays. The "Install Software" selection is checked as the default choice. Click "Next." The Wizard searches for the driver. 5. (XP versions only) "Windows Logo Test" window displays. Clicking "Continue Anyway" will install a driver that should operate with most PC configurations. 6. The driver is installed. Click "Finish." The camera driver is now installed and your PC will now be able to recognize the LPI whenever you connect it to the PC. 1. 2. 3. 4. 4 Start the Suite Software If the Autostar Suite icon doesn't appear on your desktop, you can start the Autostar Suite program by going to Start/Program/Meade/Autostar Suite. The Planetarium program will display. You can open other programs of the Suite by going to the Image menu and selecting the desired program. You can open the Operating Instruction manuals or the Meade General Catalog by selecting them from the Main Menu screen of the CD ROM. Click the word "Meade" in the Main Menu or in the General catalog to go www.meade.com. 5 Connect the LPI Camera to Your Telescope To connect the LPI camera to an ETX Telescope: · Orient the LPI camera into the eyepiece holder so that the USB cable points at the front end of the telescope's optical tube (see photo at right). · If you are using the ETX in a "straight-through" configuration, orient the LPI camera in the holder so that the USB cable points downward. To connect the LPI camera to an LX-200 or LX-90 Telescope: · Orient the LPI camera into the eyepiece holder so that the USB cable points downward. To connect the LPI camera to other telescopes: · Move the LPI camera around in the eyepiece holder until the image on the LPI display screen (17) is upright. To connect the LPI camera when using an autoguider: · Go to the Object box and choose "Autoguide" from the list ( see pages 25 and 26 for more information). Enter comm port number and other information. · Attach the correct serial cable from the telescope's control panel RS-232 port to the comm port of your PC (see the Autoguider instruction sheet for more information). Also see "Autoguider," page 25, for more information. Cable points at front of tube 6 Open the LPI Program To open the LPI Imaging program, go to the Image menu of the Planetarium program and select LPI Imaging. The LPI program will display. 7 LPI Controls b c g 1^ 1* 1( 2) 2@ 2# 2* 2( 2^ 2& 2! 2% e df h 1& i j 1) 1! 1$ 1# 1@ 1% 2$ 3) 3! 8 Key to LPI Controls 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Gain and Offset sliders Expose control Auto Adj (Auto Adjust) button Mono (Black and white) check box Live Image check box Dark Sub check box Status box Take Pictures, Settings tabs Align & Combine, Filter controls Object Type combo box Object Name box File Type combo box Save Every Image check box Start/Stop button Image Acquire status bars Stats, Files tabs 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Help, Live, File Names tabs Histogram display Histogram sliders and controls Log check box ROI check box Magic Eye Focus display Avg (Average), Reset check boxes Status display Image display Image directory field & Browse button Dark Frames directory field & Browse button Open button Close button Tracking box Centroid Throughout this manual, any number that is displayed in parentheses, refers to key above. For example, "(3)" refers to the Auto Adjust button and "(14)" refers to the Start/Stop button. 9 Start Taking Pictures1 Once you have connected your camera to the computer and opened the LPI program, you'll want to start taking pictures. Follow the steps below to start taking simple pictures with your LPI camera. We recommend that the first time you take pictures, you do so during daylight hours. Point your telescope at a stationary landmark, such as a building, telephone pole or so forth--trees and other objects that move slightly are not the best objects to use during your first image tests. 1. Click on the "Auto Adj" button (3). See "Auto Adjust Button," page 16, for more information. 2. Click on the combo box controls in the "Object" field (10) to display a list of object types. Scroll down the list and select "Terrestrial." See "Object," page 17, for more information. 3. Type a name for the object in the "Object Name" box (11). This will be used as the image file name. See "Object Name," page 18, for more information. 4. Click on the combo box controls in the File Type field (12) and select "JPEG." See "File Type," page 18, for more information. 5. Click on the "Live" tab (17). See "Live Image Check Box," page 16, for more information. more... 10 Start Taking Pictures2 6. An image should be already displayed on the screen (25). Use the focuser on your telescope to focus the object. Notice that in the Magic Eye Focus field (22), that two triangles are displayed and change their size. The Magic Eye Focus will help you focus your image; see "Magic Eye Focus," page 21, for more information. If you are having a lot of problems focusing your image, see "The Parfocal Ring," pages 14-15. 7. Click "Start (14)." The camera begins taking pictures and will continue to do so until you click on "Stop." Watch the Status box (24) in the bottom left-hand corner. When "Images" reaches 50, click the "Stop" button (14). Go to the next page to find out what the program is doing once you press "Start." 11 What Happens When You Press Start1 · · The live image is displayed on the program's display screen if the Live box is checked and the Live tab is selected (these are the default settings). When you press Start, the LPI camera begins taking images and continues to take images until you press stop. The LPI program uses the first 10 images it takes as a baseline to compare with the images it takes subsequently. In other words, the program is always comparing images. Note: The user can change the amount of images that the program uses as a baseline. See "Evaluation Count," page 17, for more information. The program takes images with the best contrast and quality and assembles the best of these images into one image; this image is referred to as the composite image in this manual. After you press the Start button, the composite image is displayed as a new tab above the display screen. When you press Stop and select this tab, the final version of the composite image is displayed. After about 10 images are taken, the LPI program applies a sharpening filter to the composite image. You can choose which sharpening filter you wish to use from the most to the least sharp, or none. You can change the filter setting while the camera is taking pictures. See "Kernel Filter," page 17, for more information. Further image enhancement or filtering may be performed in other image editing software, such as the supplied Image Processing software or Adobe Photoshop. Make sure you select an image type that can be opened (such as JPEG or BMP) by the Image Editing software. · · · · more... 12 What Happens When You Press Start2 · The LPI program is continually resaving the composite image. If the Save Every Image box is checked, the program will save every image that added to the composite image (see pages 17-19 for more information). If your PC crashes or loses power, the images that have been taken up to the time of the crash or power loss will automatically be saved--the user does not need to save them manually. The LPI program continues to composite the image until you press the Stop button. Typically, about 50 images are needed to get a high quality composite image. After 50 images, the quality of the image increases only in small amounts; about 90% of the quality level will have been accumulated with about 50 images. When you press Start again, the LPI program begins to accumulate a new composite image and renames the image in a new tab. For example, if you named the first image "Building," the next images will be named "Building 2," then "Building 3" and so forth, so that it doesn't overwrite the previously saved images. If a name/number was previously saved as a file name, the program will choose the next available number. For example, if "Building 7" was previously saved, the next file will be named "Building 8." Note that controls that are not currently available are grayed out. · · · · 13 The Parfocal Ring1 It is extremely useful to have the LPI camera and a telescope eyepiece be parfocal--it will save you time when you need to refocus. Parfocal means setting two or more eyepieces to the same focus. (In this case, one eyepiece is a camera.) In other words, if you focus one eyepiece in your telescope, then you remove it and replace it with a parfocal eyepiece, the parfocal eyepiece will require little, if any, refocusing. The following procedure will show you how to make your LPI camera parfocal with a low-power wide-field 25mm or 26mm eyepiece (do not perform this procedure with a high-power eyepiece). Use the supplied parfocal ring and perform the procedure during the daytime. more... 14 The Parfocal Ring2 1. Open the LPI program. 2. Insert the LPI camera into the telescope eyepiece holder. Do not tighten the eyepiece holder thumbscrew. Make sure the LPI camera slides down as far as it will go into the eyepiece holder. 3. Point the telescope at a terrestrial object that has a lot of contrast with the surrounding area and if possible, has a distinctive edge (like a building, for example). 4. If you have previously moved the histogram sliders, move the top slider to the 0 position (move all the way to the left) and move the bottom slide ...