My colleagues in the Support Department asked be to write about how to capture colored RAW image data into uncompressed Y800 AVI with IC Capture.AS and then import it to RegiStax 4. They tell me they have at least two customers every day who need assistance on figuring out how to do this.

For the purpose of this mini-tutorial, a DFK 21AF04.AS camera will be used to generate the AVI file. The resulting file will be imported into RegiStax 4, in which the color calculation will take place.

Step #1: Setup the DFK 21AF04.AS in IC Capture

Start IC Capture.AS and open the camera, as described in the documentation. Set the video format to Y800, as illustrated in the following screenshot:

Step #2: Get Ready For AVI Capture

First of all, a filename and the AVI format must be specified. The AVI file format must be uncompressed Y800. This can be set up by opening the Record Video File dialog, which is activated by clicking on the button marked in the following screenshot:

The following dialog box should open. Proceed by clicking on the indicated button:

The following dialog should appear:

Check the radio button next to Uncompressed and select Y800 from the selection list. You can also specify further properties, such as the filename and number of frames to be captured.

To proceed, click the OK button. The dialog box will close.

Step #3: Capture The AVI File

The Record Video File dialog box should now look as follows:

You can start AVI capture by clicking on the red record button The black pause and stop buttons pause and stop AVI capture respectively.

Once you have finished capturing, you can close IC Capture.AS.

Step #4: Import Into RegiStax

Now start RegiStax and import the AVI file, which you have just captured. Then, click on Additional Options, as shown in the following screenshot:

Proceed, by clicking on Use Debayer and select G8 from the radio buttons:

And that is all there is to it - the image is now colored.

If you need any help with this mini-tutorial, please do not hesitate to contact our Support Department. Please do not forget, when you purchase an astronomy cameras, manufactured by The Imaging Source, you are not only getting the hardware, but an all-encompassing support package as well. All customers can contact the Support Department by telephone, e-mail and fax.

This year, my colleague and author of the French astronomy cameras blog, Aurélie Le Fort and I will be attending ATT in Essen, Germany.

The event, which is being organized by Walter-Hohmann-Sternwarte, will take place on May 31, 2008. It is one of the more important astronomy related events in Germany.

If you would like to meet up with us, please drop us an e-mail, with “ATT 2008 Meet Up” in the subject. We still have a few time slots free.

See you there!

We are very happy to announce that we have reduced the price of the following astronomy cameras:

USB 2.0:

• DMK 31AU03.AS
• DFK 31AU03.AS
• DBK 31AU03.AS

FireWire:

• DMK 31AF03.AS
• DFK 31AF03.AS
• DBK 31AF03.AS

Please take a look at the updated price table for details of the new prices.

If you have any questions concerning this reduction in price, or indeed, about any matters related to astronomy cameras, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Last week, Didier Favre submitted an image that he captured with his DMK 31AF03.AS astronomy camera. The photo shows solar prominences and was captured on May 01, 2008. The image is the result of 150 stacked singular images:

A great thanks goes out to Didier for his participation in The Imaging Source astronomy cameras community.

Oldfield So, over in Hong Kong, has published an interesting article about debayering techniques for the DBK and DFK series of astronomy cameras.

He discusses the following three techniques:

Case A: Debayer’ing is done at hardware level, and so the data coming from the camera is already in full color. [...]

Case B: By choosing Y800 for the device codec, the hardware sends original data which is not yet debayer’ed, that saves some Firewire bandwidth, and then the debayer’ing is done at software level by IC capture. [...]

Case C: We have chosen Y800 for the device as above, so the data coming from the camera is still not yet debayer’ed, and therefore, it uses less Firewire bandwidth. And Debayer’ing is also disabled in IC Capture, meaning that Debayer’ing is not done on-the-fly as well, and so it requires less CPU cycle.

He has published a screenshot for each technique, one of which that illustrates the third technique, is below:

You can read the full article, in Oldfield’s blog.

A great thanks goes out to Oldfield for sharing this information with The Imaging Source astronomy cameras community.