Related Manuals for Opticstar PL-131 COOLAIR
Summary of Contents for Opticstar PL-131 COOLAIR
- Page 1 Opticstar PL-131 / AG-131 COOLAIR Setup Guide Microsoft Windows (64-bit & 32-bit) 7/8/10/11 OPTICSTAR...
- Page 2 Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. CAUTION 1. Please read and follow the installation instructions on the following pages for a trouble-free installation! 2. Do not drop your camera as this can result in serious damage. 3. Only use the supplied power supply unit if your camera comes with one.
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Page 3: Table Of Contents
Opticstar PL-131 Plug-in for AstroArt ........................21 Binning and ROI Modes ......................21 Gain and StarView ........................21 Opticstar PL-131 Plug-in for MaxIm DL ........................22 Binning and ROI Modes ......................22 Gain and StarView ........................22 Telescope Control and Auto-Guiding with the AG-131 ....................23 System Requirements.............................. -
Page 4: Introduction
Software Support The maximum frame rates are possible in conjunction with the etAMACAP and Opticstar View software applications that are included on the bundled CD. Alternatively, if the emphasis is to process individual frames rather than a video stream, then the PL-131 can be used with the following software applications: •... -
Page 5: Camera Installation
2. Windows software drivers for the PL-131. 3. EtAMCAP application software for camera control and video capture. 4. Opticstar View application software with more advanced functions and usability. 5. Nebulosity Lite for single shot image capture and processing. 6. PHD Guiding for telescope auto-guiding. -
Page 6: Installing Software For Windows Directshow
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Installing Software for Windows DirectShow The first step is to install software that makes the PL-131 compatible with Microsoft’s Windows DirectShow model. Such compliance allows the PL-131 to be used with etAMCAP. 1. Navigate to the DirectShow folder on the CD and open the appropriate program for your camera. - Page 7 Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. 5. Windows should confirm that the “Drivers were successfully installed on your computer”. Click Finish to continue. 6. Finally, if Windows asks to restart the computer, select “Yes”. Step 6: Drivers installed successfully.
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Page 8: Installing The Pl-131 Driver Software (32-Bit Or 64-Bit)
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Installing the PL-131 Driver Software (32-bit or 64-bit) Please follow the instructions below in order to install the Windows drivers for the camera. 1. Insert the CD in the drive. 2. Connect the camera to a USB 2.0 port on your computer. - Page 9 Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. 6. The drivers are located in the Drivers\PL-131C (colour camera) and Drivers\PL-131M (monochrome camera) folders on the CD. Each folder contains a 32-bit and a 64-bit sub- folder. Direct Windows to the appropriate folder. Windows will now install the driver software.
- Page 10 Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. 10. Windows will ask “How do you want to search for driver software?”. Select “Browse my computer for driver software” to continue. 11. On the next dialog box select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”.
- Page 11 Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. 14. The next message box with the title Install from disk will appear. Navigate to the Drivers folder on the CD and click the OK button. 15. The camera will be identified as “PL-131 HighSpeed”.
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Page 12: Installing Etamcap
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Installing etAMCAP You can test that the camera has been installed successfully by running the etAMCAP program. The etAMCAP.EXE can be found on the accompanying CD inside the etAMCAP folder. Copy this to your computer’s desktop by dragging it from the CD folder. -
Page 13: Exposure Time
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Exposure Time The exposure time can be set by selecting Options > Video Capture Filter under the Exposure tab. The camera can operate using automatic exposure or manual exposure. When using automatic exposure, the only exposure related parameter that the user can control is Target. -
Page 14: Region Of Interest
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. The camera can also operate in standard speed at half the frame rate but double the maximum exposure time. In software applications such as Nebulosity, PHD Guiding, AstroArt and MaxIm DL the camera operates at standard speed. -
Page 15: Gamma, Contrast And Saturation (Colour Model)
Rate and Capture > Set Time Limit. Post Processing There is some freely available third-party software that may be of interest to some users. Please note that Opticstar cannot guarantee the suitability the software. • Deep Sky Stacker. (http://deepskystacker.free.fr). • RegiStax. (http://www.astronomie.be/registax/) These programs can be used to post-process video files captured in EtAMCAP and View. -
Page 16: Installing Opticstar View
1. To install View, navigate to the View folder on the CD and open the View_setup.exe file. 2. Windows will display “Welcome to the Opticstar View Setup Wizard”. Click the Next button to continue. Installing Opticstar View. -
Page 17: Camera Control
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Camera Control Run View with the camera connected to the computer. On the right-hand side panel of the application, under the Capture tab, the camera will be identified as “Opticstar PL-131C” or “Opticstar PL-131M”. -
Page 18: Colour Adjustment Tab
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Colour Adjustment Tab The first three slider bars labelled: R Gain, G Gain and B Gain, can be used to manually adjust the red, green and blue colour reproduction of the camera. Alternatively, the camera can automatically set these values by pressing the White Balance button. -
Page 19: Image Capture
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Image Capture There is a second group of user controls on the right-hand side panel, headed Camera Capture Config. The Capture button can be used to capture a single frame or a series of frames in BMP format. -
Page 20: Image Processing
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Image Processing` View can be used to perform measurements on the captured image(s). It is also possible to apply various filters and perform image processing operations. A brief outline of View’s image processing functions is listed below: •... -
Page 21: Installing Nebulosity
Selecting the Camera Run Nebulosity and select the camera model from the drop-down menu on the right-hand panel. Select it as Opticstar PL-130C (it is compatible with PL-131C) or Opticstar PL-130M (PL-131M compatible). Once the camera has been selected, set the exposure duration to 1 second as a starting point. -
Page 22: Opticstar Pl-131 Plug-In For Astroart
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Opticstar PL-131 Plug-in for AstroArt Plug-in Version 1.0 In order to add long exposure native support to AstroArt v3/v4 for the PL-131 camera you will need to copy D_PL131C.DLL and OSPL131CRT.DLL for the colour camera. -
Page 23: Opticstar Pl-131 Plug-In For Maxim Dl
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Opticstar PL-131 Plug-in for MaxIm DL Plug-in Version 1.0 In order to add long exposure native support to MaxIm DL for the PL-131 camera you will need to copy the plug-in files CCDPlugOSPL131C.DLL and OSPL131CRT.DLL files for the colour camera. -
Page 24: Telescope Control And Auto-Guiding With The Ag-131
Setup_PHDGuiding.exe file inside the PHD_Guiding folder on the CD e.g.: D:\PHD_Guiding\ Setup_PHDGuiding.exe. Once the program has been installed, you must copy the Opticstar PL-131 plug-in that will enable PHD Guiding to use the PL- 131 camera in native mode and achieve better image data for guiding. -
Page 25: Selecting The Camera In Phd Guiding
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Selecting the Camera in PHD Guiding Select the PL-131 camera (selectable as PL-130) by clicking on the camera icon, on the bottom left-hand corner of the PHD Guiding panel. please select “Opticstar PL-130C” or “Opticstar PL-130M”. -
Page 26: Assembling Your Auto-Guiding Hardware
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Assembling your Auto-Guiding Hardware Once the PL-131 camera is operational and all software have been successfully installed you will be ready to set up your telescope. Please make all the physical connections required with reference to the illustrations later in this document. -
Page 27: Auto-Guiding
Control Box The Opticstar AG-131 auto-guiding kit contains items 7, 8 and 9 in the above list. You will therefore also need to provide your own imaging camera, imaging telescope, secondary telescope for auto-guiding, PC running Windows 7/8/10/11 and ST-4 compatible telescope mount. -
Page 28: Imaging And Auto-Guiding With A Single Scope
Telescope used for both imaging and auto-guiding The Opticstar AG-131 auto-guiding kit contains items 7, 8 and 9 in the above list. You will therefore also need to provide your own imaging camera, telescope, off-axis guider, PC running Windows 7/8/10/11 and ST-4 compatible telescope mount. -
Page 29: Troubleshooting
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Troubleshooting If you experience difficulty in installing the camera software and drivers this may be due to a number of reasons related to your computer, operating system and other devices already connected to it. The following sections outline the most common problems and suggest ways in which you should be able to solve them. -
Page 30: Support
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Support For support regarding the PL-131 or AG-131 please email Opticstar at: info@opticstar.com. Other Software There is some freely available third-party software that may be of interest to some users. Please note that Opticstar cannot guarantee the suitability the software. -
Page 31: Camera Specification
Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. Camera Specification Specification PL-131 COOLAIR 1/2” CMOS Image sensor Sensitivity 1.8v/Lux-sec at 550nm Sensor Micron MT9M001C 5.2μm x 5.2μm Pixel size Max. Resolution 1280 x 1024 pixels Speed 22fps at 1280x1024 80fps at 640x480... - Page 32 Opticstar PL-131 series. © Opticstar Ltd, 2021. OPTICSTAR Opticstar Ltd, 87 Washway Road, Sale, Greater Manchester, M33 7TQ, United Kingdom. Email: info@opticstar.com • Web: www.opticstar.com Updated: 12/10/2021...
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