I managed to un my first sequence two nights ago. I used the wizard to frame the targe, plate solved, auto focused and captured several images. But the session left me wondering. There are a few steps from my current process that I found clunky. I'm hoping it is because I just don't know how to do this yet.
1). After framing my target I like to take a few test frames to determine the proper exposure. In reality this is usually based on the background sky brightness of the location, but on occasion needs can be impacted by the brightness of the object. For the brighter objects I tend to shoot frames for the background sky, then shorter ones for the over exposed areas. The solution I found was to set up a single 1 second exposure and run that sequence, then capture individual frames to determine the proper exposure. Then fill out the sequence with the real exposures I need. This causes the system to re-frame and refocus which is not necessary and "wastes" time. Is there a better way? I do want my target framed and focused when I do this.
2). I have had nights when I needed to adapt my plan on the fly. For example if I planned to shoot one object until a southerly target rose, then switch, but as the night progressed the skies got bad to the south I would want to continue to capture on my original target.Or maybe I noticed the my one filter set was impacted by high clouds and I want to adjust the remaining images. Is there any way I can add exposures in mid sequence? I don't want to stop the sequence and have to re-frame the object.
These two questions aside I see great value already after one quick session of unusable pictures. It was a warm gusty night and every shot was impacted by high winds. Nonetheless SQP worked well.
Thanks the any advise,
Mark