Parameters for startrails/mean-mode

[jimjackii]

So far I have used auto-exposure and auto-gain for day and night with the parameter CAPTURE_EXTRA_PARAMETERS="-mean-value 0.6"
As parameter for startrails creation I used "BRIGHTNESS_THRESHOLD=0.38".

Edit:
This only creates poorly recognizable startrails.

Which parameters for "mean-value" and "BRIGHTNESS_THRESHOLD" are best?

Edit:
There are also sometimes problems with the AWB. - sometimes blue images appear.
Unfortunately, Manual AWB does not work with day and night mode. The colors of the images in day mode are not good.

Would it be possible to start a thread for Allsky settings and share user settings?

Steffen

[EricClaeys]

@jimjackii Did you recently update the allsky software? If so, there are now different mean settings for day and night. Try setting CAPTURE_EXTRA_PARAMETERS="-daymean 0.5 -nightmean 0.2".

[jimjackii]

@EricClaeys
Thanks for the tip about the separate parameters. I had reinstalled the software last week - so the separate parameters should be usable.
I made a first attempt last night - the result is not that great yet. I will continue testing over the next few nights.
Unfortunately, it will be cold and rainy/overcast here in Europe again (possibly with some snow here in Germany).

But I would still like to encourage users to share their parameters and experiences?

[EricClaeys]

@jimjackii Play around with the numbers. They are the target brightness from 0.0 (pure black) to 1.0 (pure white).

[AndreasLMeg]

@jimjackii

Hello Steffen,

1. I'm also still looking for the right parameters.
2. Since I have a color weakness, the white balance is not that important to me.
3. I'm only interested in stars and not the environment, so the day settings don't matter to me either

My settings;
"dayautoexposure": "1",
"dayexposure": "10000",
"daybrightness": "50",
"daydelay": "30000",
"dayautogain": "1",
"daygain": "14",
"daybin": "1",
"nightautoexposure": "1",
"nightexposure": "60000",
"nightbrightness": "50",
"nightdelay": "7",
"nightautogain": "1",
"nightgain": "14",
"nightbin": "1",
"saturation": "0",
"awb": "0",
"wbr": "2.6",
"wbb": "2.5",
"quality": "100",
"showTime": "1",
"showExposure": "1",
"showGain": "1",
"showMean": "1",
"websiteurl": "https://www.astro-fotografie.at/allsky2/",

CAPTURE_EXTRA_PARAMETERS="-nightmean 0.3 -daymean 0.5"
KEOGRAM_EXTRA_PARAMETERS="--font-size 1.0 --font-line 1 --font-color '255 255 255' -x -f 3 -c"
BRIGHTNESS_THRESHOLD=0.35
STARTRAILS_EXTRA_PARAMETERS=""

[jimjackii]

Hello Andreas,

I am still testing the settings for day/night and especially for AWB.
So far I haven't found the right settings - unfortunately it will probably take a few days until the sky is clear again.

I would also like to have usable pictures during the day, since the camera is also intended to serve as a halo camera.
It would be cheaper to be able to set AWB for day/night separately.

Here are my current parameters

"dayautoexposure": "1",
"dayexposure": "1",
"daybrightness": "50",
"daydelay": "60000",
"dayautogain": "1",
"daygain": "8",
"daybin": "1",
"nightautoexposure": "1",
"nightexposure": "60000",
"nightbrightness": "50",
"nightdelay": "5",
"nightautogain": "1",
"nightgain": "14",
"nightbin": "1",
"saturation": "45",
"awb": "0",
"wbr": "1.9",
"wbb": "2.6",
"quality": "95",
"width": "0",
"height": "0",
"type": "99",
"filename": "image.jpg",
"rotation": "0",
"flip": "0",
"showTime": "1",
"timeformat": "%d.%m.%Y %H:%M:%S",
"showExposure": "1",
"showGain": "1",
"showBrightness": "0",
"showMean": "1",
"showFocus": "0",
"text": "AllSky-Camera",
"textlineheight": "80",
"textx": "3216",
"texty": "100",
"fontname": "0",
"fontcolor": "255 255 255",
"smallfontcolor": "0 0 255",
"fonttype": "0",
"fontsize": "7",
"fontline": "1",
"outlinefont": "0",
"temptype": "C",
"background": "0",
"notificationimages": "1",
"latitude": "51N",
"longitude": "13.8E",
"angle": "-7",
"debuglevel": "4",
"darkframe": "0",
"locale": "en_US.UTF-8",
"alwaysshowadvanced": "1",
"showonmap": "1",
"location": "Dresden, Germany",
"owner": "SteffenH",
"websiteurl": "https://wetter.jimjackii.de/astrocam1/allsky/",
"imageurl": "https://wetter.jimjackii.de/astrocam1/allsky/image.jpg",
"camera": "RasPi HQ Cam",
"lens": "1.55 mm",
"computer": "Raspberry Pi 2B V1.1"

CAPTURE_EXTRA_PARAMETERS="-nightmean 0.3 -daymean 0.6"
KEOGRAM_EXTRA_PARAMETERS="--rotate 270 --font-size 1.0 --font-line 1 --font-color '255 255 255' -x -c"
BRIGHTNESS_THRESHOLD=0.35
STARTRAILS_EXTRA_PARAMETERS=""

Regards, Steffen

[EricClaeys]

@jimjackii. One of our to-do items is to support separate day and night white balance settings.

[EricClaeys]

@jimjackii If you are using the most recent WebUI you will see MeanTarget for day and night. Those set the -daymean and -nightmean, so you can set them in the WebUI and remove them from CAPTURE_EXTRA_PARAMETERS.

There is no single "best" BRIGHTNESS_THRESHOLD or daymean or nightmean. For BRIGHTNESS_THRESHOLD see the Troublesooting section of this Wiki page.

[astrodan02]

Hi Guys,
I just want to thank all of you for this post and listing your settings. Here, I am trying to get our camera set and online. I will post our settings tomorrow as I have changed them today.