| Is it worthwhile/possible to use an EAF with a DSLR? | |
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| Yes! | |
| No - wait until you upgrade to a dedicated astro camera. | |
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Hi there: Quick question - does anyone out there use the ZWO EAF with a DSLR camera? With the colder months approaching here in Canada, a EAF seems like an attractive option. I'm wondering if the inability to bin or produce .fits files makes EAF operation problematic with a DSLR. Should I hold off until I upgrade to a cooled camera? Bonus points if anyone uses their DSLR/EAF setup with an Astroberry/EKOS system. Thanks in advance for anyone willing to weigh-in! CS, Mark |
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EAF is always installed on my scopes so yes I useit with INDI/EKOS. The capture module in EKOS will producue either fits files or native(raw files) I always capture using fits with my canon60D The capture module can also perform software binning. |
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| EAF acts on focuser indipendently from the camera. |
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I've seen this kit - https://www.testar.com.au/collections/askar/products/askar-acl200-eaf-focuser-kit I'm sure with a little ingenuity it could be adapted for any other lens that has a barrel mounted rotating focuser. I haven't used it on a DSLR lens personally but it will absolutely work. I've used it with StellarMate / EKOS with no problems though so there shouldn't be an issue. |
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I have an EAF on all 3 of my scopes (ed80, ed120 & 8"sct) which I mix with a DSLR, Astro cooled and non cooled camera. The EAF's was used with APT, but now all my setups have the ASI Air+. I use the auto focus every 30mins or every 1deg temp change. Astroberry/EKOS system is the same as the ASI Air. it all works well. |
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I couldn’t see why not to use an EAF with an DSLR, one thing to note is, their not all made equal… like the zwo version won’t allow to manual focus which you can always purchase a hand controller for the few times you might need it. EAF is a great addition to your setup and if your following another trend here about tilt and back focus …an EAF is a must. Another benefit, if your showing someone you kit, with limited knowledge of astrophotography, they’ll think your a geeky genius 😃😃🤣 |
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| Thanks folks! I should add here that I’m not using it with a DSLR lens - I image with a Zenithstar 61 which the ZWO apparently fits just fine. I was mostly concerned about RAW files being suitable for autofocus reference images. But it sounds like it should work. |
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Mark Germani: Yes, it works on RAW files just as well (de-bayered on spot). Whether they are needed is very very doubtful. |
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Mark Germani: Hi Mark, I have a slightly different configuration than yours, anyway it might be interesting to know that the Canon DSLR raw images are managed without problem by the autofocus routine. It is just a bit slower than with an ASI camera, I suppose because the SW has to perform the raw conversion. To be more specific, I have a DSLR Canon Camera, with Motor Focus SestoSenso v2 and NINA software. Hope this helps! CS, Mau |
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I have used my Canon T2i on my ZenithStar 61, ZWO ASIair and EAF and it seemed to work OK. But it was almost a year ago - since buying an ASI294MC Pro I haven’t used my Canon for Astrophotography. I can test it out next time the skies are clear - next Tuesday 11/1 looks like the next clear night if you have time to wait. |
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I use the EAF with a Sony A7s astromodified (on a raspberry PI 4 running Ekos). Provided you are running the latest version of the software and the drivers, the DSLR/Mirrorless camera and EAF combo should work with no problems. Focusing with the EAF really steps the game up compared to a Bahtinov mask. Ekos offers a lot of options and fine tuning for the autofocus process as well, in contrast to a zwo Asiair. I can recommend using the EAF in Ekos with a DSLR. Clear Skies, Max |
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| An EAF is more scope dependent than camera dependent. I mean if you are strapped for cash then yeah save up for a dedicated astro cam, but if you are throwing money around an EAF won't hurt. |
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| I use the ZWO AEF with my setup and live in Canada. When it gets really cold (around -30C), the EAF if the first thing that starts acting up. I freezes and stops working. Shortly after, its the the mount that stops guiding properly (HEQ5-Pro). If it is very humid with the cold, its more around -25C that I am starting to have issues. I have heard the Pegasus Motor Focuser is more resistant, but still we are talking really cold weather. For the difference of price you might still want to go with ZWO knowing its limitation. Backlash is also bad and gets worst every year on my EAF, and when it gets cold, don't forgot to retighten the screws or it will not have enough fiction to make the focuser move. I am about to do that now that we are seeing sub zero temps and i'll do it again when we average around -15C. |
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I used it with my GT71 scope and canon T7i. It was useful. As the others have mentioned, the ekos software is going to manage the auto focusing for you, do it's just a matter of making sure the EAF can attach to your optics. This year, it might pay for itself in fuel not opening the door... |
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Chris Ashford: Thanks Chris, that's a super kind offer! Don't change up your rig on my account, through. I know what a pain that can be. It sounds like an EAF should work for me, based on the feedback in this post. I mean if you are strapped for cash then yeah save up for a dedicated astro cam, but if you are throwing money around an EAF won't hurt. I don't have a laptop, so I run my rig from my desktop indoors. I figured I'd better invest in an EAF before the dedicated camera because I didn't want to have to run in and out of the house dozens of times while checking & adjusting focus. For that reason alone, I figured it would be worth it to purchase those items in this order. But I wasn't sure how well it would work with my DSLR. Marc Mantha: Don't hate me, but I live in Vancouver and the coldest it ever gets here is about -10, but I'm glad to know that I should be ok with the temperatures we typically get here. This year, it might pay for itself in fuel not opening the door... We just moved to a house with electric baseboard heaters that are going to run our hydro bill through the roof, so I hear you! Thanks everyone - looks like the EAF is worth it! CS, Mark |
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Mark, I tested a configuration yesterday using:
Everything worked exactly the same as if I was using my ZWO ASI294MC Pro camera. I used the autofocus routine to achieve focus before starting any capture, and configured the ASIAir Plus to do an autofocus after every hour. I captured over an hour of M34, waiting until the 1-hr autofocus had been completed before stopping the capture. I had some cloud come over, and the wind was starting to pick up, so I rejected any frames with excessive eccentricity or really low PSF signal strength. In the attached SubframeSelector graph, so that you see any potential focusing outliers, I did not reject anything based on FWHM, which I usually do to eliminate poorly focused subs. I inspected all the images with FWHM greater than 3.8 and none of them was bad enough to warrant rejection.  I did a quick process of the image - seemed to come out OK , stars look sharp  . I didn't apply any sharpening/star reduction tools like UnSharpMask or MorphologicalTransformation. |
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Thanks so much for running your test session, @Chris Ashford! Those look like great stars, and the graph was really interesting. I guess I was just concerned about the software, since DSLRs don’t take FITS files natively, AFAIK. But from everyone’s responses, it looks like it should still work fine. CS, Mark |
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No, I didn't |
