This is a simple python script that makes generating a CSV file to be loaded into Eclipse Orchestrator (EO) program by Moonglow Technologies.
Once instanciates a Script object and assigns settings, each time an capture is commaned the current settings are
used. Settings are only changed when one assigns a new value and captures an image. Here's a basic example:
from eoscript import Exposure, Script
script = Script()
script.camera = "Nikon Z7"
script.fstop = 8
script.iso = 64
script.exposure = Exposure(1) / 500
script.banner("Capture a bunch of photos just before C2.")
script.comment = "diamond ring & baily's beads"
script.min_time_step = 1.0
script.phase = "C2"
script.offset = -13.0
script.send_exposure()
script.offset += 2
for _ in range(15):
script.capture()
script.save("eclipse2024.csv")If you saved the above in eclipse2024.py, then you can "render" the script by running it:
python eclipse2024.py
Wrote eclipse2024.csv
You can now examine the results:
# Action, Date/Ref, Offset sign, Time (offset), Camera, Exposure, Aperture, ISO, MLU, Quality, Size, Incremental, Comment
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Capture a bunch of photos just before C2.
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SETEXP,C2,-,00:00:13.000,Nikon Z7,1/500 , 8.0, 64,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,sending all camera exposure settings via USB
RELEASE,C2,-,00:00:11.000,Nikon Z7, 0.050,,,,,,,diamond ring & baily's beads
RELEASE,C2,-,00:00:09.998,Nikon Z7, 0.050,,,,,,,diamond ring & baily's beads
RELEASE,C2,-,00:00:08.996,Nikon Z7, 0.050,,,,,,,diamond ring & baily's beads
...
RELEASE,C2,+,00:00:01.024,Nikon Z7, 0.050,,,,,,,diamond ring & baily's beads
RELEASE,C2,+,00:00:02.026,Nikon Z7, 0.050,,,,,,,diamond ring & baily's beads
RELEASE,C2,+,00:00:03.028,Nikon Z7, 0.050,,,,,,,diamond ring & baily's beads
So 13 seconds before C2, we send our camera settings over USB, then at -11 seconds to C2, we start taking photos as fast
as possible using a serical cable and commanding RELEASE. Using RELEASE means no USB commnications are happening, the
only thing Eclipse Orchestrator is doing is holding the the shutter relaese signal for 50ms. Avoiding communicationg
over USB can greatly increse your capture rate, but does require the Pro version and a custom made sercial cable. This
is the fastest way to capture images with Eclipse Orchestrator that I've found. See How to capture fast below for
more information about how to determine your fastest settings.
During totality, we'll want to take a bunch of bracketed shots so we can later post process the images to produce a
final, detailed image of totality. It's also less time critical, so we should update min_time_step such that updating
settings via USB before each exposure is reliable for you setup. In our script, update the camera settigs, the phase and
offset, then capture brackets:
script.banner("Totality")
script.comment = "totality"
script.phase = "MAX"
script.offset = -14.0
script.min_time_step = MIN_STEP_SLOW
script.exposure = Exposure(1) / 15
script.capture_bracket(19, ev_step=2/3.0)which will produce this output in the rendered file, 29 seconds to capture 13 stops of dynamic range:
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Totality
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAKEPIC,MAX,-,00:00:14.000,Nikon Z7,1/1000, 8.0, 64,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,totality -6.000 EV Stops
TAKEPIC,MAX,-,00:00:12.749,Nikon Z7,1/640 , 8.0, 64,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,Y,totality -5.333 EV Stops
TAKEPIC,MAX,-,00:00:11.497,Nikon Z7,1/400 , 8.0, 64,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,Y,totality -4.667 EV Stops
...
TAKEPIC,MAX,+,00:00:08.881,Nikon Z7,1.6 , 8.0, 64,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,Y,totality +4.667 EV Stops
TAKEPIC,MAX,+,00:00:11.824,Nikon Z7,2.5 , 8.0, 64,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,Y,totality +5.333 EV Stops
TAKEPIC,MAX,+,00:00:15.762,Nikon Z7,4 , 8.0, 64,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,Y,totality +6.000 EV Stops
Brackets are always centered in expouse around the current camera settings when calling capture_bracket(). Note
that the Exposure class rounds to the nearest 1/3 stop, and will not shoot faster than 1/8000 or longer than 30 as
is typical for digital cameras.
It's up to you have you want to catpure partials, I'm planning on only taking 10, single exposures at times computed by
Dr. Gordon Telepun's execellent Solar Eclipse Timer app. To do this, we specifiy the conact times, then capture images
by specifing HH:MM:SS:
from eoscript import Exposure, Script
# All times are UTC!!!
# All times are UTC!!!
# All times are UTC!!!
script = Script(
# UTC Texas Local
c1 = "2024/04/08 17:21:27.5", # 12:21:27.5 PM
c2 = "2024/04/08 18:38:46.6", # 1:38:46.6 PM
max = "2024/04/08 18:40:58.0", # 1:40:58.0 PM
c3 = "2024/04/08 18:43:09.4", # 1:43:09.4 PM
c4 = "2024/04/08 20:01:20.9", # 3:01:20.9 PM
)
script.banner("C1 -> C2: partials")
script.phase = "C1"
script.camera = "Nikon Z7"
script.fstop = 8
script.iso = 800
script.exposure = Exposure(1) / 400
script.comment = "C1 -> C2 partials"
# All times are UTC!!!
# All times are UTC!!!
# All times are UTC!!!
for offset in ["17:23:27","17:39:43" ,"17:47:51" ,"17:55:59" ,"18:04:07" ,"18:12:15" ,"18:20:23" ,"18:28:31" ,"18:36:46"]:
script.offset = offset
for _ in range(8):
script.capture()
script.save("eclipse2024.csv")The above produces this output file:
# Keep these commented out to use the computed contact times of the computer.
# Add a GPS receiver to get < 1s accurate computed contact times.
# Event, Date, Time
# C1, 2024/04/08,17:21:27.500000
# C2, 2024/04/08,18:38:46.600000
# MAX, 2024/04/08,18:40:58.000000
# C3, 2024/04/08,18:43:09.400000
# C4, 2024/04/08,20:01:20.900000
#
# C1:C2 duration: 01:17:19.100
# C2:MAX duration: 00:02:11.400
# MAX:C3 duration: 00:02:11.400
# C3:4 duration: 01:18:11.500
#
# Action, Date/Ref, Offset sign, Time (offset), Camera, Exposure, Aperture, ISO, MLU, Quality, Size, Incremental, Comment
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# C1 -> C2: partials
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAKEPIC,C1,+,00:01:59.500,Nikon Z7,1/400 , 8.0, 800,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,C1 -> C2 partials
TAKEPIC,C1,+,00:02:02.502,Nikon Z7,1/400 , 8.0, 800,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,C1 -> C2 partials
TAKEPIC,C1,+,00:02:05.505,Nikon Z7,1/400 , 8.0, 800,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,C1 -> C2 partials
...
TAKEPIC,C1,+,01:15:33.512,Nikon Z7,1/400 , 8.0, 800,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,C1 -> C2 partials
TAKEPIC,C1,+,01:15:36.515,Nikon Z7,1/400 , 8.0, 800,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,C1 -> C2 partials
TAKEPIC,C1,+,01:15:39.517,Nikon Z7,1/400 , 8.0, 800,0.0,RAW+F-JPG,None,N,C1 -> C2 partials
Note the contact times are now included in comments, and also note the durations between the contact times:
# C1:C2 duration: 01:17:19.100
# C2:MAX duration: 00:02:11.400
# MAX:C3 duration: 00:02:11.400
# C3:4 duration: 01:18:11.500
This will help you iterate on the script to know if your offsets may be overlapping. Currently this tool does not detect if you have overlapping exposures, as you can use Eclipse Orchestrator itself to visualize your exposures. If you have a multiple camera setup, it will be harder to add such error checking.
Sending camera settings via USB is actually slow, as most manufacturors have not optimized this. Using only USB I was only able to trigger my Nikon Z7 every 1.250 seconds to reliably capture images. Adding a serial cable to the setup, and buying the Pro version of Eclipse Orchestrator, I'm now reilably able to trigger my Nikon Z7 every 0.333 seconds.
You will need to acquire or build a serial cable to trigger your camera. Typically this includes:
- A USB to DB9 male serial cable using the FTDI chipset
- A DB9 female to custom camera shutter release adapter (lots of astro folks build and sell these online).
- Camera shutter release cable
These serial cable can be found online, I got mine from Hap Griffin's Astro Cables.
The part I ordered was the C-EOS-6 cable, I then used some adapters to convert the 2.5mm jack into a 3.5mm stereo audio
jack into my Nikon Z7 shutter release cable.
Once you have your USB and Serial cable on hand, you can start to tweak the settings in Eclipse Orchestrator. Under the hardware settings, you can identify which COM port you've connected the serial cable, and then adjust settings. The biggest setting is how long to hold the shutter singal for. Modern fast cameras can probably get away with 50ms. Note the default in Eclipse Orchestrator is 150ms.
Next, we tune settings, capture 60 frames as fast as possible for C2, then verify the camera actually captured the expected photos.
Eclipse Orchestrator can simulate a C2 contact, which starts about -40 seconds, so this is my script for finding the fastest settings:
from eoscript import Exposure, Script
script = Script(
# UTC Texas Local
c1 = "2024/04/08 17:21:27.5", # 12:21:27.5 PM
c2 = "2024/04/08 18:38:46.6", # 1:38:46.6 PM
max = "2024/04/08 18:40:58.0", # 1:40:58.0 PM
c3 = "2024/04/08 18:43:09.4", # 1:43:09.4 PM
c4 = "2024/04/08 20:01:20.9", # 3:01:20.9 PM
)
script.banner("C2: Diamond Ring & Baily's Beads")
script.comment = "diamond ring, fast burst"
script.phase = "C2"
script.iso = 500 # 64
script.exposure = _1 / 500
script.min_time_step = 0.333
script.offset = -37.0
script.send_exposure()
script.offset += 3.0
for _ in range(60):
script.capture()The procedure is to:
- Exit Eclipse Orchestrator
- Format your memory card with your camera
- Plug in your camera via USB, wait for serical cable to stop triggering (every time the USB is connected, the trigger is fired 5-6 shots)
- Plug in your serial cable
- Open Eclipse Orchestrator
- Execute a simulated C2 Contact
- Obeserve the images being captured
- On completion, exit Eclipse Orchestrator
- Turn off your camera and pop the memory card out
- Insert yoru memory card into a card reader
- Scan the photos with
scan_photos.py
Verify:
- The number of image captured.
- The captured images have the corret ISO and shutter speeds.
For example, when I run scan_photos.py:
python scan_photos.py d:\DCIM\102NZ7__\
Filename , Offset , Campera, Exposure, Fstop, ISO, Quality
d:\DCIM\102NZ7__\_NIK5179.NEF , +,00:00:00.000, NIKON Z 7, 1/500 , 8 , 64 , RAW
d:\DCIM\102NZ7__\_NIK5180.NEF , +,00:00:00.930, NIKON Z 7, 1/500 , 8 , 64 , RAW
d:\DCIM\102NZ7__\_NIK5181.NEF , +,00:00:00.030, NIKON Z 7, 1/500 , 8 , 64 , RAW
...
d:\DCIM\102NZ7__\_NIK5236.NEF , +,00:00:00.930, NIKON Z 7, 1/500 , 8 , 64 , RAW
d:\DCIM\102NZ7__\_NIK5237.NEF , +,00:00:00.030, NIKON Z 7, 1/500 , 8 , 64 , RAW
d:\DCIM\102NZ7__\_NIK5238.NEF , +,00:00:00.031, NIKON Z 7, 1/500 , 8 , 64 , RAW
60 files
If you're missing photos, you'll have to increase min_time_stop so the camera has more time between exposures. I also
found that adding space around the USB communication improves reliablity, see my ecliplse2024.py for
my final version that I plan to use for the eclipse. Here's the important part:
script.offset += MIN_STEP_FAST # A litte more margin.
script.send_exposure()
script.offset += MIN_STEP_SLOW
for _ in range(40):
script.capture()
Note that I add to the offset before & after the send_exposure() call.
Any standard Serial or USB based GPS dongle should work. If using a serial port GPS, FTDI based devices have a better track record with EO than prolific ones.
The dongle that was found to work with EO can be purchased from Amazon here: https://a.co/d/25HXdal
It is recommended that the ublox u-center app is installed on windows and the GPS dongle is set to emit only GP* NMEA strings. EO only understands GPS satellite strings and can't parse GLONASS or BeiDou satellite NMEA strings. Check this CN thread on how to do that: EO & GPS module help.
When using a GPS device, ensure that ther ClkErr in EO is less than 1 second. This can be seen at the top of the EO interface.
I have not tested the use of multiple cameras. If Eclipse Orchestrator doesn't mind if the input csv files is not in any kind of time order, then this tool should work as is, but this isn't tested.