Nikon DSLR

For this driver, please select Nikon DSLR on the Setup tab.

Windows Vista users: Please note that, as of this writing, Nikon has not released support for camera control under Windows Vista. RAW files from these camera can however be opened.

Important: Please read this entire section before attempting to use Nikon cameras. Due to various camera quirks, the following notes must be followed for the driver to operate:

• For D50 and D200 you must set the USB Mode to PTP in the camera's built-in menus.

• For D50 and D200, you may need to install the camera driver. Set the camera to PTP mode, turn it on, and plug in the USB cable. If the Install New Hardware wizard appears, you need to direct it to C:\Program Files\Diffraction Limited\MaxIm DL V4\INF Files, and select NkCtlPTP.INF.

• Either plug in the camera to an AC power converter or have fresh batteries and set the Auto Power Off setting to Off so the camera won’t shut down. Otherwise the camera will unexpectedly stop working after it is idle for a period of time.

• If a Nikon lens is attached, turn autofocus off. Otherwise the first exposure may never complete.

• If you are using a parallel port long exposure cable, do not connect it until the software is linked to the camera (via the USB cable). Otherwise the cable may trigger the shutter as soon as it is plugged in, and this will prevent the camera from connecting. This is inherent to the design of the parallel cables. It is not a problem for serial cables.

• If you have a serial cable you may leave it connected, but be aware that when the system reboots, some drivers may scan the serial port and cause an unexpected exposure if the camera is powered up during boot.

• The USB or FireWire cable must be connected to the camera.

This driver uses threading to ensure that the user interface remains active at all times, except during image download. This means you may cancel the exposure while it is in progress; however, due to the design of the camera the image must still be downloaded and discarded. During this time the camera status will show Flushing.

Camera Model

This driver supports the Nikon D2X, D40, D50, D70, D70s, D80, and D200.

These cameras are supported "out of the box" using the supplied USB or FireWire connections, for exposure times of up to 30 seconds.

Shutter Release

As supplied, Nikon cameras can take exposures up to 30 seconds. In addition, exposures between 1 and 30 seconds are limited to the "stops" on the dial (the closest available exposure time is automatically used).

Using a separate shutter release cable  ("bulb cable"), the driver can directly control the shutter. With such a cable, exposures above 30 seconds can be taken. Also exposures above 1 second can taken at any arbitrary exposure time to a precision of better than 0.1 seconds. Without the separate exposure control cable the driver maps exposure times from between 1/100 to 30 seconds in stops that correspond to the cameras internal time values.

Shutter cables are available at http://www.hapg.org/astrocables.htm and telescope distributors.

If no shutter cable is being used, select USB/FW Only. For parallel cables select Parallel and connect the cable to LPT1. For serial cables select the desired COM port. For the Shoestring DSUSB select DSUSB. Note that serial or USB cables are preferred over parallel cables, and that serial cables can be used via popular USB-to-serial adapters.

If you have trouble actuating the shutter release cable, please try the DSLR Cable Tester utility, available on our web site.

Bulb Type

Set this to IR or wired depending on the type of shutter release cable you are using.

Imaging Mode

There are three controls that affect the imaging mode:

• Image Mode: RAW for bayer-encoded, 12-bit data download and monochrome output; Developed Color for immediate color image display

• Fast Mode (activated via Focus and Settings tabs) switches from the normal RAW format download (12-bit, bayer encoded data) to the faster but much lower quality JPEG format download

• Binning (activated via Focus, Settings and Sequence tabs) when set to 2x2 reduces the image resolution. RAW images also have their Bayer encoding removed, so images cannot be converted to color.

When Image Mode is set to RAW, then Fast Mode and Binning have the following effets:

When Image Mode is set to Developed Color, then Fast Mode and Binning have the following effets:

For the best quality imaging, select Image Mode to RAW, Fast Mode to Off, and set Binning to 1x1. In this mode, the images are initially monochrome but have color information encoded in them by way of a Bayer matrix. Although color is not immediately visible, this mode provides higher bit depth (12 bits instead of 8), and dark frame subtraction will be superior on RAW images. The typical sequence is to acquire images, subtract dark frame (Calibration), convert color (Convert RGB), and then stack (Combine Files). Note that this mode is not suitable for use with the focusing tools.

If you set Image Mode to Developed Color, Fast Mode to Off, and Binning to 1x1, then the images appear immediately in color. This is not optimal for dark frame subtraction, though, so the RAW mode is preferred unless you set the camera to subtract dark frames internally. Some camera models have the capability of taking two frames for every exposure; one with the shutter closed and one with the shutter open; the images are subtracted prior to download. If you activate this mode, then the images take twice as long to collect, but they are already dark subtracted. This feature is best used with Developed Color, since it eliminates the color conversion step.

Focusing can be performed in any mode except for RAW, Fast Mode Off, Binning 1x1. In that mode, the Bayer matrix is present, and this will interfere with measurements on the Focus tab. Turning on either Fast Mode or Binning will allow the focus measurements to work. Fast Mode is extremely useful for focusing and centering, especially on the slower USB 1.1 models.

Please note that Binning only improves the download speed when Fast Mode is On.

Bulb Exposure

The external bulb cable can be used only to extend exposures over 30 seconds. It can also be used to allow finer adjustment of the exposure time between 1 second and 30 seconds. To enable the latter mode, select 1 and over. To only extend longer exposures, select 30 and over.

ISO

The desired ISO setting can be configured from 100 through 3200. This is actually the camera gain; a low setting provides good quality but is less sensitive. A high setting provides the highest setting but also produces the noisiest images. This setting can adjusted on the Expose tab or Sequence tab.