Backyard Eos For Mac

Return to site

Backyard Eos For Mac

After 2 years of astrophotography its time to improve things. I have resisted using a laptop for a long time but since I built my diy guiding system I know use a laptop full time while doing my astrophotography.Backyard Eos For Mac Desktop
Eos Backyard Canon Download
By far the best improvement is the ability to focus the camera much quicker then before and with less hassle. Added to this is the advantage of being able to frame my pictures better and review any changes with out having to bend over the camera in daft positions trying to see whats on the tiny screen of my Canon 350d camera.
Canon EOS 1200D: Canon EOS 1D Mark III: Canon EOS 1D Mark IV: Canon EOS 1D X: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III: Canon EOS 20D: Canon EOS 30D: Canon EOS 350D: Canon EOS 400D: Canon EOS 40D: Canon EOS 450D: Canon EOS 500D: Canon EOS 50D: Canon EOS 550D: Canon EOS 5D Mark II: Canon EOS 5D Mark III: Canon EOS 600D: Canon EOS 60D: Canon EOS 650D: Canon EOS 6D. BUG FIX: Canon EOS R/Ra BULB dial mode. BUG FIX: Canon 250D / SL3 live view bug fix BUG FIX: Canon 850D live view bug fix. For ASTAP you need to download and install ASTAP, both the 'ASTAP Installer' and the 'G17 star database installer'. Plate Solving (and telescope centering) will not work until these are installed. 'ASTAP Installer'.
Alternatives To Backyard EOS? By laserjock99, December 30, 2014 in Discussions - Software. Would you know if it runs on Mac OS? Share this post. Early on, I used the Canon capture software that came with my DSLR, EOS Utilities. This worked well for me and I was quite happy with it. A few friends of mine talked about how great BackyardEOS was, so I finally decided to upgrade. Backyard EOS was designed for astrophotographers, and as such has numerous tools to assist you in the field.
So what am I doing that has made such a big difference I hear you asking..
Simple, I have downloaded the cool software for astrophotographers called Backyard EOS. To be fair I also tried out Astrophotography Tool another cool software but because I am dyslexic I find the lay out of Backyard EOS much easier to understand. Both are good programmes.
So using backyard EOS, as you can see it has a cool interface which is very easy to navigate with a nice big panel that shows your images as you take your shots.On the top left you see the camera icon to connect to your camera, next to that is your imaging panel and then you frame and focus panel.
Step one. Connect your camera, I am just using the USB cable that came with my cannon at the moment but need to buy a serial cable to fully control my camera on bulb setting but for now its working with out it as I also have a remote digital timer that I use once I am focused and ready to start my main imaging sessions.
Step two.
Once your connected move over to the frame and focus panel.

I find this really useful. On the bottom right panel you simply set the camera to take 10 or 15 second shot after you have targeted a bright star and put your Bahtinov Mask on your telescope. The software will then load that image on the focus panel for you so you can zoom in on it and see very clearly your close up of the star and the diffraction spikes of the Bahtinov Mask. All you need to do then is adjust focus and take another quick shot and keep at it till your Bahtinov Mask is showing you perfect focus. You can if you want to refine it further buy using the stars width at half peak using the cool focus tool but to be honest I am content with my Bahtinov Mask and once I have that all focused its job done on focusing.
So next I take of my bahtinov mask and move to my target using my finder scope. Once I am roughly in place I take another shot 30 seconds will do, if I move to bulb it wont take a shot unless I use a serial cable which I don't have yet.

No matter it takes a 30 second shot and I can then use this to frame my subject by taking a shot and adjusting the telescope axis buttons. When its all in the panel the way I want it to look its job done and so I move back to the imaging panel. In all this time the software has saved quick .jpeg images to my folder on my pc.
So back to the imaging panel.

Now we are framed and focused we can begin our imaging session. I put on my digital timer and set it to take 30x1min shots and set it going. Backyard EOS downloads my images to the defined folder and after every image is taken it come up on the nice big display panel. I can zoom in for a closer look and keep an eye on each image in the thumbnails below the main display panel. I can also see the histogram and keep an eye on how its doing.
All in all a very good bit of software for astrophotographers indeed I really like it. It has many more features then I have talked about here but I would highly recommend it if your fed up with struggling with focusing and framing your images giving Backyard EOS a try.
 Like all astrophotography, photographing Saturn, other planets and night skies, requires an abundance of patience and perseverance. I well remember our first attempt at photographing Saturn. We finally managed to adjust our new telescopes’ focus correctly to catch our initial look at the planet and it’s rings. The focus was by no means perfect, yet we were gobsmacked with the absolute beauty we were seeing in the eye-piece. After what seemed like months of frustration, finally we could see our first planet. Now we could begin our astrophotography journey that we had long dreamed of achieving.
Unless you have a good friend or mentor, the learning curve in astrophotography is huge. Astronomy forums such as Cloudy Nights, in particular the beginners forum, is an absolute godsend of information to aid the newby star gazer with all kinds of advice. 
The one thing piece of advice that was overlooked, was to loosen the knobs that hold the telescopes mirror securely during transit. Once we did that, focussing the telescope was relatively easy. Yet taking good astro photos of the night skies is entirely another thing.
 Clouds, wind, the moon, these are just a few of the impediments that you really have no control over when photographing night skies. One of the best tips we have received is to photograph Saturn in video mode, then process the video, frame by frame, using Backyard EOS software by O’Telescope. It’s pretty good software and gives quite good end photographs. The biggest drawback though is it’s a Windows only software, therefore us Mac users are made to get a windows machine or install a program so you can run Windows on the Mac. 
We went for a cheap Windows laptop and the software works well, but the machine is slow. Life wasn’t meant to be easy, especially if you are an astrophotographer. 
At least we can now capture images of all the planets, via video mode, and enjoy our efforts when the conditions are right. At this time of the year, we can photograph Jupiter early in the evening, then Saturn as it comes into the night sky and then later Mars. 
 Below is our latest image of Saturn 

Saturn photographed with a Canon 5D MK III with Celestron 2X Barlow. This is connected to an 8″ Celestron Edge HD telescope. We are by no means happy with the image, yet understand that this astrophotography gig is a difficult road. It takes at least 2 years practice before acceptable results begin to flow. 
 Backyard Eos For Mac Desktop The positives for our efforts thus far is, the knowledge gained from these “not so good images” can only make us more effective down the track. Patience and perseverance make a good astrophotographer. 

No matter it takes a 30 second shot and I can then use this to frame my subject by taking a shot and adjusting the telescope axis buttons. When its all in the panel the way I want it to look its job done and so I move back to the imaging panel. In all this time the software has saved quick .jpeg images to my folder on my pc.
So back to the imaging panel.

Now we are framed and focused we can begin our imaging session. I put on my digital timer and set it to take 30x1min shots and set it going. Backyard EOS downloads my images to the defined folder and after every image is taken it come up on the nice big display panel. I can zoom in for a closer look and keep an eye on each image in the thumbnails below the main display panel. I can also see the histogram and keep an eye on how its doing.
All in all a very good bit of software for astrophotographers indeed I really like it. It has many more features then I have talked about here but I would highly recommend it if your fed up with struggling with focusing and framing your images giving Backyard EOS a try.
 Like all astrophotography, photographing Saturn, other planets and night skies, requires an abundance of patience and perseverance. I well remember our first attempt at photographing Saturn. We finally managed to adjust our new telescopes’ focus correctly to catch our initial look at the planet and it’s rings. The focus was by no means perfect, yet we were gobsmacked with the absolute beauty we were seeing in the eye-piece. After what seemed like months of frustration, finally we could see our first planet. Now we could begin our astrophotography journey that we had long dreamed of achieving.
Unless you have a good friend or mentor, the learning curve in astrophotography is huge. Astronomy forums such as Cloudy Nights, in particular the beginners forum, is an absolute godsend of information to aid the newby star gazer with all kinds of advice. 
The one thing piece of advice that was overlooked, was to loosen the knobs that hold the telescopes mirror securely during transit. Once we did that, focussing the telescope was relatively easy. Yet taking good astro photos of the night skies is entirely another thing.
 Clouds, wind, the moon, these are just a few of the impediments that you really have no control over when photographing night skies. One of the best tips we have received is to photograph Saturn in video mode, then process the video, frame by frame, using Backyard EOS software by O’Telescope. It’s pretty good software and gives quite good end photographs. The biggest drawback though is it’s a Windows only software, therefore us Mac users are made to get a windows machine or install a program so you can run Windows on the Mac. 
We went for a cheap Windows laptop and the software works well, but the machine is slow. Life wasn’t meant to be easy, especially if you are an astrophotographer. 
At least we can now capture images of all the planets, via video mode, and enjoy our efforts when the conditions are right. At this time of the year, we can photograph Jupiter early in the evening, then Saturn as it comes into the night sky and then later Mars. 
 Below is our latest image of Saturn Saturn photographed with a Canon 5D MK III with Celestron 2X Barlow. This is connected to an 8″ Celestron Edge HD telescope. We are by no means happy with the image, yet understand that this astrophotography gig is a difficult road. It takes at least 2 years practice before acceptable results begin to flow. 
 Backyard Eos For Mac Desktop The positives for our efforts thus far is, the knowledge gained from these “not so good images” can only make us more effective down the track. Patience and perseverance make a good astrophotographer. 
 Upcoming night sky events Yanmar model fs 410 manual. Other than photographing Saturn, future events include Mars in opposition during July. This will be the best time to photograph Mars as the red planet is the closest to us, the Earth, that it will be for some time. During opposition, Mars and the sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth. This years event will be on the 27th July 2018. Also don’t forget to read our other blog posts that we have wrote in the astrophotography field
So get those telescopes or binoculars out and take a look at Mars. It might not be long before earth people try to live on Mars. You know what happens to the neighborhood when humans move in. 🙂
 Eos Backyard Canon Download 