There is apparent shutter failure with a 10 year old STL-1001E. The images show dark areas and streaks from bright stars. Camera is located at a remote operated observatory and not examined (there may be dirt or insects etc). Any instructions how to check (and fix) the camera? One sample image is attached here. arto
Yep, that looks like the shutter is sticking. Please contact Bill @ SBIG Service and Repair. http://www.sbig.com/about-us/contact/
I sent Arto some instructions yesterday. I don't know how one can fix this without putting hands on it though.
I believe that I am having the same probem with my STL-1001E. It has happened about 21 times this month or about once in 40 images. Can I get the instructions to check this, please?
Could the shutter be randomly interfering with some filter on the wheel at one color position? Something just barely sticking up in the shutter's path. I wonder if CCDOPS "Filter Exerciser" command could be used to maybe "knock off " a dead bug/dirt/ice crystal, or at least ameliorate the problem. It might even be temperature dependent, maybe even a filter wheel tangent spring arm pivot problem. Were the lost frames at the SAME colour filter position, or perhaps an adjacent position in a sequential set of exposures? I would run the Exerciser - using the Continuous sequential filter position Mode Option, for many minutes, in ONE direction, rather than the random position test, to see if the obstruction will work itself away. This might even be done before each subs sets on one target, or between colour filter changes, just so that the filter wheel obstruction doesn't freeze during long subs. If using a script, you might add a line to rotate the filter wheel to the opposite end (color), and back to the right one, which gives it an "almost" 360 degree change to warm up and shake off any icing, etc. from these "one in forty" random snags. Or, similarly, change the sub colour sequence from LRGB. to something like LGRB, that would not use "sequential" nearest neighbour, filter position, but let it accelerate a bit before stopping for the next sub. If there is only a minor obstruction, perhaps a longer rotation would help, for the present. After all, there is plenty of time to rotate further, compared to the length of a sub frame. Eventually, you can do a proper inspection of the interference, at some later date, at the remote site. HTH, Joe Z.
please Joe... I can appreciate your interest in helping others but the probability of an ice crystal forming to the size where it could impede the shutter is incredible, a dead bug? Seriously? We're talking about shutter errors here. I cannot recall, in over 6000 camera repairs, ever removing a bug to correct a shutter problem. Not that it couldn't happen... it just hasn't. I don't really want to get into how improbable, not to mention the entire lack of historical occurrence, the potential causes mentioned are (testing the CFW to fix the shutter) but I feel compelled to point out that the CFW in the STL only rotates in one direction, be it random or sequential exercising. I'm know you mean well but leading people down a road of improbability isn't productive. -Bill
Rich, I'm not really seeing the shutter error correlation with the image you posted. Is the image rotated or do those tails really go to the left? I can't say that I've seen any tails quite like those before, what all equipment are you using? Thanks, Bill
Sorry to offend you, Bill, Just suggesting I would try running the filter wheel, "HARD", to eliminate ANY "possible" obstruction, "on the close by, filter wheel", that might be interfering with the normal rotation of the shutter. FYI - I did find a dead bug inside once, but it was a small one ... They can get through the empty filter positions. IIRC, others have had scratched shutters from too tall filter rings. The test I suggested takes only a few seconds, to eliminate the possibility - do you see any potential harm in trying, Bill? Perhaps it might save a member some valuable sky time in shipping out his camera right away, or at least provide a few more months of use at a remote site. Joe
