Hi, I really like my ST-8300m. I especially enjoy the narrowband imaging at 1 hour exposures. I realized when I wanted to go longer the spec says 3600 seconds is the limit. Wondering, what can I do to extend the exposure length? Do I send the camera back, is a firmware upgrade available or ? If there is no solution, may I ask why the limit? I really like the longer exposures and would like to try further/deeper and discover/understand the trade offs as I am doing it. Again, I reslly really like your camera. If you could help, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and best regards, Alan
Technically, there's no real reason you can't take an exposure longer than an hour... The driver (SBIGUDrv) and camera firmware has a hard limit of 16777215 ms (approximately 4.6 hours), so if you request a 4 hour exposure, the camera should just deliver. This is independent of well-depth, of course. I presume you're pointing at a section of dark sky that won't saturate the pixels in that time.
Hi Adam, Fantastic and that true upper limit is good to know! I expect based on the current exposures at 1 hour I should be able to go at least 2 to 3 hours before saturating. I will cross my fingers on the guiding. Thank you!! Alan
