Hi, all. Some time ago (may be one or two weeks) I found some strange strips on the left side of my images. It was the same on biases and darks. Sometime here was not strips, but most part of time it was. Yesterday I did some experiments and I catched the moment when strips became. The first image - normal BIAS, about one hour after turning on the camera. The second - next BIAS, 30 sec after previous - we can see some gradient and strips on the left. The third - next BIAS, 30 sec after - no more gradient, but strips are stay. And these strips will stay on all next images. I wrote all this information to Bill's e-mail.
But later I visited this forum and saw information about firmware update for my camera. I decided the attempt is better than nothing and updated the firmare. The camera reconnected and - NO strips! But BIAS and darks level was very high - about 17000 instead 1000 before. I checked Config Drv and Auto Bias Level correction was not checked. I checked it, but nothing changed. But today I turned on the camera again and I saw bias level only about 600! May be yesterday after I checked the option, I should turn off the camera and turn on again. All day I made new library of calibration images, the camera worked during 8-10 hours and levels were ok and no any strips or other problem. Only Camera error (8) two times, but I had only to press "Start" again. So, I hope the problem (what it was?) has been resolved.
I'm not entirely convinced the issue is resolved, considering the bias level for your camera should be on the order of 1000 ADU if properly calibrated; but if you're not experiencing any issues, then there's no sense in digging around. Don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any further issues.
Hi, Adam. Before this situation bias always was about 1000. One more question - If check "Auto Bias Level Correction" in Config Drv is NOT set, how we can adjust bias level manually? Thanks.
We don't recommend using "Auto Bias Level Correction" anymore, since it makes consistent calibration difficult. We strongly advise turning it off, and performing manual calibrations using Dark, Bias, and Flat fields. Because the STF-8300's gain is not programmable, setting the bias level of your camera requires adjusting the offset. We perform these adjustments in house before sending them out, and they only need to be done once – but occasionally, a camera's EEPROM will fail, and they'll need to be readjusted. If you're willing, I would be happy to remote into your computer and perform the calibration. Shy of that, they would need to be sent in to Bill Lynch for service.
Thank you, Adam, I understood. Could you write me what I have to do for your remote adjusting? What software I need etc.? I use Windows 7 64 bit. I checked off "Auto Bias Level Correction". Now Average of my bias image is 637 in bin 1x1 and 1008 in bin 2x2. It is not ok?
Ok, now the problem really resolved. Big thanks to Adam Robichaud and SBIG's support. Some minutes with remote connection, some magic with CCDOps - and my offset about 1000, as it was before. Nice support! About 10 000 km is not a problem
