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Joined: Feb 2011
- Set Camera to RAW+JPG (smallest size), no Liveview!
- Switch to the "LRT" screen in qDsrlDashboard
- Click on Capture Sample - a preview shot should appear. If not, something with the connection or your devices is wrong, please ask for technical support at dslrdashboard.info !
- If an image appears, set the camera settings in order to get a correctly exposed image. You can use "Capture Sample" to check the histogram after changing the settings.
- Now setup an external intervalometer to trigger the camera. Don't use one of the internal ones that some cameras provide. Use one that does not block the camera! See this post about how get the best performance with your intervalometer.
- While running Display next JPG brings the next image shot to the screen. (But only one, this will save battery. You can always click on "Display next JPG" once you want to see a current preview.
- Now set the parameters for the Auto Holy Grail: Sunset/Sunrise and the boundaries for the ramping (Min/Max ISO, Longest Shuttertime). As long as you don't know the performance of your system, Longest Shutter should be max. 3 seconds below the interval. If this works you can experiment wit 2 seconds "Dark time" (Interval - Longest Shutter) or even 1 second. This might or might not work depending on your setup.
- Now you can activate the Ramping with "Auto Holy Grail". This will set a reference value automatically that the Auto Holy Grail will hold.
- If during auto holy grail, you feel the images get too dark, click on the "+" Button next to "Set Reference" once or twice to increase the reference value. If you eventually feel the images get too bright, click on the "-" Button. This allows a manual intervention.
- You can activate Aperture ramping in the settings menu on the bottom of the LRT-Screen in qDDB. Then you will have to set boundaries for Max and Min Aperture too.
- The crucial point is, that the dark-time (interval minus longest shutter) is long enough for the camera to be able to transmit the preview and receive any commands from qDDB to change it's settings. How short the dark time can be, will be determined by the whole setup and especially the intervalometer used.
- I don't recommend using the intervalometer built in in qDslrDashboard because it mostly does not deliver constant intervals. Apart from that, should the app or tablet crash, your whole sequence will be gone. If you use an external intervalometer, you can just restart qDslrDashboard at any time and continue the Auto Holy Grail.
- I don't recommend using "Auto Direction" since that feature is not well tested.