AllSky Pi4B/Pi-HQ Housing

[MikeyBigs]

Here is a a housing that I designed for my Allsky camera. I designed it so it drops into a 5inch vinyl fence post. The upper dome is threaded on by 60mm course threads. I am working on a different upper dome, and threaded tripod attachment ring so it can be used in various configurations. I can attach stl files if requested.

Cad Step Files
Allsky STL Files.zip

[Alex-developer]

Looks really nice.

The stl files may be useful for people, thanks for offering them

[marco050969]

Nice build 👍

[MikeyBigs]

I updated my post with the STL files.

Here is a link from one of my first nighttime videos. I'm using Arducam 120 Degree Ultra Wide Angle CS Lens and a cheap 80mm acrylic dome.

Not sure if I need to change any of the settings ? Only thing I have changed is the color some.

[ericofpendom]

Hi Mikey, great timelapse. I have just taken delivery of the very same lens and I am currently installing AllSky, for about the forth time, due to trying to get to grips with it all. I would really appreciate it if you could explain what settings you are using and how to get the best focus form the camera. Sorry to ask but I am really new to all this.
Regards
Eric...

[ericofpendom]

Hi Mikey, I should have also said what a fantastic enclosure. It would last 5 minutes where I live :-) That's why mine is going in the attic and out through the roof.

[MikeyBigs]

Here are the settings I'm using. As for focusing the lens, I'm still tweaking the adjustment some. There is a spacer ring you need to take out from the Pi-HQ camera or it will never focus. Once you have the ring removed adjust the daytime delay to 3000 and turn on the focus metric. I then set my lens focus adjustment to the middle then adjusted the back-focus ring. Not sure if this is the correct way but worked for me. The focus will change when you put the dome on so you will need to tweak it once the dome is on. That's kind of where I'm at. Slow process I have to unscrew the lid each time and its really sensitive.

Here is where I'm at on the focus atm, gonna leave it for a few days ands see how it looks.

[ericofpendom]

Hi Mikey, thank you very much for the info. It took me 2.5 hours of complete frustration about the focus ring issue. I bout my camera, used from ebay and at first i was worried that it was a duff. I also suspected software settings for a little while. I was familiar with the raspistill commands but had never used the new libcamera and I thought there might be a focus setting. Eventually I decided to remove the lens, take off both the rings and hold the lens over the sensor and see if the image came into focus. It did so i was relieved and realised it was the rings.
I will have a good look at your info this afternoon and see if I can get a bit closer to first light. I dont have a dome yet as I am waiting until I am completely comfortable with the setup before I spend any more money :-))
Thanks again.
Eric...

[MikeyBigs]

Glad you got the issue sorted. I think I'm pretty happy with my focus now. I messed around with it for about 2 hrs yesterday. Here is the video it skips in one part from me turning on dark frames.. Should get a break from the moon next week will see how it looks then, hopefully the sky's stay clear. I Still may tweak the color some

[EricClaeys]

@MikeyBigs, any changes in config.sh and ftp-settings.sh take affect at the next image. No restart needed.

[MikeyBigs]

Thanks I read through the documentation and didn't see it mentioned anywhere so I wasn't sure.