Solar Eclipse Maestro 1.0 for MacOS X released

[xjubier]

I am pleased to announce the release of the the first Mac automated solar eclipse photography application for DSLRs.

Solar Eclipse Maestro can control up to four Nikon or Canon DSLRs over USB or Firewire. The application runs under MacOS X 10.4+ (Tiger and Leopard) and is a Universal Binary, meaning it runs on both PowerPC and MacIntel. Snow Leopard should be supported when released in September.

Full control of shutter speed, aperture and ISO is possible. Images can be scheduled by time of day, or tied to astronomical events like eclipse contact times. The script-based automation is using an identical script file format as Fred Bruenjes' Eclipse Orchestrator software. Minor extensions to the scripting command set have been added.
Observer's coordinates can be read directly from a USB connected Garmin GPS.

Included in this release:
- Free version available now, Pro version at a later time.
- Nikon and Canon DSLR support, saving images directly to the camera's memory card.
- Multiple camera support, up to 4 cameras.
- Camera's datetime synchronization with the computer's clock.
- Hassle free automatic identification of cameras for the next reconnections.
- Manual 'M' and Program 'P' modes supported.
- Eclipse map with umbral path, real-time animated shadow, and zone of longer duration.
- Real-time mid eclipse diagram at the mouse-over location.
- Integrated Google Maps and Earth visualization tool, based on my 5MCSE web tool.
- Integrated Google Earth Planetarium visualization tool, based on my 5MCSE web tool, to look at the eclipse sky (not yet available from my website).
- Night vision mode.
- Integrated live view mode on supported Nikon DSLRs.
- Exposure calculator to help you find the right exposure for any eclipse event.
- Ability to save/load observer's locations.
- Friendly UI.
- Localized in English and French.
- Easy installer application.

For more information, or to download the software, please visit:
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/So ... l#Software

Please direct comments, questions, or problems to me on this support board:
http://xjubier.free.fr/support/
To post you will need to register, but you'll also benefit from the experience of others to find answers to your questions or problems. Please try to post in English in order to have a larger audience. I will generally answer in English to messages in French, Italian, German or Spanish, unless you clearly specify otherwise.

Be sure to read thoroughly the application help (Help menu inside the application) to learn about the many features.

Xavier

PS: those who would like to help me localize the application in the following languages -Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, Portugese, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Hebrew, Hindi, Corean, etc- are welcomed to contact me in private.