Hey Marc...MB said that you can kill the red/orange sky by calibrating the white balance. I found the setting and learned how to do on my camera but question...how long of an exposure do I use? Quickk snap, or does it need to be as long as I intend to expose for?
Thanks Marc, glad to be here.
Just looking at your images and there's some real nice ones. I haven't been out all winter, just too cold, but I've been dying to take some shots so I just may have to suck it up :)
What do you want to know about the SBIG ST8300M? I have used it since April 2010, and
the CFW5 with LRGB Baeder filters since June. I use CCDSoftV5 for both imaging and processing. I have MaxImV5 ISP that I use less than PSElementsV2 for finishing.John Laning
I have never imaged when I had frost problems. I usually image after dark except when imaging in the far south. I think you can order
the heater from SBIG and solder yourself, or send it to SBIG to have it done. If buying straight from SBIG they can possibly install
the heater before shipping. I have a AT field flattener, but have not imaged with it yet do to the hassle of having to use the ST8300M with
CFW5 to align my iOptronIEQ45 mount and focus with a different imaging train. My normal focus setup is to use a 2" extender and set my
Feather Touch to 7.75cm without the CFW5, and ~6.1cm with it depending on temperature of the AT102ED f/7 tube. John Laning
I am not seeing a dark image, just a X at the top left. Why are you stretching the dark, I always do a median combine, and never process the darks in any way. John Laning
Thanks for the comment Marc. I just went through your album and you have some very impressive shots. That particular shot of M76 was 9 5Min exposures on my 14" with a 12nm Astrodon filter. I also have the 3nm Astrodon and it would have brought it out more with less stars shine but I am setting out to get all Messiers in my backyard with Ha and since most are stars the 12nm gives me better overall results. I see no reason why your equipment wouldn't give you the same results. From my home location in So. Cal. narrowband filters have been a god send.
Hi Marc. That's a good question, and one that's relevant to ccd imagers too, because sky conditions vary so much during a night, or from one night to the next.
From what I have found, you will see some difference in the backgrounds, although some NoiseNinja or other noise removal routine will help. What you will end up having to do is to equalize the backgrounds while blending, and this MAY limit some of the faintest stuff you got in the image with the least noise. But it shouldn't be huge difference.
I should mention that the most pressing issue when blending images was that you have to do a careful job of flat-fielding and also removing any gradients due to the influence of light pollution or the Moon. The program Gradient Xterminator is excellent at this, If you don't have a perfectly flat background, you will blend on part of the overlap well, but then find that another area where the images overlap has a visible seam, and if you correct the visible seam, then the first area may not blend properly.
I hope this helps Marc. I look forward to seeing the results of your two-panel mosaic! :-)
True, you can set Grad Xterminater to deal with sudden changes via the "Fine" mode and "Strong" corrections, but I suspect that such a harsh filter would alter other desirable detail in the image(s).
Part of the issue with gradients is that one side of one of the images you are merging could have a brighter overall level than the other image you are merging, yet on the other side of the seam you could very well see the opposite in brightness comparisons. So when you got to equalize things on one end of the seam, you actually make things worse on the other end of the seam.
And from what I have found, it takes just a tiny tiny difference in levels to produce a visible seam....so this is a really 'picky' process (which I am still not 100% confident with doing!)
Thanks for the comments Marc. The Canon 20Da has 2 main features for astrophotography, it has a slightly better IR response and more important it has 2 live focus modes that enlarge the center of the image making focus very easy. Trying to look through the view find is useless for the sky. My understanding is that when the 20D was in production one of the big executives asked engineering to make ans astronomy camera for him. They said they could not make one but they could make 5000, so they did and sold them. Don't know if this story is true or not.
I spent some time looking at your images, I totally love them. They're amazing! The Elephant trunk is one of my favorites.
By the way, you asked me about Startools the other day, and Ivo, the guy who wrote StarTools decided to process my Heart nebula to show me what the tool can do, and I was blow away for an image that is taken from a Bortle 8 sky like Portland downtown...I uploaded his processing and obviously gave him credit for that, and I thought you may want to take a look to it.
Trevor Woodrow
Dec 29, 2010
Trevor Woodrow
Dec 29, 2010
Trevor Woodrow
Dec 29, 2010
Trevor Woodrow
Dec 29, 2010
Trevor Woodrow
Dec 30, 2010
Jeffrey P Nunnari
Jan 3, 2011
Lora Ikei-Canter
I'm a friend of Trevor's
Jan 4, 2011
Mark Roberts
Mark
Jan 22, 2011
Steve Coates
Jan 23, 2011
Kevin Galka
Just looking at your images and there's some real nice ones. I haven't been out all winter, just too cold, but I've been dying to take some shots so I just may have to suck it up :)
Kevin
Jan 23, 2011
Conor
Thanks for the warm welcome. I hope I'll have something to contribute soon!
--
Conor.
Feb 5, 2011
Trevor Jones
Feb 13, 2011
John Laning
the CFW5 with LRGB Baeder filters since June. I use CCDSoftV5 for both imaging and processing. I have MaxImV5 ISP that I use less than PSElementsV2 for finishing.John Laning
Feb 14, 2011
John Laning
the heater from SBIG and solder yourself, or send it to SBIG to have it done. If buying straight from SBIG they can possibly install
the heater before shipping. I have a AT field flattener, but have not imaged with it yet do to the hassle of having to use the ST8300M with
CFW5 to align my iOptronIEQ45 mount and focus with a different imaging train. My normal focus setup is to use a 2" extender and set my
Feather Touch to 7.75cm without the CFW5, and ~6.1cm with it depending on temperature of the AT102ED f/7 tube. John Laning
Feb 14, 2011
Alexandros Filothodoros
Feb 19, 2011
Alexandros Filothodoros
Seems nice here !
Feb 19, 2011
John Laning
Mar 15, 2011
spike77
Mar 23, 2011
Emile.M. Pulinx, MD
EMP
Apr 21, 2011
Russ Ruggles
Jun 25, 2011
Lisa Kaminski
Jul 4, 2011
Gary Gonnella
Oct 1, 2011
Derek Baker
From what I have found, you will see some difference in the backgrounds, although some NoiseNinja or other noise removal routine will help. What you will end up having to do is to equalize the backgrounds while blending, and this MAY limit some of the faintest stuff you got in the image with the least noise. But it shouldn't be huge difference.
I should mention that the most pressing issue when blending images was that you have to do a careful job of flat-fielding and also removing any gradients due to the influence of light pollution or the Moon. The program Gradient Xterminator is excellent at this, If you don't have a perfectly flat background, you will blend on part of the overlap well, but then find that another area where the images overlap has a visible seam, and if you correct the visible seam, then the first area may not blend properly.
I hope this helps Marc. I look forward to seeing the results of your two-panel mosaic! :-)
cheers,
Derek
Oct 11, 2011
Derek Baker
Part of the issue with gradients is that one side of one of the images you are merging could have a brighter overall level than the other image you are merging, yet on the other side of the seam you could very well see the opposite in brightness comparisons. So when you got to equalize things on one end of the seam, you actually make things worse on the other end of the seam.
And from what I have found, it takes just a tiny tiny difference in levels to produce a visible seam....so this is a really 'picky' process (which I am still not 100% confident with doing!)
Cheers, Derek
Oct 13, 2011
Gary Gonnella
Oct 23, 2011
Gary Gonnella
Thanks for the comments Marc. The Canon 20Da has 2 main features for astrophotography, it has a slightly better IR response and more important it has 2 live focus modes that enlarge the center of the image making focus very easy. Trying to look through the view find is useless for the sky. My understanding is that when the 20D was in production one of the big executives asked engineering to make ans astronomy camera for him. They said they could not make one but they could make 5000, so they did and sold them. Don't know if this story is true or not.
Nov 21, 2011
Derek Baker
Hi Marc. My apologies for the slow reply. I have been busy and haven't been on Astrogab in a loooooong time. :-(
cheers,
Derek
Nov 21, 2011
Farrell Germann
Marc thanks for the Look..I'll Try to do better w/Colour next time..
CS
Farrell
Mar 13, 2012
Farrell Germann
thanks for the Look.. Farrell
Mar 14, 2012
carlo colombo italiano milanese
carissimo fai veramente delle belle astro foto ciao c.colombo
Sep 3, 2012
M.C.
Hi Mark,
I spent some time looking at your images, I totally love them. They're amazing! The Elephant trunk is one of my favorites.
By the way, you asked me about Startools the other day, and Ivo, the guy who wrote StarTools decided to process my Heart nebula to show me what the tool can do, and I was blow away for an image that is taken from a Bortle 8 sky like Portland downtown...I uploaded his processing and obviously gave him credit for that, and I thought you may want to take a look to it.
http://astrogab.ning.com/photo/heart-nebula
Cheers, M.
Nov 26, 2012