Final_m31_forSbig

Comment

Comment by David Klooz on July 9, 2011 at 4:41pm

I've tried DSS and Neb2 for aligning and combining. Really like Neb2 much better. Cost about $60 as I remember, but liked it better than the EOS software and liked that I could image with both Sbig and DSLR. I needed a DSUB cable from Shoestring Astronomy to get the exposure above the 30s default. Now I do a lot of processing of the nebs using Neb2 initially to remove luminosity image colors before merging with the Ha. Seems to replace the colors nicely after merging. I'll poke around to see if I saved the FITS files in Neb2 for the Sbig shot. If it clears tonight - really hot, hazy and humd - going to try a couple new nebs in Cygnus and then another around Gamma Cassiopea - near the Pacman Neb. Around 2:30 am or so. No sleep again.

Comment by Trevor Woodrow on July 9, 2011 at 3:18pm

Cool cool. I stopped using CCD soft and Ops earlier this year. I shoot, guide, calibrate, stack and ddp in Maxim. CS2 for curves, color, Carboni, layering and the like and then fine tune in Microsoft. When taking it out of Maxim I convert from Fit to Tiff so CS2 and Micro can play with it. I usually later convert "final" to jpeg for display. I am not familar with Neb2.

Comment by David Klooz on July 9, 2011 at 12:56pm

Hi Trevor, thanks. Yes, think we do run similar setups. I've found that the Sbig really limits the field of view. My images always seem to lack the right texture and depth that I seem to be able to get with the Canon, ie., a better fov, better texture and depth in the image and a much better overall context. So at this point, this year I've been using mostly the Canon for neb shots, the Toucam for Solar and the DBK for the moon. Sold my Barlow lenses - stupidly didn't keep one so haven't been doing any planetary at all. I stopped using CCDop and CCDsoft for the Sbig and the few times I used it I've used Neb2 for the imaging and preprocessing and aligning. I've also used the Neb 2 program for DDP, stretch and curves following aligning. If I kept the images of M32 from the Sbig they're in FITs format, but you can still color process.

Dave

Comment by Trevor Woodrow on July 9, 2011 at 12:02pm

Hi Dave, long time no see....

I saw this and your DSLR version. Both nice pics by the way. I also read your comment that you were having a better time working with the DSLR data over the CCD. If I remember correctly, you and I run similar setups. ST2000XCM, refractors on Sirius mounts?

Glad to see you back!
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