M42 envy

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Comment by Robert C. Mills on July 30, 2012 at 6:04am

I just put a before and after HDRM applied image up so you can see. I think it works pretty good for these type images. You can use PI free for over a month to try it. I liked it so much I finally bought it after 2 trial periods.

Comment by Robert C. Mills on July 30, 2012 at 5:41am

For what its worth.

Pix Insight HDMR routine would bring out a great deal of detail in this image. It is like DDP where it compresses and inhances the dynamic range. The bright triangulum region would clear right up and all the stars interior to the bright portion would be visible. All of the lines of nebulosity radiating from the center would be well defined.

Comment by Trevor Woodrow on April 21, 2011 at 10:03am

Thanks Spike! Yeah, you really must have some time on your hands, going back to all the moldy oldies on the site! lol. One of my fave nebs too...so photogenic...this is the nebula that I always show non-astro people when I am trying to explain what we do. You always get an "wow" with this object. Never fails. I saw the conversation you had with Basti about trying to get your boys to take a look. With my boy...this object imaged...and the moon or Jupiter, or Saturn in the eyepiece has caused him to stop what he was doing and come to take a look. Proud moment my friend!

As for this image...As you can well image, I have been going back and re-processing almost everything I have ever done. Couple months of bad weather leaves me little choice. Here is the current version of this image...note, I did not say "finaly" lol!

Comment by spike77 on April 21, 2011 at 4:08am

awesome pic prob my fav neb

Comment by Philip A Cruden on January 21, 2011 at 10:30am

Great Idea

Comment by Trevor Woodrow on January 21, 2011 at 9:14am

Phil, Jeff, Mark, all great comments and advice Maybe we should create a discussion group to discuss the pros and cons of DSLR v. CCD. I think a lot of people have questions, including myself, and I know many of you have answers that can help people figure out what direction to go in. In fact, lemme re post what you guys have said hereand create a group. Good stuff!

Comment by Jeff McFarlin on January 21, 2011 at 8:06am

Trevor - I've read that article as well. For me - I didn't have a dSLR initially and I wanted a cooled camera that I could (with the Parsec) set the cooling temperature, and it was initially designed for astro-imaging. I've not done any A/B tests between CCD or dSLR so I can't comment. I'm personally happy with the camera, and I like my results so far, so that's the only criteria I'm using at the moment. :-) I too see tons of dSLR images out there that look just fantastic. Also, with the wheel I can do Hubble palette stuff, etc. So maybe there's a bit more flexibility in that regard.

Comment by Philip A Cruden on January 21, 2011 at 7:51am

Thanks Trevor, Tony Hallas had a number of articles over a few issues on the subject in Astronomy Magazine, his article basically stated that CCD imaging is far better than DSLR but when you look at his rig also I can see why. I have been doing Photography since I was a kid, I even had a dark room at one point in my folks basement so I am leaning toward DSLR because of being familiar. I think Spike is getting his camera back from being modified soon or has it already, I am going to ask him some questions along with Marc, Mark and Hop. Thanks for the advice, Phil

Comment by Trevor Woodrow on January 20, 2011 at 10:56pm

Thanks Phil. I am glad you like my work. I use a CCD, but look at the work of Hopp, Marc and Mark. They all use DSLRs and get fantastic results. Obviously I prefer CCD, but that is because that is what I have primarily worked with thus far. I do have a DSLR, a Nikon D40x, but have not really done much with it. Use it primarily to take pics of my kids. lol. Weigh the pros and cons of both carefully. Talk with the DSLR guys, get their side too. Will be happy to send you my pros and cons of both, but don't take my word as the end all be all...as you can see I am still learning.

Which brings me to Jeff. Thanks for telling me how you got your results. As I am writing this, I am implementing some of what you have said and am attaching where I am right now. Still not where I want to be, but getting there. Your input has given me not only inspiration, but a direction to go in. Thanks! I have heard the debate of single shot color vs. mono. In theory, I agree with you. However, one of the articles that I read that caused me to go in the direction that I have can be found at Helixgate.net. The guy there has the color and mono version of my CCD and ran side by side tests. Same targets, equipment,conditons and what have you. The differences between the two were, in my mind, so slight, that it did not appear to be worth the time(LRGB) or expense (filter/wheel etc...) to go that route.

Comment by Jeff McFarlin on January 20, 2011 at 10:07pm

For M42 it was 10x5s LRGB each, 10x30s LRGB each and 4x9mins LRGB each. Stacked/aligned in Maxim DL Pro. In CS4 PS I used two layer masks, laying the 30 onto the 5 and then the 9mins onto that. Levels, curves, hasta la vista green, make stars smaller three times, and unsharp mask. I didn't do separate L and RGB stacks for this, with so many files it was quicker to just let Maxim create one tiff. As for one-shot color to LRGB, if I have enough time to get enough of each channel, the end results is far superior to one-shot color in my opin.

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