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First shot at Mars...

Johnny666666

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Johnny666666

Johnny666666

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For want of something new to have a go at, I thought I'd give Mars a shot for the first time. I found out afterwards I had polar aligned completely wrong (yes, I'm a newbie) although it didn't make too much difference to the video footage apart from it drifting out of frame after about a minute or so. Not ideal conditions, with quite a lot of haze below about 30 degrees, and I think I overexposed the footage - I made several videos but this was the best exposed.

'Sort of' processed in Registax (I'm still learning that too) but I coudn't push the wavelets too far because there was literally no detail in there and I started getting strange artefacts in the image, like a honeycomb effect. Anyone else had this issue?

Anyway, here it is - from Skywatcher 150P using 2x Barlow on T-2 mount to Panasonic GH3 in movie mode with teleconverter enabled, 1/200th shutter speed at ISO800, no filters used. 60 seconds of video (1500 frames) exported into Registax, best 400 selected. The image is not enlarged, it's simply cropped from the HD video size.

Any suggestions or comments would be welcome :smiley:

post-35766-0-92086400-1398306952_thumb.j

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Gomtuu

Gomtuu

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Any suggestions or comments would be welcome :smiley:

attachicon.gifMars 03a.jpg

Great first effort. You can try to eliminate the red cast at the bottom of the image (bluish at the top) in Registax. On the wavelet screen, find the button (on the right I think) for RGB align. When this pops up, you can extend a box around the image and click Estimate.

Also, did you crop the video first? If not, try PIPP.

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Johnny666666

Johnny666666

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Yes, I was a bit confused about the reddish and bluish cast, however they are present on the original images so that's probably why Registax processed them. I did get some colour fringing on a moon image I did, which Registax reduced using the RGB Align function, but in that case it looked more like one of those magenta-cyan 3-D images you sometimes come across. I probably put the Mars cast down to bad seeing.

I didn't crop the video first, simply recorded and exported the images in 1920 x 1080 size and let Registax process and export the final image at that size. I then simply cropped a lot of the black from the surroundings in Photo Paint from the final Registax export. I use Vegas to 'process' the video file and export to BMPs, otherwise Registax won't accept the cameras video file. It might have been better to set the project size in Vegas to 960 x 540 and export the BMPs at that size - I would get no quality loss just simply smaller file sizes without the mass of black around the edges. Something to try in the future :smiley:

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Gomtuu

Gomtuu

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Yes, I was a bit confused about the reddish and bluish cast, however they are present on the original images so that's probably why Registax processed them. I did get some colour fringing on a moon image I did, which Registax reduced using the RGB Align function, but in that case it looked more like one of those magenta-cyan 3-D images you sometimes come across. I probably put the Mars cast down to bad seeing.

I didn't crop the video first, simply recorded and exported the images in 1920 x 1080 size and let Registax process and export the final image at that size. I then simply cropped a lot of the black from the surroundings in Photo Paint from the final Registax export. I use Vegas to 'process' the video file and export to BMPs, otherwise Registax won't accept the cameras video file. It might have been better to set the project size in Vegas to 960 x 540 and export the BMPs at that size - I would get no quality loss just simply smaller file sizes without the mass of black around the edges. Something to try in the future :smiley:

The reason I suggested PIPP is that a pre-cropped video file will process in Registax much faster. PIPP outputs AVI files that Registax will still accept.

I always have RGB alignment issues doing planetary. Try opening your Mars picture in Registax and manually RGB aligning. When you select a single image,  it should go straight to the wavelet screen. I find that in Registax 6 it virtually eliminates the problem.

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zedds

zedds

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Hello.

Nice first Mars capture, well done.

I too have had the strange artifacts with Registax (6 i assume that you`re using). No idea what causes it. I went back to Registax 5 and that worked a treat. However, my latest Mars image was stacked in AS!2 ( Autostakkert2, http://www.autostakkert.com/wp/download/ this is a link to it) and wavelets were then adjusted in Registax 6 and there were no issues.

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Johnny666666

Johnny666666

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I reloaded the single image in Registax and had a play with the RGB align - a slight but definite improvement I think. The 'halo' is still there but again I think that's just down to the conditions on the night. I can export from Vegas as a cropped video so I might try that as opposed to installing yet more software. I'm used to Vegas because I use it for my video work but if it's not doing the job then I might look at PPIP :smiley:

I'm using Registax 6, and yes the artefacts are annoying because they set a limit on the amount of detail I can bring out. When pushed to the extreme, it's an awful honeycombed effect which appears to have no bearing on any of the optics used (as far as I remember the artefacts appear regardless if I'm using a Barlow or prime focus). It's a shame because Registax 6 really pulls out the detail in a way that is almost breathtaking when looking at the individual frames of a video file. Not knowing exactly how Registax processes its images, I'm assuming that wavelets are adjusted on the stacked image and not on the individual frames? So a stacked image created in Autostakkert2 and adjusted in Registax 6 that processes OK would suggest an issue with the stacking process in Registax 6?

post-35766-0-63568400-1398424559_thumb.j

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Johnny666666

Johnny666666

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Hope you don't mind, but I loaded your image into Registax 6 and RGB aligned using the estimate button. This is the result :

attachicon.gifrgb_align.jpg

No, I don't mind at all! When I used the 'estimate' button the end result looked like something from a 1970's psychedelic pop video...! I manually had a quick twiddle instead :smiley:

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Owmuchonomy

Owmuchonomy

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post-35542-0-15600900-1398428428.jpg

No, I don't mind at all! When I used the 'estimate' button the end result looked like something from a 1970's psychedelic pop video...! I manually had a quick twiddle instead :smiley:

Hi, hope you don't mind me butting in.  I took my first Mars on 18th April.  Regarding the RGB align just to check that you manually drew the box in registax 6 to cover the full extent of the colour shift.  If you don't do this I find you get the 70s psychedelic 'album cover' scenario.  I've played around a bit with my image stack.  I find registax 6 wavelets way too aggressive. I did the same as the guy in post 8.  Prepared in Pipp, stacked in AS2 and then just used Registax 6 for RGB align.  AS2 outputs two files, one standard and one with its own version of 'wavelets' already applied.  I then take both images and try processing in PS6 and pick the best one.  This seems to work better for me. Also, looking at your frame rate, it is quite low (25fps).  I use at least 60 FPS with my Canon 600D to try and capture this elusive good frames.  Here is my first effort.

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Johnny666666

Johnny666666

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No, I don't mind at all - at the moment I'm like a sponge and soaking everything up until I'm saturated hahaha! I might have a look at AS2 (I have been sticking with Registax because I'm a newbie) but AS2 seems highly regarded. Unfortunately I don't use PS6 (or any other kind of PS) though I have been tempted by Lightroom lately. I'm an old-time Corel Photo Paint user, but my latest version is v12 - years old!

Interesting about the frame rate - I did wonder about this last night. I can shoot up to 50fps with the GH3 (being a UK model I don't get 60fps) at a reasonable 50Mbps rate. Unfortunately I don't get the All Intra codec at this rate but I don't think it will make much difference to the final result to be honest.

Great shot of Mars by the way, though I think your gear is way more advanced than mine! Plenty to have a go at if only this damned weather will improve!

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