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Lodestar colour saturation via SX software


nytecam

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Whilst Paul's LL is absolutely brilliant s/w in mono, I'll eagerly await 0.11 for colour.  In the meantime I'll continue to use the old, funky but v.powerful SX s/w for my colour Lodestar-Cx2 images.   Having used it for many years on a number of SX cams, it's use becomes second nature. 

Below is a demo of colour via SX s/w on M27 in 20s exp on my Meade 30cm f/3.6 SCT.  No darks or flats used to clean up the image.  Colour balancing is automatic - not tweaks needed!  Due to my severe London LP the s/w LP filter is always ON and automatically removed the orange skyglow from my images.  The montage is reduced in size for the Forum display.

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1st image [top left] is an auto raw image download with View/Auto contrast stretch and  Cam control/ Auto colour convert both checked and is fully adequate for the video-like near-live-view in  the  s/w loop option.

Next image [clockwise] is same but with above Auto contrast off/ sky background removed/ 25% non-linear stretch in 3 clicks of s/w.  The colour saturation is set to value [1] eg about the same as current LL colour.

Next [top right] colour saturation value [3] 

Next [bottom right] colour saturation value [6] then value [9] the SX max. 

Final image [bottom left] has been boosted to colour max in PaintshopPro - why have a colour cam and wimpy colours !

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Hope it's of interest.  BTW - contrary to an early post here the colour and luminance values can be change independent of each other :police: .

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Hi Nytecam,

Interesting comparison. I found the same lack of color saturation with Paul's LL s/w, but saw some improvement by following his tutorial video. Here's a capture of M27 I got with my Meade 8" at F6.3, similar scale to yours. This is only processed in the LL program with a dark frame and using Paul's color balance/saturation technique. What SX saturation level do you think this is close to? It's hard for me to do a side by side on my iPad, but it looks close to your value (6). Do you think my clearer skies make a difference? Would appreciate getting your thoughts on this.

Thanks

Don

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Most definitely of interest - very instructive.

I have a Cx2 currently on order, and have been following your posts on here, and others' like them, with much fascination.

Looking forward to giving both LL and the SX s/w a try. Hopefully the weather will have improved by the time the camera arrives!

Cheers

Simon

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Thanks guys for the great M27 images via LL s/w.  I'd rate Martin and Don's images [with neutral backgrounds] as about SX 4/5 CS [colour saturation].   Planetary nebulae are wholly emission objects principally in H-alpha [red], OIII [green/blue boundary] and H-beta [blue] and I'd expect to see at least OIII green in the image - hope that helps :police:

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Thanks, Nytecam. It does help. I think Martin's color balance is a little truer than mine. Adjusting CB is another problem in LL that Paul is working on. I did play around with a demo of Nebulosity 3 that auto adjusts the balance and allows for increasing the saturation. It really improves my M27, but I can't save a good copy to post here. Am looking forward to see what Paul does with v0.11.

Don

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Here is my M27 capture "corrected" for colour balance in iPhoto (but otherwise no adjustments to saturation, contrast, etc.), to better compare with the results that the others have posted above.   Recent captures of other objects are better in terms of colour balance using the methods Paul & Don have detailed previously but sometimes, depending on sky conditions and how dewed up my monitor is, I still find I don't quite correct properly using the histograms in v.10.  Definitely looking forward to v.11's adjustments!

Cheers,

- Greg A

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I still struggle with the balance, too, Greg. I decided to purchase Neb3 and here is one of my corrected M27's. It just took a few clicks in Neb3. The auto balance seems to be spot on. The demo let's you use it as long as you want, but it distorts the image if you try to save it. It's a good way to let you try the features before committing to purchase it. The program has a lot to offer.

Don

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Hi Everyone!

I thought this would be a good post to keep everyone up to date with LL. The last few months I have had a very busy work schedule, and its likely to continue for a while but I have been trying to do bits where I can. I need to fix a couple of bugs and then V0.11 should be OK to go. I hope to have this done by the end of the year.

Sorry things have been slow recently, the program has a good user base now and I know the new adjustments are highly anticipated. Will strive to get something out when time allows!  :grin:

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Hi Paul - no worries - take all the time you need.   You've completely transformed the Lodestar as a video-like imager and we are all exceeding grateful for your amazing efforts.  Colour refinements can wait  :police:   

I still smile when the video guys try and explain all the cabling they need [can't count that high!] to get a legacy video camera up and running compared to the single USB lead for that "Lodestar guider thingy" - have fun :grin:

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Hi Paul

LL V0.11 would be a great Christmas present, but the stars aren't going anywhere fast (not in relative terms anyway!!).

Your hard work and dedication is greatly appreciated - you really have changed the face of electronically assisted viewing.

All the best

Paul

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Thank you all for the lovely kind words!  :smiley:

The main bug I want to sort out is the gamma, I'm not 100% happy with it in the new scheme so need to have a play with the maths a little to see what works best. Had a few ideas today though so as soon as time allows i'll be giving them a try! I wanted to add some auto colour balance but i'll be putting V0.11 out there first and then follow it up at some point after with auto balance - will be good to get feedback on the new controls!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am new to this forum and found this post excellent as I just bought a lodestar x2 camera. All my equipment is OS X and Iwould like to ask if I can run this program on my new iPad Air?

Hi Shibeto,

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the LSX2. It's my favorite cam. I don't think that Lodestar Live will run on an iPad, but I will defer to Paul who wrote the program. He is very busy, so it may be a while before he responds. In the meantime, I can tell you that it will run flawlessly on any MacBook or iMac. You do need OS 10.6 or newer. Hope this helps.

Don

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Hi Alberto,

I may have misunderstood if you were referring to the SX or Lodestar Live software. The SX s/w is windows based only. That's the program that Nytecam uses for his color Lodestar. On the SX website, there is a link to an OSX download from a third party, but I haven't used it because of the availability of Lodestar Live. Lodestar Live is a free download available for both Mac and Windows. Paul in the UK developed the program to simulate near real time viewing as the program will continually update the image for the selected exposure time. It also allows for various on the fly stacking routines. The latest version of LL is v0.10. This version works for both color and mono Lodestars, but the color saturation is a little on the weak side. That's why Nytecam uses the SX s/w. Because you have the mono version, I would suggest using Paul's Lodestar Live. It is a very simple program to use, especially for mono, and there are a number of YouTube tutorials out there. As far as using an iPad, you may be able to use an App like Splashtop to control your laptop remotely, but I don't think there's any way to run LL directly on a MacBook or iMac.

Hope this helps, Alberto.

Don

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Sadly I do not think LL on an iPad would be viable as I believe there are issues with access to USB devices at the low level required to interface to the camera.

Running it on a tablet would be great though, but I suspect the Microsoft tablet route is more realistic. 

Don has made a great suggestion to remote control a computer via a laptop. There are a number of low(ish) costs barebones computers out there (such as http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/nuc/nuc-kit-d54250wyk.html) which could be running the show and then you can use remote desktop via the iPad. 

You can also use a Raspberry Pi as a USB to wifi adapter of sorts to tunnel USB data via wifi to do a similar job (but to a computer) - DoctorD has published a guide to this on the forum.

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