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Pixinsight, Nebulosity or other?


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Hi,

I am struggling with so many of my post processing techniques when shooting RGB on DSOs.  I seem to be getting some good subs, but generally struggle with the LRGB merge and balancing the colours.  The RGB usually goes okay, but the L layer often seems to make the final image worse rather than better, even though the L layer looks good on it's own.

I currently use DSS, followed by Astra Image or GIMP/Paintshop Pro and with Xmas coming up I was wondering about Pixinsight, Nebulosity or other astro imaging products.  I quite happy to make a reasonable investment in new software if it makes me realise the investment in hardware, just looking for a bit of guidance on what people use and find useful.

Does anyone have a view on what I should be looking at to simplify the process of combining, noise reduction and stretch?

TIA

Robin

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Hi Robin,

In my years in astronomy I've used lots of astro-processing programs but for the last two years I mainly use PI (Pixinsight) and AA (AstroArt), of course there are some few times that I also use Photoshop for some final touches. In my opinion, PI is kinda difficult and for most people has a deep learning curve but when you understand how it works, it can produce outstanding results in pre-processing (noise reduction, stacking, alignment etc..) as well in your combined LRGB-Ha-OIII etc, final images. AstroArt also does a very good job in pre-processing, especially with "defect map" techniques, and of course in processing too but personally I mainly use it only for "easier" or "quick-job" targets. In my opinion both of these programs worth every penny.
There are a lot of programs out there "qualified" for astro work so if one can first try and then buy, it will be possibly the best solution, if we want to add the personal "taste" of each user/buyer.
That been said and if we talking about paid programs, then IMHO, if one can afford to have both of these programs (PI + AA) it'll be the best possible solution - free programs can of course still be used at anytime for any reason. If not, then I'd go for PI.

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Thanks Dimitris,

I have applied for a trial license and will give it a go. The cost of PI is in budget and I will have a look at AA as well.

Only problem with PI my laptop (i5, 4GB Ram, fast SSD) is only 768 pixels high and PI says it needs a minimum of 900. I could try and find a monitor which will let me run higher res, but that is slightly more awkward as to where I can process.

Robin

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I add luminance to RGB in Photoshop - a legit version of CS3 from Amazon for a reasonable price. I add it in small iterations if necessary, upping the saturation and adding a slight blur till the final iteration in which no blur is applied. This restores full resolution.

OIly

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Thanks guys.

I have PI running on my laptop, now just running through the tutorials to find out how to use it.

Interesting technique Olly, I have Photoshop, but never really got the hang of it, trouble is I was already used to Gimp and Paint.net which seem much easier to use.  If all else fails, I will go back to PS, run through the tutorials and have a proper go.

Robin

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Have a look at StarTools.  Full version available as trial (you just can't save).  Great support from the developer, it certainly has it it's own unique learning curve.  Cheap as chips compared to the competition.  It's definitely worth giving it a go to see if you get on with it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

High all-I am considering PixS.  I have Nebulosity.  Here's an image of the Heart Nebula I took with a Televue np101is, SBIG STT -8300M, and an Astrophysics mach1 mount.  I can't seem to process images worth a darn.  The only processing in this pic is deconvolution and TGVDenoise in PixS.  I played with power stretch, color balance, and contrast in Nebulosity.  Any advise would be greatly appreciated.  many thanks,

Rodd

post-48074-0-09621800-1449836950_thumb.j

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