nephilim

Ah, thanks i'll give it a go, I'm very new to PI, well all of this really.

I'm working on IC1805 atm & tried saving as a png but still the same msg

I tried both but it just comes up with a message saying certain work processes will be lost saving in these formats or am I missing something?

So with no processing experience whatsoever I decided that the best route to 'properly' process my first image (Samyang 135) would be to bang my head against the wall with PixInsight. I spent a total of 16 hrs yesterday watching (copying) tutorials until I had a kind of work flow going. I'm happy with this but it obviously needs better processing skills to bring out the best of it than I have at the moment but I'll persevere & it can only get better. IC1396 50x 180sec with the Samyang 135 @f2.8 & Zwo ASI533MC-Pro Optolong L-eXtreme 30 x Darks but no flats or bias with this one as I'm just getting used to those. All stacking & processing in PI but I could find no way to export unless I put it into PS as a 16bit tiff which then meant having to spend a fair while with levels & curves which is where I spoilt it a little I think. Thanks for looking & all CC very welcome Steve

I may as well add my newly built set up to the list Samyang 135 ED f2 Zwo ASI533MC-Pro SW Evoguide ED50 Guide Scope Zwo ASI120MM-S Guide Cam ASIair Pro Explore Scientific EXOS II PMC 8 Mount

@tooth_dr I was thinking about just going for the 6.5nm but now I've thought a little more & taken into consideration that your right & most clear nights do tend to have a Moon up there shining bright, 3.5nm is the way to go. The old saying of buy 'cheap, buy twice' would be very relevant as I just know that the first clear night with a full Moon, I'd be kicking myself for not spending the extra ££ on the 3.5nm & considering just how much I've spent over the last 12 months, a few hundred pounds is a drop in the ocean really. Steve

Thanks for the reply. That's good to know 🙂

That's good to know thank you. From what you mention regarding LP & my lack of it I'm leaning towards the 6.5nm I think although I'll do a little more research as I won't really be needing them for a couple more months when we have longer dark skies 🙂

Thanks for the reply 😊, luckily I'm Bottle 3-4 so that's not a problem. I also need to change my signature gear as that's well out of date. I've now got the Explore Scientific EXOS II PMC8, ZWO asi 533 with Samyang 135ED f2 & guiding with SW Evoguide 50ED & ZWO asi 120mm-s guide camera, all controlled withe the ASIair Pro, so I think I'll be fine with 10min subs. Regards Steve

Glad your able to experience it. I'm not in any way boasting, I live at the foot of the North Pennines where the skies are Bottle 3-4 .With only one old Street light in the village well out of my view, locals with dogs have to use a head torch to take them out for their evening business 😂 On the downside to this (and there's always a downside 😒) with the North Pennines just behind me & the Lake District 10 miles in front of me, we're very prone to 'interesting' weather (we have the uk's only named wind, The Helm Wind, when that starts it sounds and feels like a massive jet engine which can go on for several days) Then we get the associated cloud that comes with living in-between 2 mountainous regions, and mist and fog, rain, hail, sleet, snow, cats & dogs & whatever else it fancies hurling at us. So while the clear nights we get are stunningly pristine & jet black, there's so few of them we have to make the most of it whether it's the weekend or a weekday with work in the morning. I've only recently taken up AP & after several shockingly clear nights in a row, including tonight but darkness only between around 11:30pm & 3:15am I'm very close to dropping asleep where I stand 😂 I've another 40mins until my current imaging run finishes then I can collapse on my bed for a couple of hours then get up early to take flats 🥱🥱😴😴 I grew up on a farm in the Yorkshire Dales so I've always had very dark skies. I'm a little ashamed to say that it's far too easy to take these things for granted & we need to spend more time appreciating what we have here. Enjoy the skies while your there. Steve

@tooth_dr Great that looks ideal, thank you very much.

Hi, As the title suggests, I'm looking at getting one of the above CMOS optimised Ha filters but unsure which one. The question I'm really asking is will I see a big enough difference between the 3.5 & 6.5 to justify spending £230 (3.5nm) over £130 (6.5nm)? At the moment I'm imaging with the Samyang 135ED f2 lens (and ASI533 Camera) & although the recommended use is between f10 & f3.5 for these Ha filters, I'm happy enough stopping down to f4 plus I'll be buying the WO ZS 81 APO for this winter @f6.9 so these filters will suit both my systems. Over the next couple of months I'll be looking at also getting both the SII & OIII to complete my narrowband filter set. Obviously the ££ difference adds up when buying all 3 (£306 more if buying the 3.5nm) but I'm happy to spend the extra if there's going to be a noticeable difference in between the two. I'm very much a novice at the moment & not really clued up on the difference between them results wise. All I can think of is that you need shorter exposure times with 3.5nm over 6.5nm to obtain the same results although I'm probably wrong with this. All advice will be very welcome. TIA Steve

@Sunshine Thanks Mate.

@Grant93 Thanks mate, it was overtime that funded the build....a LOT of overtime 😂. I was buying a piece each month (Camera one month, Guidescope/Guidecam the next etc) In a way it was a good thing as I chopped & changed my mind constantly about how I wanted to go about it & gave me plenty of time to research & get it right first time. I'm very pleased with the whole thing though & on cloudy nights I'm quite happy just putting it in the corner of the room & staring at it.....It will come as no surprise that I'm fairly recently single 😂😂😂😂 I've no time for anyone or anything else in my life now. Here's the setup in all its shiny glory 🤗 Steve

@Mike73Thanks mate. It's been a very long journey to get here both money wise (horrifically expensive 😬😂) and the massive amount of learning that has to be done with absolutely no shortcuts with any of it. I'm really pleased with the image though, I thought I'd have far more issues than I had (Pure luck I think 😂) But now I've got the main setting up routine to a point where I can do it without having to refer to a thousand notes I can start with the finer details such as guiding (I have the guidescope & camera but wanted to get the easier stuff sorted first) and taking flats which I find a pretty daunting prospect 😂 As for the post processing, that's just as hard if not even harder than taking the actual images 🙄 I'm a total novice I've no great experience with Photoshop (My image has only had the colour balanced & a few stretches in levels & curves, there's far more detail to be had which I'll attempt to get once I'm back home with PI I've heard from quite a few people that PixInsight is better suited for AP processing (I should hope it is as it was developed by Astrophotographs 😂) Ive been getting used to some of the Processes & Scripts such as Dynamic Background Extraction (Which is unbelievably good) & there's so much to get your head round and like you say, so many YouTube tutorials you can waste your entire life watching but I think it'll be worthwhile in the end. At the moment I'm half way through the 45 day free trial (I highly recommend giving it a go) but I'll buying it in a couple of weeks time. Good luck with your own images mate, I look forward to seeing your own progress. Steve

@Lee_P Thanks. I'll definitely have a look at that later today 🙂

@Adreneline Thanks Adrian (and for your help) I'm very much looking forward to processing this in PixInsight once I get home. I'll also be getting the new Baader 3.5nm Ha filter in a couple of weeks to add another level detail to this image. I also want to start using my guiding set up to increase exposures from 180 to 300 sec. Exciting times ahead 🙂.

I've been a member of SGL for over 12 years now, with an interest in astronomy going back to when I was around 10 years old (39yrs ago), I've always looked at astronomy images with a mixture of awe & envy, always thinking taking them myself would be not only out of my skill set but also my pocket. As time went on & prices went down for telescopes I finally bought my first scope only 12yrs ago (Skywatcher 130m) a year later I bought a Skywatcher 200p on EQ5 mount. Still I wanted to try AP. After a lot of research I realised that the equipment I needed was still very expensive & the equipment I had was totally unsuited. To cut a long story short, I tried AP with my observing set up & understandably got nowhere with it. I pretty much gave up on astronomy after that (sulking) until March 2020. During the first lockdown I realised if I scrimped & saved (I never get anything on credit) I could probably buy a fairly mid range set up, but it wasn't until Sept/ Oct that I finally decided to do it. It took me until March of this year to finally have what I wanted all these years & last Sunday I finally took my first image. Its by no means the best but I think its a good start, my processing skills need a lot of practice as there's much more detail to be brought out of this image (a fellow SGL member who has helped a lot over the last few months took my data & showed me just how much more is in there. Unfortunately I'm at work until Thursday & I've only got Photoshop on this laptop, I'll be having another go with PixInsight when I get home to my desktop PC). I now intend to spend the next couple of months concentrating on this object to collect more data (IF the weather plays ball 🙄) as its very well positioned for me for a while. I never thought I'd be able to achieve something like this so to say I'm over the Moon would be a massive understatement. I'm now well & truly hooked & cant wait for Winter & those longer nights. IC1396 The Elephants Trunk Nebula in Cepheus ZWO ASI 533MC-Pro @101 Gain -15c Unguided Samyang 135ED f2 @f2.8 ASIair Pro Explore Scientific EXOS II PMC8 Optolong L-eXtreme Filter 50x180sec 20x Darks (No lights as I'm still trying to get my head around those & time wasn't on my side) Processed in PS Thanks for looking Steve

Sounds like a right nightmare. I've just bought the Asiair Pro to control my AP sessions, works straight out of the box, everything connects first time, PA is a doddle, plate solves flawlessly & makes everything easy. I've only just started doing AP & last Sunday was my first session which went very smoothly indeed. Coincidently I was also imaging IC1396. This is 50x180 sec (with Optolong L-eXtreme). Theres far more detail to come out of it but my processing skills are very much at beginner level at the moment.

@desmcm I'd be interested to see how well this performs as I'm looking at getting the new Baader 6nm Ha to go with my Asi533 & Samyang 135.

@geeklee Thanks, I'm really pleased with it considering its my first image. Its taken a long time for me to finally get to this point (with a lot of great advice from SGL). I think I'll be concentrating on IC1396 for now to help hone my skills, the more exposure time I can get on it the better. I'm completely hooked now. Steve

Ive now posted as a PNG as the above Jpeg has come out awful

This is my first image with the Samyang 135, actually this is the first image I've ever taken & I couldn't be happier. Its not perfect & my post processing skills are no where near where they need to be (Yet) but for a first attempt at a hobby I've been wanting to try & do for many, many years, I'm satisfied with the result. It can only get better. I must say thanks to the many members of this forum who have helped me over the years & especially those who have helped the last few months. But a really big thanks has to go to @Adreneline for his time and patience answering all my countless questions regarding my set up (back focus) and all the other little fiddly bits I would have missed, without Adrian's help I wouldn't be anywhere near as far on as I am now. IC1396 The Elephants Trunk Nebula in Cepheus 50x180 sec @Unity gain 20x Darks (No flats yet as i'm trying to get my head around the best way to take them) Zwo ASI533MC-Pro unguided @-10c Samyang 135ED f2.0 @f2.8 Zwo Asiair Pro Optolong L-eXtreme Explore Scientific EXOS II PMC 8 The quality isnt great as its been added as a JPEG here is the original file, below the JPEG which for some reason I cant delete is a better PNG version. Steve

I've got the Astro Essentials replacement by Uranium from FLO for my ASI533 & find it does the job very well indeed, just make sure all 3 screws are tightened properly. Steve

@Adreneline Thanks Adrian. I've just reread a msg you sent regarding this 🙂