groberts

I'm slowly learning PixInsight using the excellent Light Vortex online tutorial, Warren Keller's (difficult to use) book and of course, the video tutorials from Harrysastroshed. Also puchased on pre-order a few months ago Reogelio Benrnal Andreo's new two-part box set of books - Mastering PixInsight & Reference Guide, which I've already been using online - but the real thing is always better and personally I find a book in my hands better than online for learning. It's therefore with great pleasure the postman today delivered from Taiwan (that's the books not the postman!) the said books, which are very well produced and packaged. They look very promising and I especially like the reference edtion, which I've already found useful when working with the previously named learning sources in order to clarify points. Still a long way to go but now armed with the help of all these facilties how can I fail? Famous last words! Graham

I'm in a similar situation and will be interested to see the reponse to this question + if I may add: Is such an upgrade worthwhile, these filters (Chroma & Astrodon) are not cheap so does the upgrade make noticeable imrovements and in which particular wavelengths?

I do clean the disc using DiscCleaner and routinely scan with AVG. It's an old school magnetic disc - I'm very familar with the tools mentioned and is set up to run auto-fragmentation once a week. Thanks

Not sure I undestand some of these points but I save each image direct to the hard disk, then transfer elsewhere for processing + deleting as I go along i.e. always plenty of disc space.

On occasion my main laptop which I use for imaging crashes or like last night just hangs (mid-imaging!) and in this event can only be restartred by turning it off and rebooting. I did this last night and thereafter all was fine for the rest of the 4-hour session. This ony happens every now and again but, of course, it is catostrophic and a real pain mid-imaging. It seems to me there could be one of three issues (a) software conflicts (b) something badly wrong with the computer or (c) insuffcient memory. I'm now inclined towards the latter (c). The computer is about six or seven years old but for any normal (non astro) use is fine and most of the time is also OK for astro too; actually I only mainly use it as my main astro computer nowadays. It is a Samsung laptop with Intel Core i5-2467M CPU 1.60GHz chip, 4GB RAM, 64bit & Windows 7 + I'm running EQASCOM + PHD2 + CdC + APT for control & image capture - as it's mainly for astro I've removed all non esstenial programmes and mosty run it offline to eliminate unwanted conflicts etc. I'm now begining to think that maybe the RAM is perhaps too small and might benefit from upgrading? Any thoughts or guidance much appreciated. Graham

What's the best / easiest way to combine two different image sets? I'm currently imaging LBN 325 in narrowband @ 300sec exposures and intend to shoot another set of RGB subs @ 60sec for star colour, which I then want to combine. I'm mostly using Photoshop + learning (slowly) PixInsight and really want to keep it as simple as possible + without purchasing / learning another software package; I appreciate there is such software that will do this? I should have done this ages ago but too lazy! Thanks, Graham

Congratulations, looks great - just done the same myself, this lens is a right little belter Looking forwards to more use.

re-installed and now OK 👍

Will do, thanks.

Version 3.0. I've been using this for over a year OK + no other problems with computer.

I've been using FITS Viewer for a while just to check my subs before stacking - usually four or five at a time. I'm now finding that if I load more than 2 images at a time into FITS viewer it crashes but still works fine if it's just one of two. Anybody any idea what's causing this and how it can be fixed please?

OK thanks - so the software will not reject because of the differences? As we move into lower temperatures soon it will not be an issue ❄️ just the summer / late summer period. Graham

I appreciate that using a mono camera with temperature control it's best to shoot all the same subs at the same temperature. However, if you have two or more sets of the images taken at different temperatures (otherwise indentical settings e.g. exposure, gain etc), can they still be processed together - in my case using Deep Sky Stacker? I appreciate it's not desirable but will it work OK? I ask because my default temperature I use is -20C but at some of the higher temperatures we've been having recently (+30C) I've often not been able to get to my optimum temperature and can only image at lower temperatures e.g. -15C; my camera is rated at -40 to -45C so when it's very warm / hot it struggles. I could, of course just take all the images at a lower temperature but obviously when possible colder = better. Graham

Like some others here, I was so inspired by this thread ealier this year I decided to try the Samyang 135/f2 myself. Delayed by covid deliveries, the lack of clear / dark skies etc and my own laziness, at last I've just achieved first light and mainly wanted to post to just say thanks to those that helped. At the moment I'm just experimenting using the lens matched with a modded Canon 550D and Philippe's excellent AstroKraken 3D printed bracket and microfocuser. I had planned to spend more time on Cygnus but the aforementioned skies didn't co-operate. Notwithstanding, I'm pleased with the intial short images of the Veil, Cygnus and especially NAN, unfortunately all <=1 hours integration of 120sec subs. Still it's more than whetted my appetite and I hope over the coming months to change to a mono camera + refine the overall set-up. I just love the FOV and quality obtained with this lens + the relative ease setting up = a real winner with UK condtions.

Thanks everyone. It's not that the said books/ tutorials don't show workflows but I find there are some critical (obvious) directions that are not clear to me. Anyhow Jim's cribsheet looks like it could be helpful. My approach in learning PI has been to try to mostly follow Light Vortex but it's not apparent to me where to go after RGB combination etc. with the said RGB and L images. After many days of work I've completed the pre-processing PI section, which though (I think) has been successfull, in the long run I'm thinking of using APP instead, as the PI method is, to say the least, ridiculously complex! It's from there or coming out of APP I'm uncertain of the next step(s) and wanted to clarify before embarking on the next inevitable mamoth task in PI! 🤞 Graham

With some (LOL) difficulty guided by Light Vortex and other tutorials (Warren Keller, Harry’s Astroshed, Mastering Pixinsight etc), I’ve managed to successfully pre-process mono LRGB data for M101 in Pixinsight + combine the RGB channels. Not surprisingly, I’m now confused as to how to proceed and would be grateful if anyone could share a basic / essential minimum workflow from this point on how to arrive at a final LRGB image i.e. PixInsight for dummies! I’m presuming that the work now moves on to separate non-linear processing of the RGB and L images before combining into a LRGB image + further final processing? Whilst the aforementioned tutorials are very useful, the ‘big picture’ route from here is far from clear, or at least it is to me. I can continue to learn the necessary processes required using the aforementioned tutorials but need a clear / unambiguous roadmap, without too many ifs, buts or technical embellishments - hopefully. Graham

As a matter of interest do you find APP easier than PI for pre-processing? I find PI particulary complex with this phase and I'm thinking of of perhaps moving to APP and then PI for post processing. Graham

I'm battling up the said PI learning curve but I'm motivated by your result, a clear improvement on the earlier version. Few more months (years!) and I might get there too! Well done. Graham

Thanks for the offer Steve. I'm OK for the moment but will certainly get back to you as suggested if needed. I moved over to mono a few years ago and am now reasonably familiar with what is a surprisingly different process to DSLR, though ultimatelky far superior. The ability to control temperature has been a real game changer but, as a result, I'm rather lazy in keeping calibration up-to-date; having built a library some 18 months ago and changed nothing in my imaging train since, I continued to use the said library. However, this summer I needed to clean the filters and sensors and thus build a new library, only to realise that doing so without lights in DSS required a different approach, which DSS is not ideally suited to, thus the thought to move on from DSS to something else. Graham

Thanks Steve, no I have not used the Batch Pre-processing script, I was so worn out by the step-by-step approach it completely put me off but before heading off elsewhere I will give it a try. Would appreciate any more on the "amlost foolproof workflow" if you have any more please? Otherwise., thanks again, Graham

Thanks for your comments on personal experience. Apart from the ability to do the job well, ease of use is an important feature I'm looking for. As mentioned, I have PixInsight and spent 10-days or more stacking + aligning a test image guided by the excellent Light Vortex tutorials. However, in the end I can only say it was a nightmare - exceedingly complicated and messy to use. Notwithstanding, I do hope to use PI for post processsing. Any more thoughts on AA and APP or others much welcomed. Graham

For some years I've sucessfully been using DSS with both DSLR and mono cameras. Having moved to mono a few years ago, I'm finding dedicated processing of calibration files for my library a bit tricky without also using accompanying lights and am wondering if it's time to move on to new software that would enable stacking + alignment etc. + in particular in this case building a library using just calibration subs, to be achieved more easily and perhaps quicker, though in this regard DSS isn't too bad? I recently tried Pixinsight for this purpose and it found it to be way to complicated - although I did not use their batch processing facility. Otherwise I'm attracted to Astro Art and APP. Any recomendations + personal insight much appreciated. Graham

As somone who has only recently embarked on my PixInsight journey and tearing my hair out after two weeks of playing with the PI stacking and alignment, I've just caught up with last weekend's Ikarus/Pixinsight talk by Dave which has reinvigorated my dedication to learning this brilliant but somewhat difficult to use processing software. So just really want to thank Dave and especially those responsible for the Ikarus project, which is an inovative, unique and and very positive contribution to the astrophotography community. In addition, I'll now have something to do during the inevitable week's of cloud that seem to hang over my house much of the time! Well done + thanks, Graham

Fabulous image and a real step-up from what was already a very good one - colours + details + overall quality - can't see how you can improve this further, well worth the extra effort. Very well done.

Yes you're correct , it's due to the mounting which produces the 1.25" but a smaller effective filter area - the useable aperture of the 1.25" filter is +/- 26-27mm.