PeterCPC

Hello and welcome.

I suggest just making access to the garden from the road as difficult as possible. I have a locked metal gate with barbed wire on top.

You are asking too much from equipment. This is an image of Uranus with a C9.25 and you can't see detail on the planet let alone it's moons.

Just to conclude this. I have found that, if I use the light panel on the lowest setting with the Opal Acrylic diffuser and 4 shhets of white paper, I can get 2 secs exposures with the histogram looking good. In case it helps anyone else out with a similar issue. This is with the camera installed on the C8.

Hello and welcome.

Noted all.

3 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

Which camera Peter ?

Just guessing, that's a very fast exposure, wouldn't say 1 second be better ?

Will require a PWM Dimmer and/or lots of ND filter or A3 printer paper.

Michael

ASI294

Hello and welcome.

15 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

I have a toy-quality amazon A4 light panel and used to use printer paper in between the scope and panel to act as a diffusion layer. One night i decided to try without the paper and saw no difference whatsoever except for faster exposures needed to get a good flat, so i just never put the paper back in again. Your mileage may vary of course, but the panel is so far out of focus that it should act as its own diffusion layer so to speak.

This makes perfect sense and I wonder why I never thought of it. Thank you. 🙂

14 hours ago, The Admiral said:

Since you are taking flats in order to correct for non-uniformity of the light pattern produced by the scope, it follows that the camera has to be attached to the scope as if you were imaging when you take flats. You can take darks with the camera off the scope because there is no light involved.

Ian

Yes I know. I was just trying to establish if the light panel was going to be suitable.

2 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Ah, throw the panel on the scope with the scope in infinity focus (the same focus as when imaging stars) and im pretty sure the patterns go away.

Great. I will give it a try but will have some paper ready just in case 🙂

Just now, Stuart1971 said:

So are you using a telescope, if so the panel should be on the end of that with it focused for nightime use…?

No. I am just conducting a test indoors with just the camera and the panel - no optics involved.

3 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Hmm, it really does look like it’s focused on the panel, you need the focus at the same setting as you use for your Astro shots….also how long is the exposure…you should be aiming for around 25,000 to 30,000 ADU…

I wouldn't have the first idea about ADU but the exposure was 0.0005 secs gain 120 offset 50.

13 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Looks far too detailed for a flat. Did you have focus in infinity? Looks almost like you have focused on the panel itself, with the panel out of focus and any diffusing layers between even a sparsely LED populated panel would work.

I took this with the camera resting on the panel so no focusing was involved.

58 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

You'll need to get rid of those lines as they won't be in your normal lights I'm afraid.

What about sheets of A4 or even A3 rather lol?

This is what I got using 8 sheets of paper on the panel. looks much better I think.

I have just aquired a new A3 light panel for my C8 and I have an issue.

I also got a A3 size Opal Acrylic sheet to diffuse the light. However, the flats image still has lines, presumably from the LEDs in the panel. My question is - will these flats work ok or do I somehow need to diffuse the light still further and, if so, what do you suggest?

I have attached a part of the flat image and exaggerated the lines a bit so you can see what I mean.

APT is good and so is Backyard EOS (BYE). I use BYE when using my Canon - I find it simpler to use than APT.

Hello and welcome.

I would just add that, if you get any very bright flashes of light you should go to the hospital asap as it means the retina is becoming detached.

Hello and welcome.

By all means upgrade the focuser. I suggest the micro focuser as it won't add a huge weight to the rear of the scope. Worked for me. I have just put one on my new C8.

If it's only for lunar and planetary work why do you need an auto focuser? My advice would be to use a Bahtinov mask to focus on a star and a flip mirror to aid location and positioning. It seems to me like you are making a lot of work for yourself. All my planetary imaging was done with a C9.25 without any autofocuser.

Hello and welcome.

Just now, Stuart1971 said:

Well, not in my experience and I use it a lot, it’s for gradients and not noise reduction at all, but with gradient removal to the eye the noise will look reduced….but it’s not at all the same as a proper noise reduction tool….

Topaz is very good, but easy to overdo with it, you can’t beat more data at the end of the day…..👍🏼

Agreed it's not primarily for noise reduction but there is the dark noise reduction tool. I find that the noise is definitely reduced after a go thro AFP.

1 hour ago, Stuart1971 said:

Hmmm, astroflat pro is nothing to do with noise reduction, it’s for removing gradients and light pollution…I think you are mixed up with Gradient Xterminator….👍🏼

It removes noise I can assure you. Topaz DeNoise is good as well.