assouptro

I have a set of Altair Astro premium 6.5nm 1.25” filters and I suffered from halos but mainly on Oiii which prompted me to upgrade to astrodon filters (only 1.25” second hand) Cheers Bryan

Thank you for this I can see there is more data there Are there any drawbacks worth mentioning? For instance, are you handling much larger data sets requiring more storage space and processing power? I can see it’s inevitable but I’ve settled into a workflow that I can repeat blindfold using Artemis capture phd and dithering etc and I worry about finding the time to relearn new processes etc but that’s what this hobby is about I guess? Thanks again for your input Bryan

Thanks for the info It’s a beautiful image! And in such a short time! what were the length of your subs? And what was the 3.3 instrument? My sky is around Borte 5/6 I’m in the suburbs of a small city (Lancaster) I guess you can only work with the tools you have! Thanks again Bryan

Thanks for chipping in I didn’t want to start a cmos v ccd thread, I just wanted to try and quantify the next move and understand what I could have gained in that image if using CMOS Using the term “vastly superior” is a bold statement and I only have my own experience to go on and to me that point of time was the swap from dslr to ccd, it literally blew me away! Although my Canon 6D was a lot better than my Canon 350D it wasn’t vastly superior I don’t know what your journey has involved and what equipment you have used so maybe you are using that term in a different context? However if your Avatar is an example of what is possible with a CMOS camera in a similar amount of time then that is what I would consider vastly superior Cheers Bryan

Thanks Dave I couldn’t have put it better I feel validated. I don’t know if all hobby’s are like this, as it is my main interest. But the next step always just out of reach? Cheers Bryan

I guess, if if wasn’t for the forums and streaming channels etc you’d be happy with your purchases and be imaging with a smile on your face looking forward to the next 20-30min sub to download Sometimes you’ve just gotta put blinkers on, process the data, and enjoy the amazing results that you and your kit are capable of! 😊

That’s rough!

Geez! I thought I had a problem!! 😖

Thanks Lazy! I don’t think I’ll be parting with my hard earned money just yet. I’ll probably pick one up for £500-£800 second hand when they bring out the new 3D version ! Cheers Bryan

Thanks for the kind comment newbie Yeah, it’s my best m45 to date and I was pleased to achieve it in such a short time too which is what got me thinking as CMOS users generally rave about the speed! Cheers Bryan

Thanks Vlaiv that kinda answers my question Although I probably will be looking for something like the 294mm in the classified ads so I can “dip my toe” 😊 cheers Bryan

Thanks Vlaiv for adding your thoughts. Although you have presented a fair and reasoned comparison, there are a few factors that do influence me at present. The CCD Kaf383 can be bought for less than £600 second hand, I’m not sure why? Which is one of the reasons for asking the initial question. If I was to upgrade to a 26mp APS-C camera, I would have to either choose OSC which might not work well with my doublet, or invest in a new carousel for my filter wheel and a full set of filters so that cost difference has now become quite significant. I guess it’s the real term cost v real term advantage that I’m wrestling with? I guess if I had an unlimited budget I’d be jumping on the bandwagon and trying out a new CMOS camera myself! Thanks Bryan

Thanks for taking the time to add your thoughts Olly I agree, I have seen so many incredibly inspirational CCD images as well as some equivalent CMOS images It’s just that I took a decade to commit to the change to CCD. Once I did, I wished I had done it sooner and as I don’t know how many more decades I have left, I l guess I’m looking for reassurance that I don’t end up regretting delaying the next “evolutionary” change? cheers Bryan

Thanks for the input tomato One thing that bothers me with regards OSC Cmos is this… As my 100ed isn’t a triplet and therefore focuses rgb at different points, wouldn’t I end up with some sort of bloat? would I be forced to upgrade my telescope to take advantage? cheers Bryan

Hi Starpeople! I have been enjoying this fascinating hobby/obsession for over 14 years now Initially I resisted upgrading to a CCD camera for the first 10 years persevering with different DSLR cameras as they became affordable enough on the secondhand market to justify ripping them to pieces to modify them for astrophotography. I did eventually dip my toe in the world of cooled CCD cameras buying a second hand Atik 314L+, old tech with a tiny sensor compared to my full frame Canon 6D but WOW! I was blown away by the difference in my (tiny) imaging abilities and couldn’t go back to DSLR unless trying for starscape milky way shots. I went on to buy a Atik 460 and a 490 as they popped up at decent prices, filter wheels and eventually a set of 1.25” astrodon filters to avoid the dreaded Oiii halos. I have really enjoyed using these cameras and it’s only the North West UK weather that stops me taking any opportunity to capture photons from billions of miles away! However after recently purchasing another ancient CCD “antique”namely an Atik 383L+ there have been a lack of clear skies and I found myself perusing forums and YouTube etc to satisfy my “Astro itch”only to discover it appears I am desperately behind the curve! It seems I should have sold all my CCD cameras whilst they were worth something, investing instead in CMOS technology! Apparently, it’s the only way forward? Looking at the second hand market it’s obvious there has been a shift. I am curious though, Would the move to a modern CMOS camera be a subtle improvement? Or would it be a significant change as it was moving from DSLR to CCD? I recently had a short window in the clouds and got to test the 383 sensor in broadband and it left me wondering.. If I can capture an image like this in less than 3 hours with one of the notoriously noisiest Kodak chips using an average ed100 scope (revelation Astro Ed100, not a colour corrected triplet) what would I benefit by buying a newer CMOS camera? (5 min subs rgb 45,60,70min respectively) Just wondering? Bryan

Well done! I’ve never done more than a 2 panel mosaic! there’s loads going on! It would be cool to add some other filters to the mix and get a colour image! Thanks for sharing Bryan

I use a mixture of ps pi and app also topaz denoise in the mix! Although I’ve been imaging for 12 or so years I’ve only just bought pi so I’m slowly learning my way around the interface!👨‍🎓

Hi Richard Thanks for getting involved! To answer your first question, my monitor is actually my laptop screen, and although it’s a reasonably spec’d laptop (MSI leopard) it’s a gaming laptop and when I’ve tried to calibrate it before it doesn’t seem to be as versatile as a pc with separate monitor. As to your second question, all the calendar Interfaces want jpg images, most of my images are tiffs so I convert them in photoshop whilst increasing the dpi to maintain resolution. I will try to add screenshots of the different results so you can see the differences but if you want to try it for yourself start a couple of calendars even if you only add one or two images with bonusprint and photobox, it doesn’t take long to do and see for yourself if there are any differences in the uploaded files cheers Bryan

Hi starpeople! I am planning on giving my hard work away to my family this Christmas in the form of a photo calendar Disclaimer, I am not using a calibrated monitor. I have downloaded images and built calendars with 4 different companies so far and I am seeing vastly different results in the representation of my data. I have tried bonusprint, photobox, printer pix and bootsphoto Bonus print seem to represent what I want to see in my final images so far as the others seem to alter the exposure, contrast or even colour of my files on screen The worst one is M13. Some of the representations look like my earlier attempts at the globular cluster! I’m finding it frustrating, I am happy to pay the £22 price of bonusprint but will I get the image I see on screen? Has anyone here had experience? can you recommend a service that has worked well for you? Thank you in advance for any help Cheers Bryan

Hi Vlaiv Thank you for taking the time to add your thoughts. You could be right, I hadn’t considered the actual rear port sagging, it always seemed so solid and heavy that I dismissed that as a weak link! I guess the test will be attach the focal reducer and camera alone without oag etc and compare an image it will have to be a short exposure in a rich star field as I won’t be guiding. After I posted my question last night, I saw the clouds clear for an hour or 2 and so I uncovered the scope and checked the collimation, I needed to also check the OAG wasn’t visible in the image train and I could still see stars with it which I’m happy to report is all good 😊 I was happy also to see my scope collimation looks good with all the gear on, at the centre of the image at least so I’m leaning towards tilt being the main culprit but I will test your theory first Vlaiv Cheers Bryan

If that’s your first image! I can’t wait to see what you are capable of in the months ahead! very nice processing, framing probably needs a bit of work but overall bloody brilliant! Thanks for sharing Bryan

Hi Starpeople! Since I bought a second hand Atik 383l I have been trying to get the flattest field I can from my old 12” Meade Lx200 OTA on the bigger chip. (not big by today’s CMOS standards, but the biggest cooled chip I own) I have the spacing just about right, I’ve checked my image scale with astrometry.net and it came back with 1.17” per pixel which is close to the 1.16” per pixel predicted by astronomy tools fov calculator for the camera, scope, and Meade 6.3focal reducer/field flattener. I have a tilt adjuster which I eyeballed on a neighbours chimney getting all 4 corners of the image as in focus as I could, The telescope was collimated without the image train, which leads to another question? Should I re-collimate once I have the oag, focal reducer, spacers and camera hanging off the end? I’ve found in the past trying this has made things worse! I have become quite critical when it comes to star shapes, I don’t own an 11” edge HD or a 12” ACF but I’d like the stars to be controlled as much as humanly possible in my old scope. this is 4 hours of 20 min ha subs binned 2x2 at 1.17”per pixel The “tadpoles” are in IC410 in Auriga about 12000ly away and I believe they are sites for star formation 10ly in length! I like the image, but I can’t help zooming in to the stars and cursing the coma. There is some extra distortion to the star shapes causing triangular shapes on the right of this image that is caused by the oag encroaching into the fov which I have since retracted further but haven’t tested due to clouds. I have just bought an Alan Gee telecompressor mk11 which is in the post, I’m hoping that it could improve star shapes, although I cannot find a lot of data on the web for it’s use in imaging ( I will let you guys know if it works better than the Meade fr/ff) There is another focal reducer made by Starizona that claims to “fix” these issues but it’s not cheap and I might be better putting the money towards a flatter field OTA? Rodd recently posted a similar image from his 11”edge HD with dedicated 0.7focal reducer with an asi 1600mm (I think) but he’s since taken it down so I can’t add a link here to compare, the fov was almost the same but obviously his stars were round! Anyway, if you are still reading, thanks! There’s an image, and a lot of questions! Thanks again in advance for any response Bryan

Stunning! Bryan

Awesome image! What scope and camera etc Thanks for sharing Bryan

I’m glad you found something useful in this thread! It’s under the brain button, then camera (I think) Every day’s a school day! cheers Bryan