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Thank you windjammer I appreciate the comment I love the really natural look more experienced processors are capable of, I imagine it’s helped by using better optics and equipment than I currently own but it’s difficult to be completely satisfied with the final result when there is always another tweak! I think this is slightly better, but I’ve been looking at it for too long now!! 😵‍💫 Thanks again Bryan

Hi newbie alert! I have to admit the 383 seems less sensitive and noisy in individual subs compared to some of the other cameras I’ve used and needs more time per sub leaving it vulnerable to satellite, plane, cloud or wind disruption but give it time and good conditions and it can produce the goods! I’m sure a more experienced processor could do if more justice, the stacks were really easy to work with! Thanks for the comment Bryan

My thoughts too I have a heavy rig on a medium mount and when it’s gusty I get moments when there are double stars I always blink my subs and often remove 20-30% depending on the wind, if it’s particularly gusty I may only keep 20-30% I hope you get to the bottom of it Bryan

Thanks for the comment and the sympathy SiriusDoggy it is appreciated 😊 Cheers Bryan

Thanks Neil I believe the Helical twists are caused by strong stellar winds sculpting the Bok Globule but I may be wrong? Thanks for the comment 😊 Bryan

Hi stargazers I haven’t had a great deal of luck recently after buying a second hand qhy268m that was faulty, I was offered a refund but chose to attempt a service and repair which was luckily still within the 2 year warranty period I returned the camera to the vendor at the beginning of November and am still awaiting an update, as far as I know, the camera is still in the uk awaiting an rma number and return instructions from qhy 😟 Whilst waiting my Atik490 also developed a fault! That camera has been assessed and I have given instructions to repair, however the last communication was 19th of Dec I have since been playing with my noisy Atik383, a device camera that has a lot of lovers and loathers This is a closeup of the Helical Bok Globule in the rosette nebula, I have always found these potential star forming structures interesting and love imaging them This is an over processed version of the Globules comprising around 18 hours SHO, I would have liked to add some rgb stars but the weather hasn’t allowed Taken with my trusty Meade lx200 12” sct with a Starizona lf field flattener/reducer taking the F10 down to around F7 but more importantly helping control the star shapes It’s a jpeg, uploaded to my phone and tweaked in ps express Thanks for looking Cheers Bryan

Epic! wonderful heart image I love it! Thanks for sharing Bryan

Hi Newbie I’m not sure if you are referring to .. Or nmontec’s comment Which my quote above was referring to? personally I find the Samyang 135mm lens a wonderfully versatile tool for Astrophotography, it’s fast optics and wide fov are perfect for many DSO but it does require some tweaking especially if using with a bigger sensor. I can only speak from personal experience My version is the Canon bayonet version and I find most adapters (m42/48 or m56 in my case) have a “springiness” in them that easily allows the lens or camera to sag, resulting in tilt if not completely aligned and supported so spoiling the outer regions of the image Also it is better to “step down”the f ratio of the lens to prevent weird star shapes, but doing this with the in-built aperture can also lead to “weird star shapes” or diffraction spikes so it can be best to reduce the outer lens to about 50mm instead or the standard 77mm (I think) with reductive filter ring adapters that may also add a reflective surface for light (from moon etc) to bounce off from the lens causing further issues So to sum up, It’s a brilliant lens, but if you are a pixel peeper you will have to fine tune it to get the best from it I hope that answers your question, unless you are referring to the original image and in which case I apologise for my hijack?! 😊 Cheers Bryan

Stunning image! I love my (less than perfect) Samyang 135 lens There’s so much going on in there!! Have you tried star removal? I’d love to see all that nebulosity without the stars! Thanks for sharing Bryan

Amazing detail in the image Rodd, I can see the microlensing issue but it didn’t distract me It’s not a problem I’ve had to deal with so I’m sorry I can’t advise but I have installed starnet2 with Pixinsight and if was a reasonably simple (and free) procedure I do however prefer starXterminator though It just seems to do a better job? I guess this is just one of the wonderfully frustrating things about the hobby/obsession that is astrophotography! I have no doubt you will sort the software and make good use of it! Thanks for sharing Bryan

I find m45 a deceptively Tricky object to process I think you’ve done a Stirling job! Thanks for sharing Bryan

Hi Stargazers! I am waiting to hear back from QHY regarding the 268m I bought second hand which seems to have some problems with well depth I have sent it back to the original retailer where Rupert of Astrograph.net has agreed to help me with the diagnosis and repair In the meantime whilst waiting I turned to my faithful Atik cameras! I was using my 460 initially but realised my 490 with its smaller pixels is better suited to the small focal length of the Samyang 135 lens This was taken on Bonfire night where patchy cloud, smoke, and an 87% moon, I ended up with an hour Ha and about 45 min Oiii and Sii I had to crop due to tilt and possible distance issues but I’m fairly happy for a one night quick image I am itching to get an answer on the QHY268m but in the meantime I am lucky that when the clouds allow I can still “play”! Thanks for looking Bryan And starless

Quick update I have contacted the chap I bought the camera from and he has offered me a full refund! I have also contacted QHY as I would prefer to get the camera serviced and fixed if possible as I feel invested in the Qhy infrastructure and would love to get to grips with a working version of this camera I am currently waiting for QHY to get back to me and hope the camera can be fixed without too much time and cost involved In fact the chap I bought it from has a spare 268c which he would be willing to loan me if the timescale of a repair is long! I will report back here once I know what QHY plan to do Once again, I want to thank you for your help! It's been great to be able to reach out to the stargazers lounge community and get some really useful advice! Kind Regards Bryan

Thank you for your sympathy I will contact the chap I bought it from and see what we can do? He seemed reasonable, there was an issue with the filter wheel which he declared and I took a risk with that hoping I could fix it which I did! Then I had to research and buy the filters, and arrange the right adapters for me to get it up and running I hope Qhy can help me I’ve invested so much in this upgrade 😢

The analysis was run in mode 1 as this is the mode i am having problems with I bought the camera second hand unfortunately, and it has taken me a couple of months to get around to testing it properly so I’m not sure where to go. I will check firmware first, then contact qhy I had a gut feeling when I startend using it there was a problem

I am running sensor analysis atm with neighbours camera and straight away I can see a difference for starters I am not struggling to get the brightness of my iPad low enough for it to start and I am getting a straight line with the green crosses whereas with mine they were all over the place!

Wow! Thank you for all your hard work I really appreciate the effort you have gone to to try and help me get to the bottom of this Sorry for the delay in responding It is driving me to distraction at the moment and I had to take a reality break, my family are getting a bit bored of my “camera issues” I tried to do a sensor analysis last night and it crashed on the last process twice taking up most of my evening! I did finally get it to complete and show me a table of results but I don’t know what it all means yet I have borrowed my neighbours qhy268c so I can do a comparison, not like for like but it might help My usb cables are new and Ugreen the longest is 5m, connected direct to a laptop I have also tried 3m usb limit was indeed at 10, that was just me playing with things I didn’t fully understand, I have changed it back to 0 I’ve checked the filter positions After the sensor analysis I tried to print screen to OneDrive but it failed due to my OneDrive being full! but I have some photos I took with my phone (you can read the table if you look) Maybe it will mean something to you? I don’t fully trust my results as I ended up having to increase the brightness of my iPad to do the last part and I’m not sure it had already started? i really need to do it again and do it for my neighbours 268c as a comparison Your findings are troubling, I am quite concerned there is something really wrong with this camera? I might try a firmware update, if that’s a thing? Anyway, here are the photos of the sensor analysis table Thanks again for all your efforts to help Bryan

Thank you Richard That will be really useful! 😊 Kind regards Bryan

Thank you I have been fixing my sons integrated washer/drier! Bloody awful machine to get access, but now working! (If only I could apply my skills to understand the intricacies of CMOS cameras!! I had to read your post a couple of times for it to sink in but I understand what you are saying, it’s like the camera is over processing the bright areas somehow? I need to take the camera off the filter wheel and complete a sensor analysis, that’s my next job to try and understand what’s going on Oh and flats, yes, that was the first issue I had! I have tried to take flats and failed miserably, even in mode 0 Thanks again Bryan

Thanks again I completely agree but then, this is my first qhy 268 camera I might email QHY with the subs to ask their opinion? I have a sinking feeling that something is wrong with the camera 😬

Thanks Onikkinen, time to get my calculator out! They are Ha subs! I am surprised at how much signal is getting through, they are Antlia HD 4.5nm filters

Sorry, was busy with family I’m using Nina for captures (which is new to me too) I’ve checked and looks like I’m capturing 16bit fits Camera analysis crashed on dark frames so I’ve abandoned it for now, I don’t want to waste this short clear spell this evening so I’m capturing data but using mode 0 photographic mode at gain 26 as that seem work for me with the Samyang 135 Thanks for your help Bryan

Good idea I’ll change the title and check the output of the camera I’m trying to run a sensor analysis atm but the light is fading 🙄 I’ll probably have to do it again with a light panel Thanks again Bryan

You’ve been a great help, just by answering my question the best you can Both subs were 120s @ f2.8 I get the feeling somethings not right, but I cannot compare it to another camera, and I haven’t got the experience with cmos yet That 180s sub you have added, do you know what camera and/or mode used? I’m hoping someone with a qhy268 might be able to add a comment Thanks again Bryan

Hi Stargazers I was wondering if someone with a better skillset than I currently have could cast an eye over these 2 subs My research has led me to consider using high gain mode,gain 56, offset 25 with my qhy268m but I think the result of these settings look weird to my ccd trained brain Is this what I should expect? mode1.fit Here is a sub at mode 0 gain 26 offset 25 which looks more like what I would expect but is it just that I need many more of the mode 1 subs? mode0.fit Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks Bryan