big bedroom

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully I'll give it a go tonight if it stays clear.

I've got the original version of this but it's stopped working on batteries. It works on my jump start battery I use to power my CG5 but this is big and heavy. i have a 9v 2000ma small power block from my musical gear and was wondering if that would work or damage it? It says 12v power supply on the Skytracker but ran on 6v worth of batteries?! Or does anyone have any other suggestions on powering it? Mark.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't realise they did them that small, the lens is only 21mm!

I use a basic Fuji Mirrorless camera that only has x5 screen magnification. It's fine on a telescope with a bathinov mask but focusing can be a bit tricky with wide field lenses. Has anyone used a loupe or magnifier? I'm thinking of something around x2 or x3. Is a full screen one better than a magnifying glass type?

I caught this one at Sweethope in Northumberland on the 10th, just below Andromeda. Fuji X M1, 21mm @ f2. 10s, ISO 2000.

Do most people stack raws or tiffs? I've been using a Fuji X-A1 camera and difference is noticeable. It has a normal bayer sensor and I've always been disappointed with the results compared to the X-M1 and put it down to the X Trans sensor. The X Trans results seemed smoother and less noisy. Here's a stack of the X-A1s raw files, forgive the processing, I'm fairly new to this. Curiousity got the better or me when trying to figure out why the big difference between basically the same cameras. Apart the the colour filter the only other thing was having to convert the X Trans files in Silkypix as DSS can't handle them. So I thought I'd try converting the X-A1 raws. And here's the same stack but converted to tiffs prior to stacking. To me the difference is huge. This is more like the results from the other camera. I kept everything at default in Silkypix with just normal sharpening to try and not colour the files too much. There's much more detail in the raws, specialty in the dust lanes but I like the picture like quality to the tiffs too. And files seem easier to work with, that may be just my poor technique tho!

This is a stack of 20 x 5 min subs of the Pacman Nebula. The Stars are a little eggy, I was pushing it going for 5 mins, but the Stars on the right hand side appear to be colour split giving a 3D like effect. Has anyone had this before? Is it software related or maybe some tilt in the imaging plane?

Fuji X A1, Skywatcher Equinox80. 16 X 3min lights, iso800. No flats or darks, just bias. image.bmp Its a little noisy and would have been better if I took calibration frames but I was out at a dark site in the freezing cold and in my hurry to get warm I took the camera off the scope before I realised! Would it be worth having the camera modded? Or do I just need more subs? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If it's not shining direct on your setup you may hopefully get away with it. One light is only about 15 foot from me and another about 30. If I stand up at my scope the lights blind me but the scope thankfully is in the shadow of the walls. If you can,maybe use something like a dark windbreak to shade the telescope. What really surprised me was I was expecting washed out subs, like when the moon is around, as I was shooting thru the lights. The subs were quite dark, especially for 3 minute iso1600. Might try and stretch it to 5 mins the next time the clouds disappear!

Thanks.

I've just had new LED street lights fitted in my back lane. They are much higher and brighter than the old orange light. Can't even look at it without it blinding you. They don't shine directly on my scope but do light up either side of my yard walls so I'm definately shooting through them. This is my first image since they were fitted. I wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. It's 2 hours worth of 3 min subs at iso1600 with aFuji X-A1 on a Equinox 80, just using a Skywatcher light pollution filter. My guiding was a bit off, hence the eggy stars! And the conversion to JPEG has blurred some detail but I'm just happy the new streetlights haven't totally ruined imaging from home.

I run my own business and occasionally send stuff with a local courier, who in turn use UPS. One tip they told me was never to send anything on a Friday. If it's sitting in a warehouse over the weekend that's when most of the losses and damage occur.

Sadly I used my PI trial before I got the camera. I've got a Nebulosity 3 evaluation copy but it's only 4 that works with the Fuji!

Thanks. That makes it a bit clearer. I've tried with both darks and bias with the same results. It may just be the file types.

Will DSS do this automatically when I put Bias frames in or is there something I need to do first?