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Simon Dunsmore

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Posts posted by Simon Dunsmore

    Compression ring on skywatcher 72ed

    in Getting Started With Imaging

    Posted

    Hi Folks,

    I'm a little concerned about securing the image train on my Skywatcher 72ed. I have a ovl field flattener, zwo 533mc and spacers.

    The stock fitting is pretty poor. I looked into a baader clicklock but, a. These don't seem to come with the right thread and, b. They're really expensive. I was wondering if anyone has experience fitting the ovl into one of these? I read somewhere that the tapered nose of the flattener may cause the compression ring to not grip??

    https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-2-inch-compression-ring-adapter-for-sky-watcher-newtonians-and-72ed-refractor-m54.html

    Any other suggestions welcome!

    Thanks in advance 

    Simon 

    Photoshop

    in Getting Started With Imaging

    Posted

    23 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

    Affinity Photo is a genuine competitor to PS and now has a suite of astrophotography tools included, the price is very reasonable with discounts offered on a regular basis.

    Alan

    Thanks Alan, Can I ask if there are any online tutorials that you would recommend for Affinity? As a total noob, it was the abundance of you tube tutorials that got me thinking about Photoshop.

    Cheers 

    Simon 

    Where did the colour go

    in Getting Started With Imaging

    Posted

    23 hours ago, Craig a said:

    No problem let us know how it goes 

    22 hours ago, Craney said:

    Me thinks Simon is going to get a "WOW"  moment when he stacks them now.

     

    Thanks for all your advice. So here is the edited version....with colour!

    I appreciate that it's got a way to go, but at least it has colour. Any suggestions welcome.

    Thanks for help 

    M45 RGB Stack.jpg

    • Like 1

    Where did the colour go

    in Getting Started With Imaging

    Posted

    Hi Folks,

    Quick question, still trying to get to grips with post editing the images I've stacked.

    I recently purchased an zwo 533mc pro camera and on Friday managed to gather 90 minutes of data. (The Pliedies)

    I stacked them in deep sky stacker and followed a you tube tutorial on Gimp. However , the image seems to only be in grey. I'm not sure if it's a dss issue or my incompetence with Gimp. 

     

    Shouldn't there be some blue nebulosity in there?

     

    Thanks for your help 

    Simon

    Editing PC

    in Getting Started With Imaging

    Posted

    2 hours ago, malc-c said:

    Part of the problem is that with rising prices of IT kit, even secondhand, £200 isn't going to get you a lot.  Two year ago I needed a PC for the hobby room.  It didn't need to be anything special, just to be able to run the reptile database, digitise old audio books, web browsing etc.  A local shop offered refurbished PC's and I picked up an HP 8200 SFF for £60, an i5, 4GB DDR3 ram, inbuilt graphics, and a 500gb mechanical hard drive (later replaced with an SSD) with win10 installed.  It does the job, but then the software I'm running isn't that demanding.  But it's a 4th gen processor, it's using 2 generation old memory, and being SFF limits the upgrade options if I was to go down that route.  These days a lot of software developers will often make use of newer architecture or protocols which are not supported on older processors, or as mentioned above, switch to using GPUs to take the load off the main processor, so this could be an issue in future.

    Now I'm not saying you need to spend £5K on a workstation or gaming PC to run processing software, but getting something that is more modern will have a longer lease of life and could save you money in the long run.  That workstaion is certainly a capable machine, but my guess is that it will be in the same era as my i5 machine, or it may even be a generation earlier as it has no USB 3 support.  It states it was previously used for CAD, but I bet that was using a dedicated GPU rather then the on-board graphics stated in the listing.  I also feel the listing is incorrect... There are not that many boards of that generation that support 1TB of RAM.... !! - 

    Bottom line is that it's going to be down to you what option you go for.  That i7 fits your budget, it's a fair amount of power for the money, and if USB 3 isn't a requirement (you would need to see if the BIOS supports it and not just the hardware) then it will do very nicely.  You could always add a small 500GB SSD and migrate the OS to it and then use the 1TB had drive for data storage, and if you need a dedicated graphics card, this being a standard size case will take full height cards.  All of this can be added later.

     

    Hi and thanks so much for your helpful and detailed reply. 

    I appreciate your thoughts about spending a little more now to save more in the future. I presently have the funds for a new camera and used pc, but maybe I'll try and locate a used camera as well. That way it would free up a little more cash for the computer.

     

    Thanks again 

    Simon 

    Editing PC

    in Getting Started With Imaging

    Posted

    1 hour ago, jager945 said:

    Don't go with these guys. Selling a GT710 as a "Gaming PC" is like selling a Fiat 500 as a "Military Vehicle". They are being very dishonest.

    A GT710 is a bottom of the barrel display adapter, and will not run any games. It won't, in fact, be any faster than the iGPU that the i5 already comes with (so it's really just a waste of space, power, and money). For a (very) ballpark idea of where a GPU (or iGPU)ranks in terms of speed for StarTools, have a look here.

    EDIT: Depending on where you live /  postage, etc, you could make a bid on something like this; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174946058520?hash=item28bb990118:g:CCMAAOSwIIRhR3CB It's an older i7 quad core CPU, but holds its own against many newer i7 quad cores. Crucially it comes with a pretty decent GPU. You'd want to add some more storage though.

    The 2nd generation i7 2xxx CPUs or 3rd generation i7 3xxx CPUs are considered "old" now, but perform almost as well as the 3rd, 4th and even 6th and 7th generation of i7 quad cores. This knowledge, lets you save some money on the CPU/system and put that towards RAM, storage or GPU. You could even decide to buy a cheap GPU used, later or separately (just make sure it will fit in the case, and the power supply can supply the power, this is less of a given when going for office/OEM systems like the Dells and the HPs). If you know someone who will install it for you (or just look up a YouTube video - it's a 5 minute job with a couple of screws), it's a great way to save some cash.

    For the GPU, 1GB and 2GB GPUs have fallen out of favour, but are perfectly fine for StarTools. You could try to score one with good performance on that OpenCL benchmark (something like a HD7850 for example, for example this guy).

     

     

     

    Hi and thanks so much for your detailed reply and suggestions. This computer stuff is really out of my comfort zone so I greatly appreciate your input.

    I've got a better idea of what I'm looking for now.

    Thanks again 

    Simon

     

    PS I'm in the UK

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