Adreneline

I upgraded my Baader NB filters to Astronomik 6nm and I am very pleased with them. I have since purchased Antlia 3nm NB filters for my second rig and they are amazing - to me. I still use the Baader RGB filters and the Blue is the weak one. I am deliberating like you as to where to go from here so I shall be interested to see what advice you get. Adrian P.S. The reason I moved to Antlia is they are 2 mm thick - like the Baader - so were a good match in the same filter wheel (8EFW) which is really helpful when using the 8EFW with my Samyang 135 lens.

HTH

Picking up on @tomato's comment - I have an iOptron encoder mount and the advice I received from iOptron was to use the Delay feature in PHD rather than extending the exposure time; encoder mounts can exhibit a sort of 'hunting' behaviour where PHD is effectively fighting with the encoders. Sadly my iOptron mount failed before I got the chance to use this feature; previously I had never managed to get guiding working with my CEM25-EC. I am aware you have had this working in the past so this may be a complete red herring but @tomato's prompted me to share what I had been told. Adrian

Depth, structure, just the right amount of colour and loads of detail. What's not to like? Nice delicate touch with the processing Lee; I much prefer images that are not oversaturated, but that is very much a personal thing. I have yet to try HDRComposition in PI, but then I keep shying away from M42 - there's always next year! Looks like you've got the Epsilon tuned to perfection too. Adrian

Thank you Robin. To stand any chance of getting a 'finished' image this year (if there such a thing as a finished image) I really need to put the ASI1600 on the Samyang and prey for a couple of clear nights to get some OIII and SII. I could also do with some Ha to reinforce what I already have. The next seven days look terrible but you never know! Adrian

Thank you. I, we all, need a kind February - five or six clear nights should do it 🤣 Adrian

So many of us are in the same boat - projects started and struggling to get them finished. I am determined to try to complete the whole thing in SHO as I believe the SII has so much to offer in terms of revealing structure. I might yet have to face up to putting the 1600 on the Samyang. Thank you Lee. Adrian

I started this enterprise back in January 2020 with an ASI1600 attached to a Canon 200 mm f2.8 lens. It was not the greatest image - https://www.astrobin.com/oxjf3s/B/?nc=&nce=. Despite the so called pedigree of Canon the stars were not up to the much cheaper Samyang and so I vowed to start again. Moving house twice and rubbish weather continue to make this a frustrating project. This is eight panes of Ha taken with the Samyang 135 mm with ASI183MM. The image is significantly cropped across the bottom. The whole thing could be done far more easily if I were to pair the SY135 with my ASI1600 but that is currently attached to the SM90ED and I am reluctant to disturb it or to undertake the task or getting the 1600 set up on the Samyang. We are now fast approaching the end of nebula season and the window of opportunity on Monoceros is drawing to close. One day, hopefully, I might manage to get (a) a lot more Ha, and (b) some OIII and SII to go with it - hopefully it won't take another four years. Thank you for looking. Adrian

SH2-284 seems pretty popular - about 140 images on AB alone Several have popped up on SGL of late too - including my own modest (integration time) offering: Adrian

You can do the same thing with PixelMath but iSCNR is much easier - handy for removing magenta halos in SHO images.

Right or wrong I always feel you should try to keep the rgb histograms aligned - difficult at times. To my eyes there is a hint of magenta about the image so I inverted the image and applied SCNR. I then re-iverted the image and applied SCNR again and the resulting histograms are almost aligned. It would be easy to align the Red now using HT but if I try with a .jpg image it all goes bonkers - it needs to be done on the .xsif file in PI. Now I accept a lot of folk like magenta and green in their images so this is all down to personal taste so feel free to completely ignore all of the above! 😆 Sometimes individuality is more important than conforming to some expected norm - it makes life, and images, more interesting. HTH. Adrian

Very nice. Really like the subtle colours in the cluster. Adrian

Sharpless 2-284 is a Bright Nebula appearing in the constellation Monoceros near the more familiar Rosette nebula. Also within the frame is Dolidze 25, a 7th magnitude Open Cluster approximately 22 thousand light years from our solar system. Captured over two nights with a StellaMira 90ED + ASI1600MM + 3nm Antlia filters; 4hr 45min of SHO data with slightly more Ha than SII or OIII. Pre-processed in APP and post-processed in PI. Thank you for looking. Adrian

With a very successful outcome! Impressive.

@ollypenrice I managed a few hours last night - much more required - but a jewel in the making .... ... and definitely worth including with the Rosette at the top of the image - IMHO 🤣 Adrian

After six years of PA'ing I bought a pier and permanently installed my azeq6-pro along with mains and network connections (at the pier). Stress levels and work load drop immediately. An observatory is not an option for me but my Telegizmo covered azeq6 has survived two winters with no ill-effects that I can see.

Fingers crossed it is a perfectly clear day for you to enjoy the spectacle - well deserved I would say.

As @ollypenrice says, it is a risky undertaking starting a mosaic. I have started so many! You get a nice set of Ha and then the OIII is such a trial - it is so frequently 'un-rewarding' - a frame full of noise if you're lucky, often taken on a night with poor 'seeing', partial cloud and full moon - all because you're desperate to get a finished image! That aside I feel you are duty bound to extend the above all the way across to Sh2-284 🤣 Good luck Adam! Adrian

Never a truer word spoken. It's the OIII that gets you every time. Collecting enough OIII to do justice to Ha and SII is a real challenge - and HSS images don't have any appeal 🤣 Currently on the list for my new StellaMira 90ED - weather permitting. Thanks Olly. Adrian

Three frames with the Samyang + ASI1600 equivalent gets you the whole thing, including Sh2-284 - a real jewel in the sky. I started this some time back - in fact January 2020 - it continues to be a work-in-progress. 20% overlap: Adrian

Perfect description of me 🤣 Thanks Lee - seriously I appreciate the comment - on the image. Adrian

I disagree - I think it is very special because you have achieved a great result whilst imaging below 25 degrees. "Well done" to you - and thanks for sharing. Adrian

Hi Everyone. Despite a 'clear all night' forecast high clouds stopped me from achieving a complete session on NGC2264. I had hoped for 20 x 300s of H, S and O but in the end had to settle for Ha:13x300 OIII:16x300 SII:10x300 after sifting out the dodgy/spoilt subs. [The new APP normalised graphs are a real double edged sword - they highlight the 'good' and the 'bad' in graphic form!] Imaged using my new StellaMira 90ED with dedicated adjustable flattener giving the native focal length of 540 mm; combined with ASI1600MM and Antlia 3 nm narrow band filters. Pre-processed in APP and post-processed in PI. As a related aside the adjustable flattener from @FLO is a great bit of kit and makes you wonder why it is not available for all scopes; it complements the 90ED perfectly and makes achieving perfect backfocus a breeze. I am really impressed with the 90ED - it is well made, well finished and exudes quality - hats off to @FLO for making this scope available to us AP'ers and for a great Black Friday and 'year end' price deal. Thanks for looking. Adrian

Sorry I can't be of more help. Hope you get sorted because Hocus Focus is worth using and offers a lot of potential value to understanding your optical train. Good luck. Adrian

Ah. I just wondered whether this bit was of relevance : "I deleted all the plugins in the NINA/Plugins folder and reinstalled." Adrian