WestCoastCannuck

Thanks much! I am loving the colour on this one too and plan to print it and hang it on the wall.

Thanks Kon. I find getting good colour requires a lot of work... and at least a little bit of luck!

Thanks much Luke. I really like this colour effort as well. Likely my best to date. Player One is indeed new and based on the single camera I have purchased and what I have read they make nice stuff. I like its ergonomics and quality a lot. Apparently they are fantastic dealing with any issues as well. Not sure where they are based - somewhere in Asia no doubt though COULD be in UK for all I know! Clear skies! Mike

Seeing was pretty decent and I am happy with the results. APM 140 + 3X barlow + PlayerOne Saturn C SQR + Baader IR/UV cut "L' filter vs APM 140 + 2X barlow + ZWO ASI183MM + Baader Green CCD. Captured at about the same scale per pixel and shared here at the same approximate scale. Each about 35MP... roughly 6000 X 6000 pixels. I find it very interesting comparing them at full size side by side over different areas. To my eyes they both have about the same detail with the mono pulling in more detail in the shadows at the terminator. Hadley can be plainly seen in both, and the rille in the Alpine Valley can also be seen partially in both. This time I prefer the colour one. :))) Clear skies!! Mike

Well.... now THAT is just wonderfully insane. I absolutely love it and I salute you for your attempting it... and best yet, succeeding! A wonderful image. You can see some panels here and there that suffered a little from variable seeing... but not many! Your seeing mostly held for the whole thing! Fabulous! I hope to do something similar one day with my own C11. :)))))) Mike

Thanks Kon!! Much appreciated. 😀

Images look pretty great given bad seeing! I would say seeing at least a 2.5. Colours look great too. Mike

This was the last night of my run... my 4th in a row. Sadly, I could have kept going, but I am so sick with this devil cold now (10 days) I could not image last night and probably not tonight either though it looks to be clear enough again. This night was good, though it would have been better if I could have waited for the seeing to settle a bit - images were wobbly, but the details were there. Just harder for the stacking software to handle and I am sure I lost at least a bit of detail. Still..... they are pretty good, and I am happy. I went more modest with the scale of the colour image this time. Hope some enjoy Very best regards and clear skies! Mike 140mm F7 @ F14. Saturn-C camera. 2X barlow. Best 400 of 2000. 4 Panels. More details on pic. Next up is my mono effort with 183MM shot at F21 reduced here to critical sampling of F11.3. More details on pic. And lastly, the same data as above, but at the full captured resolution of F21 - 136 MP. Soft.... but great for feature hunting! Clear skies and good health to all!! Mike

Those closeups are just LOVELY!! Great clean processing and details! So well done! Mike

Oh my god yes Roy. Its been awful for so long, and its been amazing being out there a few nights in a row with decent seeing and a great disc above!! Thanks Much!! Mike

Thanks Alan!! I really like both colour AND mono - and I plan on always doing both. I have found though, that for higher rez at least the colour is much more difficult in the processing. For whatever reason I get a lot of colour artifacts around the terminator and lim at higher powers. It has been suggested that possibly my cheap Svbony IR/UV cut filter could be to blame - will pick up a better one soon. Until then, I will shoot at a reduced power for the colour image from now on. Mike Thanks Kon! I am so happy now that I seem to be able to make nicer colour work. :)))))) Mike Thanks Mr Spock!! Colour is finally coming together for me I think. :)))) Mike

Agreed!! Thanks much.

Thanks much Onikkinen! I hope you got a chance to look on a PC. Clear skies Mike

On a roll here... and I am set up for tonight. So nice after months of scraps if lucky. 52MP colour mosaic. Capture details on pic. 130MP mono mosaic. Capture details on pic. In the end. As happy as I am about the above image, I must also post the one reduced to critical sampling of F11.3. It is the superior image.... but the big one is well worth a look for many and I really like it. Clear skies!! Mike

Got some great details there with the 130 Roy. Conditions have been bad here too, but this weekend has been a gift. For 2024 I have had 4 imaging sessions so far, and THREE of them were the last 3 evenings with another possible window tonight. I may as well maximize , winter is set to return in the next week or so with more wet and cold and gray. Cleasr skies Mike

After months of 99 % cloud cover we are catching a break here in Victoria BC. This from Friday night, the 15th. Lovely conditions for viewing and imaging. Enjoyed quite a lot. My capture process was an experiment that went very well - needs consistent seeing though. This was all captured at F21 - VASTLY oversampled. (140mm aperture, Green Baader CCD, 2.4um pixels). 7 panels taken of 1500 frames each. Best 300 of 1500 stacked per panel. The final processed image was then reduced to the approximate critical sampling for my gear used - F11.3. The resultant image has perhaps the most consistent image quality across the whole frame that I have achieved when going for maximum rez. I am pretty happy with it. More tech details on pic. Clear skies!! Mike F11.3 for best quality below The full very oversampled F21 version below. The details are much easier to see here. Image is 133 Megapixels. Cleasr skies everyone!! Mike

My only imaging night so far this year. The weather gods hate me. 4pc Mosaic with 533C and APM 140 with 2X Barlow. Clear skies! Mike

Thanks so much! I had thought this post was dead, and haven't seen the sky since. Your comment extra appreciated since I admire your work so much! Best regards Mike Thanks Swoop! Hope I get another chance soon. Not a single session this year yet. Mike

Very nice. For myself, I far prefer this one to your version posted later. As always, lunar colour is a personal taste acquired and tends to change. Maybe in 6 months I would prefer the other one. haha

Thanks much! It was a happy thing to get decent sky time last night - been nothing but clouds here for weeks, and back to it today. Seeing was JUST good enough for some nice details with a 140mm. Cheers Mike

EDIT: NEW version! So happy I finally learned how to work with Levels. Using Gimp. Huge Thanks to my good friend Marty (Wise Imaging) for his patience in helping me out. First light for my 533MC. Seeing average, but I will take what I can get in this wet season. 12 panel mosaic. APM140mm F7 at F18.2 Best 400 of 1800 frames each panel. (90 second videos) Firecapture, AS!4, Astra Image and Lightroom 6.\ I HIGHLY recommend a viewing at the full size. Its a little bland looking to me at smaller size, but close up it comes to life. I wish you all a Happy Holiday with Clear Skies! Mike

Yup. Its an outstanding moon scope. I wanted one for a long time.... but it was cheaper to just buy a whole CPC1100 setup! Used copies of these are very, very rare in Canada. I have seen ONE in 5 years. Lovely shot. Enjoy your new scope! Mike

Thanks Roy! Yes.... its been quite an ordeal for me getting good colour. I managed it on this one.... now just have to see if I can do it every time. haha

Just to pitch my two cents in.... your original idea of the Evostar 120 (F7.5 FPL 53 Doublet) is the way to go in my humble opinion. The views are fantastic. Inky black sky and sharp contrasty moon. Heaven. I am 90% lunar ...... and a bit of planetary. Huge lunar imaging fan. I started with a 100ED (FPL f53 doublet)... and an 8 inch SCT. LOVED the 100. Not so much the 8 SCT.... had cooling and dew issues, then there is collimation. The 100 just worked. Loved it so much, I very quickly moved up to the 120 ED. (Same FPL53 F7.5 doublet as the Evostar). It was a HUGE step up from the 100. The 100 views were super nice...... but the 120 could see so much more. Yes.... its only a bit under 5 inches, but really, what a lovely scope on the moon and planets. Around this time, I also bought a 7 inch MAK and sold the C8. I still preferred the view on the 120.... the MAK took quite some time to cool down, and still the dew issues. Also great mosaics and images with the 120. The ONLY reason I don't have that scope any more is because of aperture fever - I moved up to the 140/7 APM doublet when the only one I have seen used in Canada came up, and so I shall always remain - I simply can't afford larger (or be able to mount larger). I have a CPC1100 now as well...... and while I enjoy imaging with it on the moon (in my light polluted neighborhood) for visual I normally use my grab and go 102ED and when not imaging my 140. Nice little scope the 102, but pales in comparison to the 120/F7.5. I DID finally find a mirrored scope I like to view planets and the moon with though.... a 150MAK. It came with some other gear I bought, and was very pleasantly surprised at the views..... closest thing to a refractor I have seen in a mirror yet. I won't be keeping it, as the 102 is more versatile and I already have a 5.5 inch scope, but its pretty darn nice for size and weight. I will just add one more note about two of the scopes that I and others have mentioned, since I have had both of them. The 102 ED I have (FPL51) which is just one of the many many brands out there using the same glass, is a great little all rounder and I love it . The very little CA I see in it is not detracting for me. But.... the 100ED on the other hand, which is both FPL53 AND F9 rather than F7 is about the closest thing you will ever get to a true APO in a doublet. and better than the 102 on planets and the moon. Just my opinion.... but there it is. Sorry to muddy the waters.... Clear skies Mike

Thanks! Yes.. a lot of data. 234 GB for this one. I just line these up by hand, and I had some excessive overlap on these as I almost missed a spot last time I did one. I had thought I did 11 panels ( and labelled such) but I just counted em, and there was 13. (13 X 18GB each) Clear skies!