WestCoastCannuck

This happens almost every time I try and shoot daytime.  I see lots of others without my problems....  Even with an IR 807 the sky is bright and the artifacts!!  holy crap!   Uploaded is a png of the stacked file  - maybe some sharpening - can't remember.  But, you see what I have for a sky.  I did the best I could to clean it up....  but result does not look natural to me. 

Really a shame...  I only imaged because the forecast for seeing was ridiculously good for mid day....  and sure enough, it was.   But, I only processed this one file....  because they all look like this after stacking usually in my daytime efforts.  (also, I think it was the best anyway - the steadiest for sure - was windy)  I went with an 80% histogram....  is that the problem?  Too much gain?  Also, there was lots of wispy super thin clouds rolling through.  Often is in daytime in the warmer months.

APM 140 F7 + ZWO ASI183MM.  IR807 filter.

Here is what I had to try and fix....   and then the best I could do with it.

EDIT.....  managed to redo the stacking with no artifacts, and make it black without brushing.   LAST pic the final one.  Happy now!  :))))))

Final fixed file....   :)))

Clear Skies!

Mike

Looking forward to first light!  It is missing the barlow and the extension tube - perhaps I can pick up something that will work.  All in fabulous condition.  LOVE the rifle sight finder!  LOL...  Solid as a rock despite the look in pics, super easy to line up and then fine adjust with the little springloaded fine adjustment knobs.   Optics look great.   Focused in on a little sticker on the windsheild of a motorcycle at about 50 yards and the lettering was quite sharp.   Should be fun on the moon, easy enough to use I think my 6yo will be fine with it!  haha  

Cheers all!!  Thanks!

Mike

Still wowing us with that little 114 newt!  Amazing what you are pulling out of it.

I too keep going back to the files from the 19th and 20th.  Now I am ALL messed up as I got a 4K monitor.  Its really mucking with my head on my processing!  haha  My 183MM files look oversharpened to me now, and my 290MM files look better to me on new monitor.  Going to take some getting used to.

Clear skies!

Mike

Lots of Big Aperture details!  Lovely work.

Nice work Trevor!

Clear Skies

Mike

Thanks SO much everyone.   Heading out shortly to pick it up.  He says it is complete as he bought it new when in Russia, and it has lived its entire life in it's case in storage.  He had another bigger one with counterweights - more elaborate, for $60...  but it is sold.  I would have bought that one too.  lol  Really looking forward to having this set up next to my big gear for my kids and the neighborhood kids.  (neighborhood kids will have to wait a bit though)  And of course....  I MUST image the moon with it at least once!  haha

Clear skies!!!!

Mike 

I am picking this up tomorrow for $50 Cdn.   I figure my kid will get a kick out of using it at least - can set it up next to mine.   Guy says he bought it in Russia and it has no writing on it anywhere other than what is on the side of the tube.  He said it was Russian Military issue.  About 4 inches in diameter and about 24 inches long.   Newtonian I am sure....  old military spotting scope?

Ideas and comments welcome!

Thanks

Mike

34 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

That has tightened the result hasnt it.  looks Good Mike.  Wanted to start imaging with the Evo 120 on my EQ3 got a RA motor from Germany

But the motor is not running in time with the mount. Unsure why yet. Yours is the refractor lunar benchmark i believe.  

"Benchmark" is definitely overstating......   but thanks!   Best of luck sorting your motor woes!  Be nice when you can have the 120 running properly.  I look forward to hearing more. 

That is one BIG disc.  lol  Nice views!

Wow!!   GREAT work!  I am guessing this is from your C9.25 with an F6.3 reducer?

On 25/04/2021 at 17:37, neil phillips said:

Contrary to what logic might dictate. I think i like oversampling. A interesting debate might be, what might produce the better image. Oversampling or resizing.

Of course some might say neither. There could be occassions like a tiny mars for example where oversampling could produce the better result. As opposed to resizing. I understand the camera may be working less optimally. But some of those problems can be reduced like higher gain requiring more frames for example. As opposed to the negative effects of resampling. Can fake resolution look great to the eye. Possibly ? There is also other situations which could benefit a imager. I have  two barlows a Celestron Omni 2x doublet. And a GSO 3x ED Doublet supposing i wanted better colour correction on the moon. But no ED or triplet 2x barlow to hand. Clearly the oversampled image (depending on other factors of course if it was still oversampled with binning ) would produce the better colour corrected image. Some would say of course get a triplet or ED 2x barlow. But in the real world we work with what we have at any particular time. Of course we should pay attention to sampling, But as Christophe Pellier has said. Maybe we should not be slaves to it. Fake resolution can look good i believe.

Having said all this its clearly softened your images a bit much on this occasion. But still you get the point. I am waffling. Please dont hit me with theory why i must not be naughty. 

 Not sure how I missed your comment here!   Anyways, i see it now, and reading it, I now have an excuse to add another version of the oversampled mosaic.   What I did was an experiment....   I only wish I actually shot another mosaic at 1.4X to compare with.      Anyways, I took the unprocessed oversampled stack and ran it once through a very light deconvolution.  Then, I used a bicubic (whatever that is) resizing algorithm and brought it down to about the same scale as what I would have had with a 1.4X.  (my resizing was 72%)...  I then did another round of deconvolution and finished the file.   This was the result........

Not quite as good as the next night's effort at 1.4X....  but, then, a different night, so always apples against oranges.  lol

I think oversampling has its place!   I will do more experimentation. 

Clear skies!!

Mike

5 hours ago, neil phillips said:

That must have been a great feeling knowing all the data was there. Doesnt hurt as much on a rubbish night. But on the best nights, well, hide the ropes.

It certainly was!  It was a great feeling at first, then a bunch of frustration as I gradually figured out what was wrong, then despair that I could not get it to join.  I actually made a post to ask for help....  but then, realizing I already had a good guess why it tossed the frame, I should do my best to confirm it first and just try with the limited tools I have.   I KNOW photoshop can fix this sort of thing easily, but I don't use photoshop - never have, even though I have years of photo editing behind me.  Nothing for it, though....  I just lined up the errant frame next to one of it's neighbors in two different reduced windows and did my best visual on how much rotation there was and attempted to rotate manually in Lightroom about the same amount.  It worked, at the first effort.    ICE will handle and correct for a very small amount of rotation, but not much.

38 minutes ago, vineyard said:

Your lunar images are outstanding.  The single disc at prime 👍🏾👍🏾this will sound bizarre but in that image I really struck by the delicate patches of grey on the floor of all the little craters towards the limb!  It really adds something to the whole image when viewed in full-size click-mode.

Thanks so much vineyard!!   Does NOT sound bizarre to me.  I still like the single the best myself for that reason.  This post is the first time I have captured finer scale that I like ALMOST as much as the single - but not quite.    I am only just now finally coming to terms with the fact that I can very rarely, if EVER, capture finer scales and make them look like the prime captures do sometimes at 100%.   😏  That is a major reason I bought the modular barlow.  I am hoping, that with the increased aperture of the 140ED over the 120ED it has replaced, that I can at least push things just a little, say 1.2X, and achieve that same look with zero loss in IQ.   We shall see!  Its top of the list for things to try on my next window of decent seeing!!   :))))

Cheers and clear skies!!

Mike

1 minute ago, Sunshine said:

Nice! I use T.O. because it is the nearest major city as no one would recognize the small town just 30min outside Toronto (Stouffville) where I live.

I worked the Stouffville Flea Market a few times a long time ago in another life.    (mid nineties)   Had a booth at the 400 Market, one in Guelph another in Grand Bend...  but went out and tried lots of others - including Stouffville.

Hope Lockdown is successful.

Stay safe

Mike

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

beautiful image!

Thanks Sunshine!  hope you are getting some out there in T.O.!  I miss hanging out there on occasion when I lived back home.  (Guelph)

1 minute ago, PXR-5 said:

Awesome 👍

Very nice 🙂

Thanks Jeff!!

32 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Maybe. But i do worry do my old eyes still work in 4k ? Lol. Got to be better. Going from a oculus go. to the higher resolution quest vr headset showed me what i was missing. i would say got to be a lot better

LOL.....  I am guessing my eyes not much younger than yours. 

BTW....  so excited.  My missing piece of mosaic was NOT missing.  It was a dropped frame in ICE!!  Rotation.  (plague of ALT AZ mosaics).   I guesstimated the rotation of the tossed frame just now....  and VOILA!   My mosaic goes to gether just fine.  Will be my best.    I suppose I should add it here.  hehe

1 minute ago, neil phillips said:

One thing thats almost never considered on here Mike, is the different monitors we are all viewing on. I do most of my viewing and processing on a 50" plasma tv, it glosses over noise too much, and makes a lot of stuff look amazing. Switch to my Lenovo laptop screen, and it reveals the flaws far better. Always good to check on the laptop if i want a balanced perspective. There is the problem right there, in discussing views with each other. No standard setting point. We are all looking at it on a myriad of different screens. No wonder our perspectives can vary from person to person. 

But anyway its great chatting with like minded lunar imagers. My missus bless her, hears a lot. I prefer this last one i think Mike, can see more of the tiny craterlets, But still a great balance. As long as the balance doesnt go out the window. (we all do it from time to time) Both under and overcooked. Then more detail but with a nice balance. Is a better, finer place to be in my book.

So true on viewing hardware!!!!  I have thought about that a lot lately.  I have even seen some post versions for 4K vs  1080p...   It DOES certainly impact us imagers!  For myself, its something I have been thinking on lately a lot.   Do I go to a 4K monitor?  They are cheap as chips these days.   I use a Dell 24 inch 1920X1200 IPS monitor - still happy enough with it.....  but, I am behind the times perhaps.  If most people use 4K...  I suppose its time.  The new one will likely cost less than this one did.

6 hours ago, Andy ES said:

Mike 

yes excellent stuff - again!

standard setting for me

Cheers.

Thanks so much Andy!

Clear skies

Mike

6 hours ago, neil phillips said:

Hi Mike as you can see from my pbase stuff i was obsessive about excessive highlights. As i get older it seems to bother me a little less. Often more detail can be seen and a more vibrant image will come from pushing histogram a little more, either at capture or post processing. Or even both. Of course we can always change our minds again. (I often do) But dull images do not excite me as much these days, maybe because of the scope sizes i am using i am not sure.

As usual smooth silky detail in these. And certainly not dull. Maybe your headroom is a little reserved on some of this. Think there is more hidden detail in there. But better to under sharpen than over sharpen i guess. As we have said everyones mileage is different. Certainly think your understated style is a breath of fresh air. 

Just getting that balance can sometimes be tricky. You may not agree. Regardless you ooze quality thats for sure

As always, thanks so much for your thought provoking reply Neil.  You have vastly more experience than I do, and your thoughts are appreciated.  (Helps also that we are more on the same page in tastes than off...  lol)  Your eye is better than mine, and indeed, there was more to bring out, even to MY taste.    Perhaps still not enough for some, but there is more, yet still clean detail to be seen here in this version of the lower region.  (you would have to compare side by side.  lol)  Also brightened a tad...  and did a spot highlight lowering on Tycho rim.  You can really see the difference in Werner, among many other features.  I am happier, if that is possible...  Thanks!

Wonderful work Wouter!!  So many panels!  😷  I managed to miss a spot taking only 7!   Lol

34 minutes ago, wouterdhoye said:

Excellent work!

Thanks Wouter!  Clouds have rolled in for foreseeable future.  Hopefully some good windows next month!

The night of the 19th was good....   this night, the 20th, was a little better.  Wish I had had more time - was a 180MAK night for sure.  At any rate, it gave me a good idea of what I can do moon wise in good seeing with my APM 140.  I can now bring back the MAK in my plans as well.

First off, here is the single disc at prime with APM 140,  183MM and Baader Green 520nm.  (make sure to open in a separate window and view full size!)

Next up are a couple of crops from my failed mosaic at F9.8.  (APM140+183MM+Green 520nm - best 300of3000 per panel)   On the fail...  I missed a little piece in the middle at terminator. 

These are large...  please view at full size in separate window!  Pretty happy with the detail and IQ here and the next pic.   I love the view here of Hadley,  Thor's Hammer,  Aristillus,  Rima Hyginus...  well, lots.  

I DID blow some highlights in the processing....  perhaps I will revisit it at a later date - done for now. 

A good chuck of Mare Ibrium.....

Another crop from the failed mosaic...  also large.   Probably my best catch of Moretus, maybe Clavius and others too.

EDIT!!  By correcting a rotation of one panel outside of ICE's limits, I was able to complete my mosaic.   I found it hard to process and have it all look more or less balanced.  I think I got there to my satisfaction for now.  lol

7 panels - 27MP. 

Regards and Clear Skies!!

Mike

End of my "ever bigger" frac run.  Love it.  Can still handle with ease - the perfect scope for me.  In my driveway....  and first light a couple months ago at a nearby dark site. 

Nice work Wouter.  I struggle bringing my stuff bright enough without blowing things out...  your final posted exposure just right on the eyes.

Nice work!

First...  I must mention the little accident.   I have this new modular barlow from Harry Siebert and it has many configurations.  I am still getting used to it.  Anyways, I thought I was shooting with 1.4X, but it was at 2X -  WAY oversampling.

First off, a piece I liked from the mosaic,  processed separately and brighter than mosaic.   140mm, F14, ASI183MM + Green 520nm Baader.

Next,  my favourite result of the night, the simple single pane effort at prime with the 140, 520nm and 183MM. 

Next, a couple 2 piece mosaics with the 290MM at F14 + 520nm.

And finally the accidental 51MP mosaic at F14 with APM140,  183MM and green baader 520nm.  4 panels  - each the best  300 of 2000 frames.    It does not stand up too bad near the terminator, but gets really soft out at the rim.

Now to work on the 20th data!!

Clear skies and regards

Mike