smr

For me personally there's only three Cameras I'd want to buy right now as OSC, the ASI2600/QHY268C and the ASI533MC Pro. I've had a look at countless images from the 294MC Pro, which is basically the same cameras as the one you're looking at, and I am just underwhelmed by the images I've seen on astrobin for instance. I'm by no means an experienced imager or processor but in the main they look like images that I can obtain with my unmodified DSLR. The 2600,268C and 533 however, especially the first two Cameras look utterly superb from the images I have seen both on here, astrobin and cloudy nights. The square sensor on the 533 isn't for me, but the 2600 and 268C I haven't seen any OSC images come remotely close to them in terms of smoothness, detail and how clean the images are.

Regarding flats I've always used a laptop screen with notepad, recently I bought an LED light and found that does just as good a job, probably better.

I think something in between both your processing effort's would be quite desirable. Can I ask what your processing techniques were ?

So which programs are you using to process?

Well you're both certainly more advanced at processing than I....

Hi all, I've got 13 hours on the Iris Nebula so far and I understand that there's quite a lot of faint dust in this region of Cepheus and imaging from a Bortle 5/6 sky is going to make for a challenging target but I thought I might be able to get more of a result than I am currently. I can see some of the dust surrounding the Iris by doing some stretching but that brings with it noise. I'd imagine I should be able to bring out more of that dust without the noise and over-stretching with more data, if I aim for around 20 hours maybe? But with 13 hours I am wondering if there's data in the stack and an image which can be shown but at the moment isn't by lack of my processing skills. I wonder if anyone wants to have a look to see if they process something sufficient ? Here's what a stretch looks like... you can see some of the dust around the edges of the frame and around the Iris. But trying to pull these out is proving quite difficult in an RGB image. Iris Nebula 13h12m 199 Lights.TIF Here's the stack Iris Nebula 13h12m 199 Lights.TIF

I was impressed by the production value of this video when I saw it, the editing is kind of top gear-esque (which is a good thing) and the subject matter is interesting too... it shows what you can achieve if you think about what you can invest in on a modest budget. Having recently started my own Youtube channel I understand how time consuming video editing is even for my videos, so with that kind of production quality I can imagine it took quite a long time to make!

Hi guys, Here's an image processing tutorial I've just uploaded to my channel which I thought may be beneficial to beginners looking at how to process images. You will probably need the Tool Set Noel Carboni's Astro Tool Set and Grad X if you haven't already but you may find it helpful anyway, links for those are in the description on youtube. Atb, Joel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lAGGCkM1XY

Shouldnt take too long... aliexpress are sending stuff to people in a week internationally from what i have read and quoting 7-14 day shipping options. DHL would be a good courier I think.

So with just the filter removed star bloat isn't an issue?

Ok thanks very much for your reply. I was under the impression that the UV/IR filter was needed no matter the type of mod, but as I understand it the full spectrum mod is only necessary if you want to take IR photographs in the day time? If so then I wouldn't need that mod, just the filter removing is all as I'd be using the camera solely for deep sky imaging.

Hi, I'm wondering whether to buy a modded DSLR. If so I'd probably buy a second hand 600D for around £160, and then get it modded for around £100. So £260 in total. If I decided to sell it I don't think I would lose too much money on it. I shoot with an unmodified DSLR at the moment and have been happy shooting it with it but there are one or two targets I have tried to image which give to me, underwhelming results, and that's because it's blocking so much Ha. I'd estimate that it probably lets through 20-30 percent of Ha light, whereas a modded DSLR I assume lets in 100 percent of Ha emissions to pass through to the sensor. Before going ahead with this though, I'd need to factor in any other costs which I may need... If I want to shoot Ha when the Moon is out I'd need an Ha filter for instance. I'd really appreciate it if anyone could answer the following too please... The colour balance - how easy is processing regarding this as I often see comments about modification affecting the colour balance of images. Star colours - I've read about modified cameras being affected by not being able to produce natural star colours. Regarding ISO, I use my 80D at ISO 200 and because I use ISO 200 I can get 5 and 10 minute subs without overexposing or washing the image out, in a 10 minute sub the peak would be 50 percent on the histogram.. I think with the 600D I would need to use a higher ISO, which I think is probably ISO 800, so I'd need to use a light pollution filter if I wanted to do 5 minute subs? Regarding calibration frames and darks; I don't take darks with my 80D, I just use dithering and BIAS along with my Lights. Can I do the same with an astro modded camera? Star bloat - I think I'd need a UV/IR filter with a modified DSLR? What if I wanted to use say a Ha Filter, does this effectively replace the UV/IR filter? Likewise if I wanted to use a filter like the IDAS D2, would that replace the UV/IR filter ? I know it's a lot of questions but I'd really appreciate any advice on them.

Yeah really nice data, thanks Richard. As a DSLR user its obviously a massive difference being able to cool your sensor. I can stretch much more than if it were a DSLR image. A nice aperture and focal length at f/3.3, 430mm ? Here's my rendering of Dusty Taurus

Use a star tracker, lower the ISO and shoot for longer. a 2 minute sub with a lower ISO value would look better as you're increasing the Signal to Noise Ratio.

Watching this now. Ive just had to pause it so that my brain can take in what I have just heard... The tallest pillar in the pillars of creation is 30 trillion kilometres tall, in other words 1,000 times the diameter of the entire Solar System. Jaw dropping. My ASMR is off the charts.

I'd say it's worth it if you don't mind lugging your gear there. Bortle 4 is a big difference to Bortle 6. I have Bortle 5 at home which is near 6. But my holiday home on the East Coast is a Bortle 4/3 and the skys definitely darker, a nice velvety black. The darkest skies I've seen were on a holiday in Wales in a Bortle 3/2 location. I was absolutely stunned by the amount of stars I could see. Would be a dream to image there.

I have a couple of questions regarding astro modded DSLRs... The colour balance - how easy is processing regarding this as I often see comments about modification affecting the colour balance of images. Star colours - I've read about modified cameras being affected by not being able to produce natural star colours. I know these colours are slightly exaggerated but you can see that the Canon 80D (unmodified) picks up different star colours very well. Can I achieve the same if I bought an astro modded DSLR? Re ISO, I use my 80D at ISO 200. With the 600D I would need to use a higher ISO ? If so which ISO does it operate best at and would images from it be ok to combine with my existing 80D images if I wanted them to? That wouldn't be a deal breaker really but it would be nice. Re darks, I don't take darks with my 80D, I just use dithering and BIAS along with my Lights. Can I do the same with an astro modded camera? Star bloat - I think I'd need a UV/IR filter with a modified DSLR? What if I wanted to use say a Ha Filter, does this effectively replace the UV/IR filter? Likewise if I wanted to use a filter like the IDAS D2, would that replace the UV/IR filter ? I know it's a lot of questions but I'd really appreciate any advice on them.

Thanks will give it a go tomorrow day time.. I figured out another way to align them as well just now, in photoshop change the opacity of one of the layers after pasting one of the images on the other and then zoom into pixel level and align that way. I'd rather let a computer algorithm work it out though, will try the APP way tomorrow. Thanks for your help.

Ok I think I may not be doing this right, I've followed the steps as you suggested but both files are still coming out as their original crops.

Thanks so I've got to the save part and I'm wondering what to choose for the colour profile, srgb 2.1, srgb 4.0 or adobe 1998, presumably not the latter but not sure as to which of the first...

Thanks, downloading it now. Thanks for the offer and I may need you to but if it doesn't take too long can you explain how to do it? Because one of the images I may need to retweak and go back a few steps on as I did a DD stretch on it a bit too aggressively I think.

As it is free I'll try this, but not sure how to work it... I've put both images in the same folder and clicked on to the Registration tab. Current working dir is the dir with the images, But it says Load a Sequence first?

Thought I'd have a go at seeing if I can do a better job of processing some data on M42 as unfortunately due to the abysmal weather in January - February this year I didn't really get to image any of the Orion Constellation. So this is data from last year. Image acquisition details: Camera: Canon 80D Mount: HEQ5 Pro Rowan Belt Modded Telescope: William Optics ZenithStar 73 APT Software using for image capture Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and Processed in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom 3 hours and 45 minutes worth of 60 second sub frames 50 Bias frames 30 Flat frames No Dark frames No Light Pollution filter Bortle 6 skies My first attempt on this data is here... (ugh what was I thinking with the pink) The Great Orion (M42) and Running Man (M43) Nebula by Joel Spencer, on Flickr Today's processing..

Hi guys, I'm processing an image and during the processing I'm doing I've saved a version of the image in RGB format. I've then started processing the same image but in a greyscale format which I've spent the majority of the processing on, I cropped this image but not the RGB one, and now need paste the greyscale image onto the RGB one... but as the RGB wasn't cropped they aren't aligning. Is there a way I can fix this?

I have a ZenithStar 73. I love my scope... really nice build quality and optics and the R&P focuser is great. Nice fov for many nebulae.