smr

Any models in particular ?

Not sure on that one tbh, I've only ever had a refractor, and one at that. I have heard that reflectors can need collimating and that's something I don't know anything about really, but if I understand correctly you can get faster imaging / cheaper reflectors / longer FL ? I wouldn't know where to look though.

Sorry yes it was a bit confusing ! What I mean is, is there something for around the same price / performance ratio as the Z73 but in a longer focal length scope. So isn't super expensive but performs well. A good performing long focal length scope for around £500 - which scopes are worth looking at, if any, for that kind of money?

Hi, This might be a bit of an ask, and probably doesn't exist, but is there a scope with the same sort of price to performance ratio as say the Z73 is for relatively widefield imaging? I understand that the longer a focal length of telescope tends to get the more expensive too, and then sampling comes into play with Camera Pixel size etc. but I just wondered if there's a good performing longer focal length scope that doesn't cost lots. Something like £500ish which is where the Z73 is priced at?

Very cool, and original!

Thanks for the replies guys. tbh I was happy with the images I was getting with my stock 80D and no filters, on Galaxies, so I will image filter-less. I guess with a benefit of no filter you can retain nice coloured stars as well. These are the colour stars I got with my 80D and no filter - it's a heavy crop, and I should be able to crop in more with the 2600 with more megapixels.

Hi, Just wondering (as the last time I imaged a Galaxy I only had a stock DSLR) what to do for Galaxy season now that I have an OSC. Is it better to just image without any filter? I only have two filters, the L-eNhance, and a basic Sky and Moon glow filter.

I think you'll like that filter.

Thanks Martin. Funnily enough I was just having another look at the image, having not looked at it since uploading, just before reading your comment. I was quite conservative in my approach to processing as there's a threshold between stretching too far etc. That said I did try increasing the brightness of the nebulosity and it does look good a bit brighter, the problem is brightening the nebulosity also increases the star sizes, Starnet, which I would like to use unfortunately doesn't work on my Computer (need a new processor as it's a 10 year old rig!) This is a brighter rendition of it, just selecting the nebulosity and increasing brightness +40 in PS... but as I say the stars begin to look quite bloated.

Very nice ^ This was my best processing effort with 7 hours, and full Moon so not ideal conditions... I probably should make the Nebula a bit brighter...

An Astrophotographer on astrobin has an image of the Soul Nebula taken with the L-enhance filter and an OSC (294MC Pro) This is the kind of look I wanted to try and process, a seperation in colours so not everything is red. In PS I still don't know how to do this. Do I open the original TIFF and split the channels, if so they're all greyscale etc. and then which do I combine etc. etc. His entire work flow is here but it's all in PixInSight. https://photo.m-j-s.net/blog/2020/02/ic-1848-bicolor-workflow/ I'm comfortable stretching data and levels adjusting and using colour tools, saturation, colour levels, colour balance etc. it's just all the combining and extracting of Ha and OIII etc. to begin with where I am still stuck. If anyone can help so that I canunderstand the whole workflow concept I'll be doing a PS tutorial for anyone else stuck with it! If anyone wants to see whether my data can be processed into something remotely similar you can have a look at the stacked integration here - 7 hours and 15 minutes on the Soul Nebula. Soul Nebula Calibrated 7h15m.TIF

Thanks dude. I'm very pleased with the image, especially considering the Moon being out and about, so it makes me look forward to what the Camera can do.

First Light with my first dedicated Astronomy Camera. 7 Hours of integration time spanning two full Moon nights. 180 Second Subs, Gain 100, Offset 50, L-eNhance Filter Cooled to -10, 30 Darks, 20 Flats (each session, 20 Dark Flats) HEQ5 Pro (Rowan Belt Mod) William Optics Zenithstar 73 Altair 50mm Starwave Guidescope PHD2 APT Stacked in DSS and Processed in Adobe Photoshop

Thanks, it's splitting the data correctly that I'm not sure about though. In Photoshop if I open the stacked image, and click on Channels > Split Channels, it opens the R, G and B as Greyscale images in separate tabs.

No it doesn't create a narrowband image, if I stretch the stacked image it's just red. I'd like to be able to create bi colour images though, for instance like the Rosette where the outer nebulosity is red and the inner nebulosity has that lovely blue look. It's possible but there's just no clear method described anywhere as to how to go about this workflow in PS. The frustrating thing is that I'm pretty sure it's possible.

Thanks for the reply. Yes there does seem to be a lot of different tutorials and techniques but none so much on just doing things in PS. As I said I did find one in PS which is exactly what I need but the tutorial jumps around too much and I need to follow everything completely with clear explanations on each step, it's no good making a video tutorial and then skipping ahead and not explaining why a layer which was there before you fast forwarded the video is not there now! This is why when I do tutorials I literally explain every single mouse click and don't fast forward anything. Is that link applicable to OSC dual narrowband data because I have had a look at it but it seems to be applicable to the Mono Narrowband method?

Anyone? I can't believe there isn't a clear tutorial on how to do this in Photoshop. It all seems to be either in APP or Pixinsight. I'm pretty sure it can be done in Photoshop as I have found one tutorial on it but it jumps around far too much and is very confusing(infuriating!).

Hi, I'm trying to go for a tri or bi colour image with my first light data from my 2600MC Pro and Optolong L-eNhance Filter but I'm not sure on the work flow. I use Photoshop only. I have downloaded Annie's Actions. In PS I split the R, G and B channels and then stretch them all a bit and save them as individual images. I then reopen the stacked data as is (rgb) and stretch that. Then using Annie's Actions there is a bi colour or Hubble palette action. It asks for Ha, SII, OIII data, which out ot the split R, G, B do I assign to each filter? Or if its more doable I would like to create a bi colour image, red and blue or similar, or orangey blue etc. Thanks for any help.

Hi, I'm trying to go for a tri or bi colour image with my first light data from my 2600MC Pro and Optolong L-eNhance Filter but I'm not sure on the work flow. I use Photoshop only. I have downloaded Annie's Actions. In PS I split the R, G and B channels and then stretch them all a bit and save them as individual images. I then reopen the stacked data as is (rgb) and stretch that. Then using Annie's Actions there is a bi colour or Hubble palette action. It asks for Ha, SII, OIII data, which out ot the split R, G, B do I assign to each filter? Or if its more doable I would like to create a bi colour image, red and blue or similar, or orangey blue etc. Thanks for any help.

You could try uninstalling and reinstalling PHD2. I did the other day and guiding has been great, I created a new profile and let PHD2 determine the Mount speed, entered Camera, focal length, and calibrated on a star S-S/E and 20 or so deg of the Celestial Equator. Guiding has been really good since.

Shootin' Flats

Is that as long as the focuser adjustments are small ? I mean if you have to refocus for temperature fluctuation throughout an imaging session you shouldn't have to take flats between each focus adjustment ? Just one set of flats at the end of the night ?

Oh yes another problem I had last night was the mount behaving erratically, or basically, not responding at all. I tried slewing to a bright star to focus and it wasn't having it, then started slewing off to random parts of the Sky.... fortunately I figured out what it was quite quickly - I hadn't tightened the Dec up at all, completely loose, after balancing. In the 3-4 years I've been doing Astrophotography I've never once forgotten to tighten the dec clutch! Yes with regard to focusing, forgot to mention that 1:1 image is good, I don't really use the magnifying tool in APT other than to check the roundness of Stars when imaging occasionally. Just ordered my first Autofocuer, the ZWO EAF, so there's more learning curve! But I can't wait to have a fully automated setup!

Thanks for the replies. With regards to Flats, as I don't remove the imaging train from my mount ( I carry it in with the scope attached ) is it ok to take flats the next day if everything stays the same (Camera orientation as well) ?

Thanks for all the replies.