gilesco

Looks like Snapfish only allows you to upload files to a certain size, the nice thing about CEWE is that you are editing offline, so I just load my TIFF to the software (sometimes 500Mb in size) and I can work with it unadulterated, then once the photo type & size are set it uploads the pixels exactly as I see in the software for printing, making sure of the following option:

A lot of online print shops are not expecting astrophotography type pictures, so they often do some post-processing themselves on the pictures that you upload. You need to look for an option in the upload (if they support it), that the photo has already been post-processed and you want it printed as-is. If your print provider does not allow this then I can recommend CEWE Photoworld - I have used them in the past, and using their free software I have found that the results of the print were as the photo looked in their software. I think you can use them without downloading their software, but it is easier to use with the software (which apparently supports MacOS, Linux & Windows, I think).

I got myself one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MNJVPJK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00 My use case is just to cover the scope and mount in situ aligned etc... at the end of a night if the next night looks like a promising. I would say this is big enough to fully cover most 4-6" refractors and a large mount, it has clips which can be attached to the tripod, and some straps to fix everything in place. There's a knack to putting it on if you're on your own, and it will make some noise when you do, otherwise quite easy to put on if there's more than one person.

An old achromatic Startravel 120T, I'm waiting on delivery of an Esprit 120ED Pro

I'm no expert, but for your brightness curves - you probably want to increase the y axis gradient for where you have data, then perhaps stretch afterwards.

Did FLO give you an estimate on the lead-time for this? With the SkyWatcher stock situation it might be touch and go whether this arrives before December... I think that's a good starter scope to take tours of the sky, being able to view quite a few different types of objects. You will no doubt go down a rabbit hole with more equipment in the future, but that telescope will probably continue to see good use, as it is easy to move around and set up, whereas if you go down the path of bigger mounts and perhaps bigger OTAs - which help when moving to astrophotography you will find that equipment takes longer to set up, and is harder to transport to different dark-sky sites.

Well, that is why they put this out there for peer review I suppose.

Gosh, I hope they've reserved my field flattener and won't part ship it after the Esprit!!! Will give it 2 weeks more before checking with FLO again.

Has any SkyWatcher stock landed on these shores recently yet? (Waiting since mid-August for my Esprit....)

I'm still working on the Heart Nebula mosaic, this is becoming a good learning curve for me, still have focus issues, but hopefully will sort out in the coming months, oh, and my flats seem to be useless too...

Ready!! Sun go down!

You might consider a Hyperion Zoom EP with a Barlow included. Easier than messing around with EPs in the dark.

https://raspi.tv/2017/make-a-rain-alert-system-with-raspberry-pi This won't have the heater that the previous product shows, so you might have dew and reset issues. I will certainly consider the AAG Cloudwatcher, but only when I get round to installing an Obsy.

The AAG cloud watcher, which is quite expensive, and also not natively USB can cope with dew, as I think it has a heater on the sensor.

I'm in process of doing the same. HOO of Heart Nebula. I'm using the mosaic registration process in AstroPixelProcessor. I think you can obtain a time limited free trial.

I was guiding OK with the ASI120MC-S, which has some downsides to what you are proposing: 1. Mine was colour, not perfect for guiding, mono is better which is what you suggest. 2. Mine was on an OAG, less light, with a 50mm Guidescope, you'll get more light, but also other issues like flexure, but a 120MM/MC is likely to be ok. I just got myself a ASI290MM mini, this is a level above the ASI120MC-S, but I do not regret taking the route I took to the point where I could afford what I have now.

Have we reached critical mass with this topic? Don't think that further replies are going to add to the OPs intention.

I don't buy these, I invariably receive them for birthday or Christmas presents, there's a suspiciously shaped present in the lounge at the moment, so I hold fire. It is my wife's contribution and support of my hobby. I guess I count them to remind me how many years I've been married...

Just sending a query out there to anyone who has experience imaging at public sites on Dartmoor? Looking to learn about good locations, how this is received by the National Park authority (if imaging through the night) etc...

I guess I was just mentioning that I don't think their pricing model reflected that, there were mentions earlier in the thread that their email support was lapsidasical, how to quantify "premium support", you made very good points on how complicated support can be in this field, so many causes of issues, a lot relating to hardware rather than software IMHO. Crux - so if I were to go and say "I want this feature", what is the response from SGPro support? What is the expectation?

Don't misinterpret me, I'm not disparaging the software, nor am I a free software zealot. I was just putting forward my own experience with free software, and musing about the subscription model. I do actually have a subscription to APP for image processing, the pricing model is slightly different - you can opt to buy, with the threat that v2 will not be available to you, or rent and have free upgrades for the term of the subscription. I opted to rent for one year, and buy later if I dont feel v2 is going to (a) happen anytime soon and (b) will improve my results significantly.

Can't agree more, was just this morning I was in the Kstars chat about how the scheduler works with Eric, he recognised some of the issues I had (annoyances and a feature request). He's of course busy on a couple of other merge requests in the code which are to improve stability in the longer term - but as I was talking to one of the developers directly, and not emailing a support contact who has a library of stock answers to questions, it left me with a feeling that there would be action on that in time, and there's nothing stopping me from looking at the code and trying to do it myself. Kstars/Ekos exists and survives because everyone who uses it wants it to be something cool and useful for ourselves and everyone else, and some of those have the coding ability to make it happen.

Goodness - that's some wait - I hope you have some other scopes to use in the meantime? I'm still waiting for my Esprit 120... mid-October was the most recent estimate when I enquired. Patience... patience... still playing with my achromatic though trying some narrowband stuff out.

I managed 2 runs of 5 x 300s Oiii on a 4-pane mosaic last night, with Kstars/Ekos - on the features pane for SGPro website, I don't see what value it gives, and with the convenience of running my telescope via a Raspberry Pi outside via INDI, and me sitting inside connected to my equipment via an Ethernet cable I struggle to see the value that SGPro provides over what's available for free (ok, I needed extra hardware, but not expensive hardware). It looks to me that they're taxing their existing customer base rather than trying to compete, as it is their existing customer base that see the cost (as in effort) of the new learning curve of trying to get Kstars/Ekos to work for them. However, if their existing customer base choose to make the jump, and they don't offer something new that isn't available elsewhere for free, then there will be less money for them to continue to develop the software, and the product will eventually dry up.

One thing with Kstars/Ekos is the development team are very involved with the userbase, and some of the recent improvements to the bleeding edge version (v3.5.0 beta) are substantial.