AstroNebulee

I use my sw evostar 72ed on my az gti in alt az which the focal length is 420mm with my Canon 600D and can reliably get 30sec subs, maybe even be able to push a few seconds more out of it. I level the mount, then add my scope and dslr, check and level again. Producing some stand out captures.

Hi Just throwing this out there, ard there any clubs or members in North Cornwall here, it seems this group doesn't get to much action, as I live in North Cornwall it may be good to meet up locally once possible with covid restrictions, it's a shame I don't drive so clubs further afield are a no go. Clear skies

Thanks but I live in a first floor flat and image from a communal area behind my flats so a cable from laptop to my flat is a no go but thank you.

Hi Yes it'll be a spare older laptop that I'll use outside so I dont have to take my main one out in damp or risk it dropping. So I'll save onto the external HD and transfer onto main laptop, simplicity is the key for my befuddled brain az I like to be up and imaging in minutes, than set up guiding and such at the moment but that'll all change in the future when I'll want to start guiding and new set up haha

Hi thank you, az you say I've had great fun trying to image with my Skymax 127 and had quite some success with double stars (they are on this forum somewhere now) I really enjoyed that and was only taking 8 secs subs for that. I will try a little nudge of the button at stages and see how it goes but as you say the mount does take a while to settle back into its stride. I'll try it in EQ mode when my SA arrives to use the cw bar and wedge, quite a few different setups to olkat with and all the fun of a nice portable setup and imaging in minutes, clear skies

Yes both on the same network, so I could try thast if it's fast enough, and have a bigger eternal hardrive to back up my laptop and files. But will definitely try my HD when it arrives and over the network and compare, thank you for all your help 👍

Thank you for all your help and advice, it seems a good topic. It is for means of transferring my sharpcap and if I use it dslr images to my main laptop inside. I have followed the advice of big bang and bought a 2tb external hard drive to simply plug in and take the captures there and then plug in to main laptop to transfer or process. Thank you again everyone, clear skies

I'm no genius by any means but I think you can't edit out those 2 pixels. What seeings are you using on your dslr, eg white balance, the image below is slightly over exposed so lowering the iso will help with that.

Can anyone recommend a USB male to male data transfer cable az I have an old Samsung r519 laptop that I can use when outside imaging and the transfer onto my main laptop as I don't want to risk taking my main laptop outside anymore Clear skies

Absolutely stunning image 👍

Thank you, I wasn't sure how good the Chain would show with my set up but how wrong I was, its really a beautiful dso, going to re process this one and M101 moro, clear skies

Thank you Stu that's very kind of you. It just goes to show as you say you can do deep sky on alt az mounts quite easily, I know I'm pushing my mount to the limits but so worth it, since processing these I've learnt a new way to process so will give them another go and repost. Here ia a re process of M51 The whirlpool galaxy from earlier in the week

Brilliant, that's going to save a whole load of time and shutter activations, that'll mean I can use those activations on more lights 😊

Hi alacant Thank you So you think I don't need to take the dark frames atall for 30 sec subs. But if longer subs then take them?

Oooooh I didn't know this thread existed, I'll post my frac if I may. My Skywatcher 72ed ds pro, so in love with this scope 😍

Hi DelBoy Thank you for your advice. Cropping the corners on a single small target such as M51, M101 wouldn't matter to much I expect. It was just on the Leo triplet or Markarians chain that I'd probably lose something in cropping. This is all the fun of trying to push how far you can take an al az mount and compete with the larger eq mounts. If i were to dither every 3-5 frames can I go in any direction as long as it moves a fraction, on the synscan app a tiny pulse should be sufficient I think. I have tried using without darks with mine and did see some slight difference to my eye but it's all in how you see an image as we all like it a little different when processing don't we. I'll attach what my master dark file looks like from this stack of M51 to see what you think. Clear skies

Thank you again Michael, I shall have a look now I know what the issue with the noise is. Clear skies

Thank you Michael, I have heard of walking noise and field rotation somewhere. I was beginning to worry that my optics or camera were at fault. As I say I'm new to all this, i have briefly looked into dithering but I'm just using a dslr attached to the scope and no laptop intervention where dithering can be set I believe (but as I like the quick set up of getting the mount, scope and dslr going as soon as cool down completed, sounds lame I know, but simplicity and portability are key to me) Could I press the left or right arrow minutely on my synscan app during the delay in each shot to dither?

Hi, whilst processing my deep sky images in ps cs4, I'm getting this strange circular grain. I know that I haven't reduced noise or other editing processes, this is just after a couple of curves stretches and levels adjustments. I stacked 110 lights, 15 darks , 20 flats and 20 bias for this image 30 sec exposures at 1600 iso using my sw 72ed ds pro az gti and canon 600d. Does any other member know of this strange pattern or experienced this. Sorry if i appear a but dim, I'm just getting used to producing a steady work reliable workflow. Clear Skies

You'll get there Peter, best thing is to keep trying then you suddenly click and find a way to work it. If you need anymore help with your dslr let me know. Defiantly more subs the better in my experience. I've never tried my dslr on the az gti yet, do you get a lot of star trailing at 8secs. I'm glad Luna gave you you cracking views 👍

I hope it went well Peter, how are you getting on with the dslr now, I reckon put your dslr on your Starwave and give that a go at some deepsky, it should manage the weight 👍

My latest offerings from galaxy season. I managed to image M101 on Tuesday night and finally imaged Markarian's chain last night, both processed tonight using dss an ps with astro tools. Both with my sw 72ed AzGti and Canon 600D, M101 is 100 x30sec 1600iso and Markarian's chain is 114x30secs 1600iso. So happy to get the chain with my portable set up. Clear skies

Thsts a fantastic report pixies. So glad you finally managed to get to a dark site, you'll definitely need a lay down after that and a glass of something warming to get the feeling back in your toes. Let's hope for more dark site reports soon, great work 👍

Fantastic result that, so much better. Hopefully our council down here in Cornwall with do the same and replace with Led lights

Hi I am asking advice on processing galaxies on photoshop, I have cs4, astro tools and astro flat plug in. I also have making every photon count and follow astro backyard, astro Stace, astro Ruz on YouTube but wondering on people's advice for a good video tutorial using ps cs4, astro tools and astro flat. I have a the stretching using curves, levels and blackpoint but it's the masking bit to bring just the galaxy out better. Clear skies