powerlord

That is spot on. Ditto here. I saw all that extra complexity and railed against it. But like you, slowly one step at a time realised its value. In 2 hours I'll go outside with my eq6r Pro, p200 asi533, asi120 guide camera, asiair, dew heaters and what not. I'll have it all setup and polar aligned in about 15 mins, then back into the warmth. At 12.30am I'll set my alarm (don't trust asiair schedules yet), point it at rosette nebula and start it shooting subs for 4 hours while I sleep.

Coming up to a year now for me, and yeh - initially hardest bit is finding a hook into the 'universe' (sic). when everything is new, it's like a different language. But once you get that hook in, and learn enough basic bits, your learning accelerates quite quickly. Mostly my learning has been through youtube and here. No books - I've never been a fan of books for learning stuff. reading fiction yes, learning how to do xyz, not so much. But everyone is different. Pick an area you want to focus on - observing, imaging planets, dslr stuff, whatever. and focus (sic again) on just that. Once you feel you've mastered that enough, the next area will be a doddle as your learning base has a good foundation. I found the hardest bit physical stuff like how to set up mounts and align things, etc - youtube videos were not good, and explanations are never very good.. i.e. took me ages to understand what the 'home position' was. I'm sure that sort of stuff I struggled with would have been straight forward if someone was actually doing it for me, or in front of me. Also, best intensions, but some folk have a different idea of acceptable sometimes. so I was maybe put off trying some things because I was told it was pointless. But it wasn't for me. I learned from it, and I got pictures I liked out of it (Im thinking of when I stuck my DSLR on my skymax102). So listen and learn, but also, do what you want - there's no rules.

Poor wee animals dangling from the roof. 😢

I don't think that's stacked right then, as I stetched the single sub just posted before and got more out of that. - just around butterly nebula below - this is from one sub, not the stacked fits.

well, feel free to post the stacked fits here and myself or others can have a look if it helps. An hour of data should certainly get some decent data. I started with DSLRs though mine were both modified. But here's an early one from an hour on rosette for an example.

looks fine to me - histrogram should be off the left, and about 1/3rd up ideally. looks about spot on. stretched, i can even see a bit of nebulosity there around Sadr is it ?

it's amazon, so not like it's shady stock. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samyang-7493-Manual-Focus-Canon/dp/B00TS9GLSE/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34260SNXBA8S2&keywords=samyang%2B135mm&qid=1638125802&qsid=257-9662952-2330050&sprefix=135mm%2Bsam%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1&sres=B00TS9GLSE%2CB00SLP0X8U%2CB00T48C98A%2CB00TDGOEUE%2CB00TDGOEJ0%2CB00TDGOENG%2CB09KM8B5YX%2CB09KM5WXPY%2CB00TDGOEKE%2CB004CS2VMQ%2CB004CS20MC%2CB093BN913R%2CB00XKSBMQA%2CB07PVNMNFC%2CB08FTHDPRY%2CB07QP8YQ7X&srpt=CAMERA_LENSES&th=1 if bad, can always return. that is a good price for sure for anyone looking to get one.

well, here's another go then @Budgie1 - still not quite same as yours, but feel like I've at least got the palette a bit closer ?

very nice, is that just a pure R 100% Sii, G 100% Ha, G 100% Oii mix ? It's the same starnet, so must be the way you stretched that got the stars out better I suppose ?

update: I'm not happy with that close up, so starting again. I found starnet failed to get rid of a large number of the stars, so bought star Xterminator and found it removed them all no problem. So back to the start and trying again. Editing just using APP and Affinity - having to really up my affinity skills with tutorials, etc. I spent hours last night trying to get the colours to match the original wide shot, but I don't think it's gonna be possible really. So I think I'm best forgetting about that, and just focusing on getting the most out the data I can. On which..if anyone fancies having a go - stacked fits below. Only thing I'd ask is data remains (c)stu smith. First time I'd bother even saying that, but feel data is good here and I plan to eventually put final pics on stock photo sites. However, I would be interested in what people with more experience can do with the data as this hobby is all about learning! ic1805.2021.21_23-Oxygen_III-session_2.fits ic1805.2021.21_23-Sulphur_II-session_1_session_2.fits ic1805.2021.21_23-Hydrogen-alpha-session_1_session_2.fits

I'd be interested in seeing a video of this process in Sirl - as the app and the manual make about as much sense as a chocolate fireguard. Seeing someone actually doing it make it much much clearer where esoteric options are, etc. please ?

This is the way things work in China other than a few exceptional companies (DJI, Xiaomi, etc). "Poorly Made in China: An Insider′s Account of the China Production Game" by Paul Midler is a good read. In a nutshell though, with few exceptions being so removed from the end user, manufacturing of a product tends to work across many many many smaller companies, usually in a specific city (each city specialising in different products). The only incentive to each small company is to do it as cheap as possible. So at the start the spec is good sometimes (not always)- casting tolerances, stainless screws maybe, good quality bearings and grease, lots of quality checks, but as time goes on, the only way the companies can compete is by reducing price. slowly components get replaced by cheaper ones, labour intensive tasks gets skipped, etc. And eventually you end up the cheapest thing that still gets them the business. It's madness, but it's the way it worked till very recently. The worst that happens for the small company is the big one they are currently contracted to stops wanting the product, but there are 100s of others that will take it - you see this all the time with china made products with many different names. With companies like Apple working with Foxcomm and demanding and policing standards, a new model was born. DJI is one early all china company that saw the benefit of doing it 'the western way'. I think ZWO is probably another. I don't see that in Sky Watcher - it all feels very much the old school model. This idea that 'its built to a price' is total mince. For the price of our mounts we should expect massively higher engineering quality than we get. There is just no insentive for china to provide it.

oops sorry my bad - @admin can this be moved to imaging deepsky please ? stu

A few weeks back I did a wide field of the Heart and Soul Galaxy. Last night, I did a close up of the heart of the heart - C9.25, asi1600 NB SHO. Original, heart of heart, and a wee video fading one to the other below. First Heart, as shot with SY135 and asi1600 Now the heart of the heart: And finally a wee video fade from the wide to the close up: heart.mp4 Still a work in progress. Stars are terrible - I keep forgetting the do some quick rgb star subs. And I like my wide colour palette, and think I'll try and match with the close up. I think with the addition of a 14mm shot it could make a great 3 print group.

follow up - another 15% off if you search for topaz labs coupons. so cost me $85 for denoise, sharpen and giga - usually $270. stu

Incase interested, 60% off for black Friday. I've been trialing them a lot and will be buying. https://www.topazlabs.com/black-friday 15% of APP, so considering getting that too tbh.. if you've been thinking about buying software, probably worth a look and seeing if it's discounted this week ? stu

Work in progress this from last night. H: 75 mins O: 25 mins So basically Oiii is mince at the moment. My Ha, is pretty good, but I've tried to do something with the little amount of Oiii I have. Lots more oiii and sii required, but good sharpness at least. So here's a weird palette of what I have so far, with jaguar and donkey.

well, Im no expert - I've been doing this 10 months now. But happy to help if I can.

well, it's up to you really, no right and wrong imho - whatever you like the look of. For me though, yeh that's too much. I want the nebula to be defined and 3d, but still a bit 'fluffy'.

Thanks. Oh yeh lots of processing. I work the monos in affinity after starnet until I've got as much as I can out of them, then do noise reduction using various techniques. I then play with curves, contrast again before blending them into a colour pic. Once happy with that I do some sharpening again using a number of different techniques, then adding the stars back. Mostly affinity, but I've been playing with topaz filters as well, some steps they seem better at, some affinity. Not sure at the mo if worth buying them yet though. But def worth a play with the trials if you've not already.

Clouds and a nearly full moon, but this is what I managed to capture last night and process tonight. H: 60 mins S: 50 mins O: 85 mins Shot with my C9.25 with 6.3 reducer, asi1600 and EQ6r-pro.

great changelog.. as if user has any idea if they have a GD MCU or not!

they are a european company, so maybe that is where they specialize. Within the bounds of the vagaries of forecasts I've always found them exellent for europe for last 10 years. I often buy premium credits for flying holidays, etc for more details forecasts, etc.

An alternative to clearoutside for comparison at least: https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/outdoorsports/seeing/bawdsey_united-kingdom_2656147 I use meteoblue a lot for my flying - it tends to be reasonably accurate as it does not rely on a single model - AND it gives you visibility of the multimodels too, so you can make more informed decisions. Plus I like their all in one meteograms. stu

well.. 3x 5 mins subs in Ha. that was the lot for all that bother. sigh. anyway, the result.. at least it's the first time I've managed to make out any animals in the parade. definitely a donkey and a jaguar in there.