powerlord

kovely

this is the kind of mince I expect on the 'other' forum

er..as usual not quite sure of the point you are making

1. wider views but actually pixel resolution is about the same if dwarf didn't do 2x2 binning, so we'll have to see if that is an option for the future, but its already an option for terrestrial photo and videos which is interesting to me.

2. 'LOW COST smart scopes money should never be the driving factor' - eh?? of course it is. it's on your own statement.

However cost aside, I maintain these do different things- for a start s50 is pretty rubbish for terrestrial stuff. Additionally, the much wider fov allows for targets and compositions that the S50 just cannot do - and even if a mosaic mode is added - they will take ages.

It's not a fight - one does not have to win. I'm glad the S50 is better FOR YOU. That does not mean it is better for everyone.

stu

I know it's the 'competition', but just thought it worth saying - there's 9% discount direct from dwarf lab at the mo - I just ordered a dwarf ii inc delivery for 357 squid.

I think it might be more what Im looking for for travelling that the S50 so thought I'd get one and have a play. If it is, I'll be punting the S50.

But as others have said, they compliment each other, or at least do some different things, so worth considering if in the market for a smart scope - and it is much cheaper - S50 550 shipped vs dwarf ii 357. Now admittedly that's the classic, not with deluxe with extra filters and battery - but a cheaper S50 is not an option so still a valid comparison imho - especially if you already have some 1.25" filters and can print off a filter adapter.

stu

Just a note that direct from dwarf labs, they have a 9% discount on now - I just ordered a dwarf ii, inc delivery to UK for 357 squid.

stu

Shot over 3 sessions, I've shot this before for a few hours, but nothing like this long before. It was nice to see that noise just smoothing out with the integration time.

I've gone for a pseudo SHO palette, with HOO stars (The original plan was to shoot some RGB stars, but looks like it could be weeks before I see another one!).

A few hours of 10 min subs, and the rest 5 min. All on the asi2600. Quite happy with the way this one turned out.

Oh - I tried the wizard sitting up, but in the end preferred the lounging prone wizard orientation 🙂

I feel like I can almost feel the heat coming up those rising plumes. Yer cooking on gas young Necromancer! literally ! 😁

Well.. this didn't really turn out as well as I'd hoped to be honest. Not helped by the fact my camera 1/2 fell off the mount during the meridian flip as I forgot to tightening it!! Amazing it didn't drop. Nor when I touched it in the morning, found out it was loose and it did fall - luckily my cat like reflexes caught it. they don't call me cat boy for nothing! or at all in fact..anyway - lucky escape, but the images after the meridian flip were skewed (but  still ok) - leading to a need for some major cropping.

I rotated it a bit, as it feels better on the eye to me that way.

Top left, is half of IC1396, going over through the wizard, lobster claw, etc and over in the bottom right - NGC7822 (I think).

Starless included to have a hope of identifying nebulas.

It was shot with my canon 6d at iso 3200 with my Canon 70-200 f2.8 L USM IS at 70mm, shut down to F4.

120 sec subs. 9 hours of them.

Light pollution a bit of an issue - but also I didn't have a lens shield - I think sticking a cone around it next time in addition to the dew shield would have helped a lot.

It was nice to see noise dropping off to near zero with so many hours of integration though, and some areas of dark bits still showing nicely.

I really liked @goranns picture of this region in more wide field last week, so I had a go myself a little more zoomed in - redcat 250mm with asi2600.

3 hours of 5 min subs on Saturday Night. dusty old area indeed.

APP. Siril. Affiity Photo

gree

4 minutes ago, uhb1966 said:

@powerlord thanks! And such a fitting name

haha - yeh - cables long and short, through the valleys of current and the mountains of voltage, Powerlord rules them all!

🤪

Very nice. Lots of nice depth to it. I like it. 😁

looks pretty good to me for 100 mins of subs!

stu

yeh, I've had it quite a few times. I now have cable with a bit of slack, then wrap it a few times around the coutnerweight bar. As a sort of strain relief.

On 05/10/2023 at 10:24, happy-kat said:

I've been looking for a UV only filter interesting to see you found and used one

So, the UV only one arrived. I have to say I have no idea what I'm doing with this as of yet. I shot the first set with the camera still white balanced for IR filter (I know it shouldn't matter with raws - but it does - as every program I use at least takes note of the 'for info' data in the raw about the white balance). The second few, white balanced in camera with the UV on. In both cases, I did minimum editing in affinity - just brightened/curve and saturation.

As I understand it ( @vlaiv might know more?), looking at example frequency responses (I dunno what the M100 has exactly), but looking at say, an imx585, below 400nm the blue pixel sensors are picking up, but off the left it looks like the green and red and maybe gonna come up again too ? so hence, I've not got monochrome UV, more a sort of false colour from the sensor pixels firing at different percentages based on the frequence of the UV maybe?

I've also attached a few raws.

this was shot with camera still white balanced for red. this was the a raw (raw very red), and then white balanced in affinity photo and saturated/curved:

this is custom white balanced on camera (against a white background), so on camera pretty much as you see - not very red in raw on on viewfinder, and again, min editing in affinity photoshop. note: much less red.. weird.

and here's a few with sky. again red one had wrong IR white balance, then tried to fix in edit. Other one, white balance on camera. Again, I always thought white balance didn't matter for raws, and maybe in the 'raw data' (sic) it doesn't...but since I don't speak raw data.. and use software to interpret it for me... that software (affinity photo, and macos natively for a start) seem to take note of white balance data recorded and apply it anyway. Anyway, that's an aside really - other than it does seem worth white balancing on the camera. How to best then edit these photos - swap channels ? map colours to other colours ? I dunno - will have to look for some tutorials. note the weird total reflection of light from my tesla windscreen here behind i8. also interesting. I see similar mirror like reflection on tail lights of neighbours mini.

raws:

IMG_1627.CR2IMG_1622.CR2IMG_1620.CR2IMG_1617.CR2

And 'He of X' plans there to be 42,000 of the things up there eventually. Joy of joys.

On 12/10/2023 at 15:37, DaveL59 said:

 

Seems it doesn't remove aircraft tracks?

Nice to see a full video using Siril.

9 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

Evening, from holidaying in The Broads. Brought the tracker on the off chance it might be clear…

Not only is it clear, but we’re staying in a small hamlet with NO streetlights, all houses are mostly in darkness and this is the view from the back door! Unbelievable, and no I didn’t research this!

Sadly I forgot the dew straps so I’m out every 5 minutes wiping off dew 🫣 Decided to try the 35mm macro f2.8 lens, corner stars are triangles but otherwise it looks surprisingly promising aimed up at Sadr. Will find out if it’s any good in a week when we’re back 🤞Won’t be up all night, I but had to try some imaging.

Wow, just shows what difference a few miles make. Total cloud down here. Unlucky with the dew, last night was dew free.

Also worth mentioning Sirilic for those who don't know it exists:

https://siril.org/docs/sirilic/

Its quite easy to use it to stack DSLR images, etc for example as it handles all the conversions

I've always shot this in NB, but with 2 clear nights and no moon I thought I'd give it a go in wideband with my redcat and asi2600.

There's a heck of a lot of things going on here, and even with controlled stars, there's a lot hidden - so I've included a starless version too, just to show the nebulosity detail.

I've been shooting more and more targets with only a UVIR filter - it's easy to forget how much detail can be lost in NB.

This was shot over 2 sessions totally 10 hours of 5 minute subs. Stacked in APP, processed in Siril and Affinity Photo.

Starless:

5 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

I will closly check next time but I thought that the LP filter turned on / off depending on the target you select or you can manually select its operation as well ?  I just shoot everything, I note it is green many times but I don't pay a lot of attention and  haven't had a bad shot yet. I will make it a point to try every possiblity next time out.

yeh I think you are correct - though of course you can override it.

After removal of bad subs and finishing all my integrations - a grand total of 24 1/2 hours of integration last night - a new personal record for October I think!

It looks like that's all the weather gods are giving me for at least the next week - hence the need to maximise the days I get.

stu

6 hours ago, Elp said:

The LP filter (it really should be branded as something else), is a narrowband (wide bandpass) ha and o3 filter, your main benefit of using this will be on emission nebulae rich in these elements.

yes, considering a lot of buyers will be beginners, it's another example of how poor the manual is not explaining thi really isn't it ?

in summary for beginners:

emissions nebulas (most of em) : LP on

galaxies, stars, moon, reflection nebulas (not as many - iris, etc): LP off

If in doubt of whether a nebula is emission or reflection mainly start with LP on as far more common.

well rain stopped - an hour of cold setup, and 3 rigs and 4 cameras all imaging. should be on for 40 hours in total 😁

and now for the best bit...

1 hour ago, powerlord said:

Had a trial last night trying to setup 3rd mount with dual cameras. Got there in the end. So tonight, clear skies, 48 hours of imaging!! Two setup in obsy, 2 setup outside...

 

Just waiting for it to get dark - forecast still totally clear skies... but hmm... seems weird colour cloud in distance out window - huh must just be the light.

5 mins later - total cloud and raining!!!!!! mad rush to cover stuff outside. arggggggggg

meteblue still saying I'm imagining rain, but now to expect some at 9pm.

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/week/ipswich_united-kingdom_2646057

ahhhhhhh

Had a trial last night trying to setup 3rd mount with dual cameras. Got there in the end. So tonight, clear skies, 48 hours of imaging!! Two setup in obsy, 2 setup outside...

A lot of disassemble there.

Firstly, you don't need an ethernet cable for each device. You buy a 5 port ethernet switch for the observatory, plug it in and plug your cable into that. Then you have 4 spare ports - one for your in10, 3 spare for other stuff.

However, as you don't have a mobile device, I'd suggest that ethernet or wifi cameras are not for you. I would suggest a cheap USB webcam. Plug it into your in10 (im assuming its windows here, if it's linux youll need to make sure you buy one that is compatible), and then you can have the picture from that showing in a window on your in10, and hence visible when connected with AnyDesk.