FenderGreg

On 05/03/2024 at 09:02, Stuart1971 said:

You should try offset 50 that is recommended for that camera…and also unity gain is what you should use if not sure which is 10

Thanks for the replies Stuart. Histogram is actually looking better now.

If only we had two clear nights in a row then I could do I night on one setting then the other to see the difference!

On 03/03/2024 at 22:06, Stuart1971 said:

What does it look like with an offset of 50…? As that is the recommended 

It’s really what I have seen mentioned online from someone. The cameras default is gain 4 offset 30 which is quite a bit lower than ‘unity’ gain but I don’t know what it really means in terms of function

12 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Just make sure you have a very small gap between the histogram peak, and the left side, this means you are not clipping ant pixels, then all will be good, try different offset settings until you get this small gap, as for gain, look up the  camera online and see what the unity gain is, this is a good place to start…For your camera unity gain is 10, and maybe a good idea to read this too…

https://www.qhyccd.com/uploadfile/2018/1106/20181106030334403.pdf

Here is the histogram even after raising the offset

My histogram in APT is looking severely far left

Hi,

I have a QHY 168c which is still fairly new to me. I want to make sure I’m setting or at least understanding how to set the gain and offset.

Where do I do this? I use APT, am I just typing in the gain and offset on my plans? Do I edit the settings outside of APT beforehand?

Thanks

Hi, 

I finally downloaded AstroSharp to give it a go and I'm getting the error shown in the pic below.

I've updated Javascript to see if that was the case..

Running on windows 11>

Anyone else had this?

These were my two. First pic 2 hours, second pic 4 hours 20mins.

Would have loved to bump this to 8 hours like you mentioned but the weather has been terrible since 💩

1 hour ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Theoretically, to double the signal to noise ratio (S/N), you need to quadruple integration time, so doubling the integration time should give a modest increase in S/N, in the order of 40% improvement. This means you can sharpen a bit more, without noise exploding, but not much. Mathematically S/N scales with the square root of integration time.  This is one reason people may go for extremely long integration. Also note that the sky background (mathematically also just signal) also adds to the noise in the same way, so picking out a faint signal against a bright background can be very hard indeed, as the noise from the object of interest may be swamped by the noise from the sky background.

Thanks for the reply. That does kinda make sense.

so if I’ve done 2 hours I might not notice much difference until 8?

What about if the subs were shorter thus increasing the volume? Same rule really due to overall time?

Hi,

is there some kind of maths into how much intergration/subs makes a difference?

I originally did 2 hours with 10min subs on the cone nebula and it came out looking great. But I thought I’d go for it again and see how much more detail I could bring out.

I added another 2 hours 20mins, again with 10min subs but after a quick process I see almost no difference

I’d like to use my Canon DSLR lenses with my QHY 183c but QHY seem to be out of  stock of their specific adapters.

Feel like I’m totally missing something but generally all I can find is canon to m42 adapters, not m42 to canon.

I found this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126063678276?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=noeAisQiRoG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=hhPDsn03ToO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

but I’m worried it’s too cheap and probably not up to the job.

Anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Hi,

I’ve have a Skywatcher 80ED with the ZWO EAF attached and have so far predominantly used a DSLR.

This whole time I’ve had zero problems but I’ve now just upgraded camera to a QHY 168c which seems a fair bit heavier.

Problem I have now is that the focus tube seems to be just dropping out slowly. I thought the ZWO EAF held on to the focus adjustment to stop slipping? The camera is heavier but surely not now over the weight limit for the focuser?

Anyone else got the 80ED and similar CCD with similar problems? Or found a suitable fix?

2 hours ago, Ibbo! said:

This is what I got in the end

Wow! That is amazing!

This is literally my dream target! Love your dedication to get the data for it!

4 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

Sorry, it's sold now.

Happens quickly with these filters!

21 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

If anyone 's interested I recently put a 2 inch L-enhance up on the For Sale forum. I don't take photos so it's surplus to requirements.

I may be but I can’t yet see the sale forum

Does building a dark library in PHD2 affect/improve guiding much?

I can't say I've had many problems with guiding lately but does everyone do it for peace of mind?

I currently use an Astronomik CLS clip-in filter (On my Canon 550D) and have been looking at the L-enhance and L-extreme.

I'm very unsure how much better the L-enhance is than what I use now but am worried that maybe the L-extreme may be too much. 

 

12 hours ago, alacant said:

Which alternatives did you have in mind?

I just run the pre loaded scripts at the moment which is surely so much quicker. But if you’re doing it all yourself, do you find an advantage of doing it that way?

On 10/07/2023 at 23:33, Littleguy80 said:

Imagine them both dangling off a cliff and you can only save one…

Ok you got me, I think I’d save the SW 80ED!

I actually don’t have a picture of my setup?!? How?!

But I have the SW Evostar 80ED (500mm) and TS Optics RC6 (1300mm) and really couldn’t decide between the two as to which is my favourite!

What’s the advantage of calibrating, registering and stacking the images yourself?

So far, I’ve only used my pads on softer ground like after some rain to help spread the weight more on each leg.

Not seen too much use on my lawn otherwise

Beautiful image!!

siril 1.3.0??

I had my first try at this last night but only got just over an hour n half before a storm came flying in!

Did you use background extraction in Siril? If so, how on such a nebula filled background? I’m more used to using the grid around a target than processing a ‘scenery’

On 07/07/2023 at 19:17, John said:

Just us visual folks left to continue that now. A dying breed I reckon 😬

I always encourage others to start visual, enjoy it, learn something, find the love for it, then think about astrophotography because the pains and cost could put you off in the long run

There’s nothing more I loved when I started than going outside and trying to see it all, hint down every object I could think of…..then I started astrophotography and my aim was to get inside and just let my rig do it’s work haha!

I am fortunate to be in a position now where I can do just that! Some times the camera battery lets me down so I do have to keep going to check!

We are very very fortunate. 20 years ago I probably couldn’t get into this hobby, now it’s a tech lovers dream.

why do I enjoy all the troubleshooting?!