DSS - no image output

[earth titan]

First attempt at AP last night. About 13 mins of exposure on andromeda, run through DSS to see how I got on. No point spending too much time on it until I know how it works.

Followed the guidance, but when I woke up this morning DSS had a grey screen and no output. No eror messages either.

Any hints?

I'm using jpegs rather than RAW. Will this make a difference?

[AndyUK]

Did you save the DSS output.... and could you maybe post it?

I've never had a grey screen out of DSS, and with 13mins of exposures, you should have got something. (What were your exposure lengths....?). It is best if you use RAW as they're not compressed files and JPG's are only 8 bit... but I think DSS should still do it's job with them...

Also what register and stacking settings were you using...?

[Paxo]

Was it a totally grey screen or was it a large grey box with a histogram and other stuff?

Steve

[earth titan]

Seems to have fixed itself on the second run. Dunno !!

Didn't get much of a picture, but I didn't expect to due to the small amount of exposure. 13 minutes total - 15 seconds per image at 400 ISO.

No visible star trailing and image appears to be in the centre of each frame, so going to step up to 30 seconds next time. Will see what we get..

[AndyUK]

I'm very glad it sorted itself out...! Depending on what OTA/Camera you're using (and assuming you're using the EQ4/5 mount and an LP filter?), and depending on how good you can get your polar alignment, you may be able to get up to 90-120s or so. Or if you're using a lens only, then you can get quite a bit more (I somehow managed 300s once or twice with a 180mm/f3.5 lens...)

(Oh, and you could also probably get away with pushing the ISO faster as well to get even more signal...?)

I used to take test frames before starting an imaging run with the DSLR to see how long I could go without getting trails - Again, depending on the scope/lens in use, 45s-60s was usually about the norm... but then take PLENTY of them (and don't forget bias and flat frames (as a minimum). I got these of Andromeda unguided with an unmodded DSLR last year - The closeup was with a 100ED/f9 (ISO 1600, 60x60s, 51x120s, 61x90s, 132x90s - Total c. 7.5hrs) and the widefield was taken with a 180mm/f3.5 lens (ISO 800, 19x120s, 20x300s, 78x150s - Total c. 5.5hrs)