GRS and a transit 26/09

[Johnboy2011]

This is not going to win any prizes but I'm happy to get something! C9.25/SPC880 Registax 5 and no processing.

It wasn't until I processed these that I realised I had caught a transit, which was nice! I seem to struggle to get much more detail than this, I'm not sure if that is down to seeing or me trying to image too low in the sky, still, all good fun!

John

[hayju01]

Nice images and nice scope and mount ;-)

Looking at these it doesnt look like you've barlowed these and the C9.25 will cope with x2 easily and given a fair wind (well good seeing and tracking) a x3

You said you'd used RS but not processing does that mean you havent played with wavelets?

I think the details very much there just needs coaxig out.

[Johnboy2011]

I picked up a x2.5 powermate recently, I've only had a quick play with it but the image appeared very dim, it felt like it was too much. I'm not sure if that is conditions, camera settings ir both?!

I did play with the wavelets in Registax but that involves alot of random sliding until I pronounce it finished! As you can see I don't really know what I'm doing!

Any tips or pointers to a good tutorial would be very very welcome!

John

[hayju01]

Yes the barlow will dim the image but you can compensate with Gain/Exposure, a this point people often ask what settings (i know i have) the truth what ever works for your setup. I wasted many hours using using someoneelses settings only to discover for some reason (still not sure what) my settings were way up th eother end of the scale.

So you have some fundamental giudelines

Increasing Gain/Exposure will increase brighness

Higher Gain introduces noise

Higher Exposure can lead to lose of detail

there are others.

I assume you are using sharpcap. What fps are you using?

As far as I am concerned wavelets are a black art and my technique is similar to your slide them up and down until I can't determine if it makes any difference (or i get bored) and then announce them down. I save right after stacking so i can always got back to at a later date. when I have some free time which in the last month seems to have been alot.

For tutorials you can't go wrogn by starting here Primers and Tutorials - Stargazers Lounge

and more here too Astronomy Shed Home Page

keep posting lots a folks on here will help you in the right direction

[Johnboy2011]

Thanks for the pointers, I have used Astronomy Shed and found it really handy. I somehow missed the SGL one!

I always use 10fps but I think you are right that I need to re-visit my settings. Fo comparison attached are two images I took on the first with and without the powermate.

I think I need to go back through the tutorials and I'll post my next attempt, good or bad!!

John

[Clayton]

It's very hard to say without knowing what you have done, but the Histogram looked like too much gain and too short an exposure, as a first step try dropping the exposure a notch (eg from1/60th to 1/30th)

Hope you don't mind but whilst I was looking at the histo I took the liberty of making some rough adjustments.

Nice start BTW

[Johnboy2011]

Thanks Clayton, if it's not too cheeky below are the settings for the x2.5 powermate capture:

[Philips SPC 900NC PC Camera]

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=10.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-7

Brightness=64

Contrast=32

Saturation=20

Gamma=16

ColorEnable=255

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=35

Do you think these look reasonable? Dim question but I guess you mean 5fps when using the powermate, and perhaps without as well?

Thanks,

John

[hayju01]

I think Clapton is referring to settings that you get with a dedicated astro/cam and software like the dfk and IC Capture. For sharp cap the same effect can be achieved by dropping fps as you correctly to 5fps.

When using my spec I preferred to get the additional frames that 10fps gives.

Looking at your settings I would leave the gain at 35 and increase the exposure to -6 possibly higher. Take a look at the histo in sharpcap you want it about 3/4.

[Johnboy2011]

Thanks for that Justin, I'll try tweaking that exposure.

Final dumb question I promise - where is the histo on sharpcap and what do you mean by 3/4?!

John

[split_city]

A great sequence. Congrats.

[Clayton]

I think Clapton is referring to settings that you get with a dedicated astro/cam and software like the dfk and IC Capture. For sharp cap the same effect can be achieved by dropping fps as you correctly to 5fps.

When using my spec I preferred to get the additional frames that 10fps gives.

Looking at your settings I would leave the gain at 35 and increase the exposure to -6 possibly higher. Take a look at the histo in sharpcap you want it about 3/4.

Indeed I was Justin

Most of those figures don't mean much to me

How long exactly is an exposure of -6

Gain at 35 sounds good if the total is around 100 but if it was out of 40 it might be too high

The Toucam Pro(and every other webcam I've had) which I believe was a predecessor to the SPC900 had sensible values for exposure, but I guess that's a thing of the past :)

[hayju01]

Clayton - they mean nothing to me either and as mentioned earlier they vary from setup to setup. They are usefull if you have them as well as the image then you can go from there.

John - the hits his one of the transforms, so where you see 'no transforms' click the down arrow. There is also a focus trans if memory serves.