DSS dark output?

[dph1nm]

Please remember that there is a great difference in the way RAW and jpeg are recorded (and displayed). jpeg files have in-built stretching and do not use the full bit range of the camera. RAW files are not stretched and do use the full bit range. So un-processed astro RAW files should almost certainly look black, even if the corresponding jpeg has a nice bright background.

NigelM

[Spikey]

You could try posting on the DSS Yahoo forum Jarrod, it may suggest software or hardware at least.

Do you have any possibility of trying another 450d?

[JB80]

I did see that and have thought about asking there, I'm going to take a few deep breaths and a try few different things out first and see if I can find the issue. Just need a clearish night.

As you said it could be a rogue setting, if I was a betting man I'd put money on "user error" somewhere along the line. But it's me so the odds would be rubbish.

If I can rule everything else out then I'll ask them.

I don't think I can try another that I know of.

[Keiran]

This is what i managed to get. I originally had a black image, but i adjusted the histogram, and the saturation, and that was it no photo shopping 100% your image

Looks really good, have you got more than just 2 subs?

Thanks for the play

Keiran

[JB80]

I have about 10 subs of that pic, so not that many I know and I have half a dozen darks aswell.

I can upload the others if anyone wants.

[Keiran]

Yeah go on if you dont mind, im interested to see what the finished one would look like

[JB80]

I'm doing that now, it'll take a bit for it to upload but I'll post them when it does.

[Keiran]

Thanks mate, did you have any luck with them yourself, or is it still a mystery?

[JB80]

No luck at all, I have a couple of theories but I need to test it out when I can. I'm thinking try a camera reset and start over first and then work my way through different things.

I think this link will work for all the files if not I'll link them seperately.

jj242 to 252 are subs and jj 260 to 267 are darks

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n2zpwv83nthkcvk/i2ZEVf6X1y

[Keiran]

All downloaded ill have a go.... Did you move the histogram to the right after it was stacked?

[JB80]

I moved it every way, it was one of the first things I tried was to move it to what I'd normally see. While it improves the dss image the saved tif never looks like that and is still dark plus when I want to put it in PS all that happens is it increases the noise.

[JB80]

Well a positive update, last night was clear enough to try a few things, I made sure all my custom settings were disabled which they already were and in an act of desperation even turned a few on and off which didn't exactly help.

So I then decided to restore the camera back to the factory settings and make sure that I had disabled the custom functions and low and behold it worked.

The only downside with this means I can't pinpoint what what causing the problem but I'm very relieved and given the fact the camera was a secondhand one it could of been any number of things.

Below is a screenshot straight from DSS no adjustments made, one can actually see stars and given it was taken from light polluted Belgium as opposed to the dark skies of France like the other pictures then progress has been made.

Also bare in mind I wasn't trying to capture a great image last night it's all purely for testing purposes.

I'd like to thank everyone for their help and time, I have learnt a few things about DSS that I never new before and hopefully have resolved the issue.

[Keiran]

I managed to download them files, and i had no problem with any of them. I will piost the results on here tonight.

Thats really strange, atleast it is kind of working now

[Spikey]

Yup, at least its working now so I shouldn't worry about it.

[JB80]

It is a bit odd, clearly something I did has changed it though and I did a reinstall of DSS for good measure as well. I can now take an image straight from stacking which isn't full of noise and one that I can actually see.

I'll still be rubbish at processing but that will improve hopefully in time.

I'll be interested to see your results.