last nights attempt at M51 with 1100D

[mindburner]

well I hope I have managed to get the noise issues a bit more under control. I think cooling may help, but the canon darks seem pretty quiet. Most of the noise seemsto come from the capture for some reason

here's the attemps:

57 x 2 min subs

with darks, 20 flats & 30 bias

canon 1100D - full spectrum & baader neodynium LP filter

tried a couple of versions, processed in Nebulosity & PS

It's very hard I find to get the colour balance right on the modded camera. A custom white balance helped when capturing but this is not carried through to the raw

[DrRobin]

Hi,

Hey they are good. Bet you didn't use your dob? I am guessing they are with your EQ6, but was it guided or unguided?

Looks like I will have to save up for a Canon!

Cheers

Robin

[mindburner]

Cheers Robin. They are good (for me) as the last lot I did were pretty ropey. I have reduce the colour a vit as they were a bit too much.

The canon is great but to be honest not really hugely better than my Nikon. The Canon is modded and there is loads of support & great software

I did think about putting the 300p flextube on the EQ6. Might be a possibility for visual anyway as I have the extra counter weights and bar extension.

Now if I could just get some nice planetary images like your images. Not so great for me to try with the DSLR I think.

I'm sure the edge is a really nice bit of kit

I'm saving for the ATIK 314L CCD, which should hopefully help with the noise issues.

[DrRobin]

Hi,

I have had a pretty thin time of it lately, telescope wise. I had a go at Mars, with limited success and haven't even had a go at Saturn this year yet. The weather has been hopeless here for all of April.

I have been fiddling with an All Sky Camera, trying to set one up to automatically upload to the web, but even that seems a very slow project.

I like my DFK for planets, they seem to work very well. Not sure how it will compare to the Atik, but the 314 will be a better DSO camera.

I might try my Nikon D40x again, it's a CCD, but there isn't much software for it and focus is a little difficult without live preview. I like the idea of a Canon 5D or similar with the big chip area.

The edge came along at a very good price, new from the supplier and I needed something with a bit longer focal length than my Quattro. I haven't really done it justice yet, it looks very impressive, but is probably overkill for planets and at 2800mm focal length too much for DSOs. I am saving up for a focal reducer for it circa £300 or could get a Fastar at around 3x that, I can see that going down well with Mrs D....

Robin

[Gina]

Nice pics

[Qualia]

Phenominal.

[Quatermass]

They came out really nice with good detail and colour as well good job.

[Spikey]

Showing some nice details in M51 mindburner, I prefer the more colourful & slightly sharper first version.

I've yet to do a custom white balance on my modded 1000D, mainly because I haven't used it since I made the modifications. I believe a custom white balance is the only way to bring out the star colours post modification. Have you tried stacking the jpegs instead of the RAWs? Stacking the jpegs will have the balance applied.

[spaceboy]

"attempt" ??? don't you mean "result!" Great image MB.

[mindburner]

Many thanks guys for the encouraging words. I had a better m51 processed but my little boy pressed the PC power button. The extra practice in processing the image again can only come in useful.

I tried the subs in DSS also. I had to convert to TIF as even the new beta version went a bit mad when CR2 files were fed into it. The result was ok but a little softer than Nebulosity. DSS does do a decent job on the colour conversion though.

I though the noise on the actual subs was not great but more subs should help. I am impressed with the actual dark noise of the Canon on test it seems lower than the lights, but I guess it would be SN ratio and all.

@Spikey -no I haven't tried jpeg as yet. I think they would keep the colour better at the expense of compression.

Overall I am happier now with the camera. To be honest though, modding straight away may not be the best way to go for a beginner imager like myself. Galaxies (exception m81?) and the like do not seem to benefit hugely from the mod but it can cause colour problems for noob image processors like myself.

Modding for nebula and HA now that's going to be cool:) especially now as I got a HA filter and a Hoya R72 for some daytime IR stuff.

[Spikey]

I think you're right, if inexperienced (like myself) modding before learning the ropes un-modded may cause more issues than it resolves. Theres little benefit to be had on galaxies but it should work wonders for large nebula e.g. rosette, north american where the larger sensor on the DSLR camera is an advantage with a small widefield scope.

[starnut]

WoW that is nice well done

[Auntystatic]

Stacking in DSS has a setting to use the custom white balance if required, I'm using DeepSkyStacker333beta45 with my 1100d and have no problems with it so far.

[andyo]

Great pics both of them for me the colour in the top image is best

[Specman]

Nice Job! Is your Canon set to long exposure noise reduction. This kinda does darks for you as you go but obviously your own darks are the way to go.

I also find Bulb exposure RAW images at hi ISO noisy but I think that's the nature of the beast, you are capturing everything, noise and all. Lower ISO and longer exposure may be an answer.

I have my Canon running on a remote battery which helps with noise from battery heat but on long exposures you are still getting amp glow. I get that red speckling at times and I have also had Canon banding, as I say I think its a RAW, CR2, ISO thing.

I wouldn't push the ISO on a 1000D past 800 as I think it gets way too noisy.

I process in PixInsight and they have some tools that remove the worse of it. Nebulosity will also take care of some of it as you said.

Well done anyway, I love your image.

[mindburner]

Stacking in DSS has a setting to use the custom white balance if required, I'm using DeepSkyStacker333beta45 with my 1100d and have no problems with it so far.

hi thanks

the version I have. when I load my files the final result is very light grey. If I import this into PS the resulting image is just like static.

If I convert to Tif & use the non beta then they are fine.

weird one

[mindburner]

Nice Job! Is your Canon set to long exposure noise reduction. This kinda does darks for you as you go but obviously your own darks are the way to go.

I also find Bulb exposure RAW images at hi ISO noisy but I think that's the nature of the beast, you are capturing everything, noise and all. Lower ISO and longer exposure may be an answer.

I have my Canon running on a remote battery which helps with noise from battery heat but on long exposures you are still getting amp glow. I get that red speckling at times and I have also had Canon banding, as I say I think its a RAW, CR2, ISO thing.

I wouldn't push the ISO on a 1000D past 800 as I think it gets way too noisy.

I process in PixInsight and they have some tools that remove the worse of it. Nebulosity will also take care of some of it as you said.

Well done anyway, I love your image.

hi I was using in camera NR but not getting that many subs done. I unaged this way with my previous Nikon as well, but again no so many subs due to the incamera processing. The Canon amp glow is not too bad, but do you think that may be causing the red speckling? The image is shot at ISO 800. I was using a home made 8v PSU from a regulated 12v source via a 7808 regulator, seems to work a treat, but reverted back to batteries for this image just in case.

I have just received my aluminum sheet which I will hopefully fashion into a cooler for the 1100

[Specman]

hi I was using in camera NR but not getting that many subs done. I unaged this way with my previous Nikon as well, but again no so many subs due to the incamera processing. The Canon amp glow is not too bad, but do you think that may be causing the red speckling? The image is shot at ISO 800. I was using a home made 8v PSU from a regulated 12v source via a 7808 regulator, seems to work a treat, but reverted back to batteries for this image just in case.

I have just received my aluminum sheet which I will hopefully fashion into a cooler for the 1100

Hi,

I was getting reduced subs imaging Andromeda using the in camera NR. I had planned 50 but only managed 37 before it dropped out of sight behind the house. A 90sec exposure was taking 270sec with cool down between shots. I think you are doing everything right, I was also using 800 ISO but I wouldn't go any higher on the 1000D or 1100D. I think dropping it down to 400 would reduce the noise and planned to give that a try, uping my exposure times.

I use the following for camera power and it reduces glow from the battery (I see you made your own)

Astronomiser - Automated Astronomy and AstroImaging Solutions

I'm also going to give this a try

Astronomiser - Automated Astronomy and AstroImaging Solutions

I was talking to Saturn 5, (stewart) about noise as he owns a 1000D & a 5D MkII, his pics are always perfect and mine always seem grainy and red blotchy. I sent him a RAW tiff to have a look at and he thought that they were pretty good and nothing wrong with my settings or image. He said he has the same issue with his 1000D but compared to his 5D MkII, which is one of the best cameras on the market for low noise night time shots, anythings going to struggle to compare.

The red blotching is annoying, I agree. It took ages to process out of my M42 image, but once I got the right advice, PixInsight cleaned it up.

If you tried all of the above then the long and the short is, for a £300 DSLR its pretty good and you processed most of it out. its never going to be as good as a shot captured on a £2000K camera.

Maybe have another shot at processing, PI has the ability to process the background and protect the image. Maybe somethin you could try (they do a free trial period so you could test it out)

Your image is still great though, well done!

[mindburner]

hi Specman. Thanks for the reply. Yes I hear a a lot of good things about Pixinsight. I must try and get a demo copy. I currently use nebulosity and DSS the odd time. Nebulosity is good but I only have an older version which won't read Canon 1100D Cr2, so I need to convert to TIF each time.

The red blotching may be made worse by my LP filter, plus the camera is full spectrum. I have been able to find anyone's experience with this combination of 1100D full spectrum and Baader Neodymium filter to compare with.

The 1100D was a steal at £300 with a lens. It's pretty cool for taking some daytime IR images of landscapes etc too. Overall I am well pleased with it. I started making a aluminum cooler box yesterday until nearly slicing my fingers off stopped play. I hope to get a peltier and fan and experiment with cooling. This should hopefully reduce the build up of noise in the actual subs themselves.

I will post up any progress on the cooler

[Specman]

hi Specman.

The red blotching may be made worse by my LP filter, plus the camera is full spectrum. I have been able to find anyone's experience with this combination of 1100D full spectrum and Baader Neodymium filter to compare with.

You may get better results with a DSO instead of a galaxy. My 1000D is unmodded as yet and I don't need LP filters as I have pretty dark skies in the winter.

Good luck with the cooler

[Pete Presland]

looking very good

[DrRobin]

Hi Alan,

Thought you might be interested to know I have bought a Canon 600D, pretty similar to your 1100D. Looking forwards to getting some great images like yours, if we ever get any more clear skies.

Did you determine if ISO 800 or 400 is best?

[ianaiken]

Now that is a very nice image of M51 - sorry I didnt see it first time round. I like the processing on the first image.

[mindburner]

many thanks Ian. I must say your images are excellent and were an inspiration as to what a refractor can do

[mindburner]

Hi Alan,

Thought you might be interested to know I have bought a Canon 600D, pretty similar to your 1100D. Looking forwards to getting some great images like yours, if we ever get any more clear skies.

Did you determine if ISO 800 or 400 is best?

hi

Thats great getting the new camera. You will have some fun and if your planetary images are anything to go by then the DSO's will look great.

I have been using mostly ISO800. I have never went above it actually. Currently I am in the shed using team viewer to control the imaging scope in the garden locked on the blackeye galaxy. I am obsessing over my PHD guiding graph, sad or what?