my fisrt pics of m42

[Hungovergraham]

ive finally managed to stack some pics i took in mid feb of 42 taken with panasonic lumix 3gf no mod 40 sec exspo approx 20 shots with a 200p on heq5 i stacked only jpegs as raw came out monocrome ?.

[Gina]

Excellent first image - well done

[Quatermass]

Very nice, I used to have a lumix G1 then a got rid of it and bought myself a Canon 350d second hand body only off flebay its much better then the Lumix was and modded its even better. The lumix was a nice camera but compared to the Canon it was not up to the job of astrophotography. If you can get yourself a second hand canon body only and try that out you will see a big difference. The Lumix is a really nice camera for day to day use but it does not have a sensitive enough chip for astrophotography, well thats how I felt about mine any way.

[Gina]

I found that with my Sony A200 too (as well as no USB computer control etc.) Nice for general use though

[Quatermass]

My old lumix was a great intro into using SLR cameras I missed the live view it had when I got my canon 350d but the quality of the images the cannon was able to produce in comparison were far better. I sold my lumix on to fund my mount modifications but miss having it to take day time pictures it was a nice camera.

here is my first picture of M42 that I took with my lumix in 2010

[Hungovergraham]

I had a few probs with my lumix expo was only 1 min and could not hook up to any timer so I got a 450d and had a baader bcf put into it two weeks ago but it it's rain for 4 weekend looks good or so they say can't wait to try it out

[Quatermass]

You should get better results with the 450d just a shame the weather is so horrible at the moment.

[Auntystatic]

When you stack in DSS it will come out almost mono, you have to bring the colour back by moving the saturation slider to 15-20%.

[Gina]

Yes, I always click the slider and it moves to +20% which seems about right.

[nytecam]

Nice work 'neighbour' Graham:hello2:

[Spikey]

Off to a good start there. Well done

[Hungovergraham]

I had ago at this 1 did not come out so good but im pants with a comp.me and comps do not get on

[Monki]

What are we looking at there hungovergraham? Looks like a galaxy and possibly another galaxy (or just a bright star?) In the bottom right?

I really like your M42...there's even some of the running man there too. I just regret I was never able to try it and now I'm too late

Not that my 60 would pick up as much as your 200 hehe.. but I like photos for my own personal reference.

Well done

Not sent from a Galaxy S2 on Slim ICS.

[Quatermass]

That last one is m81 and m82 is it not? looks like you can still draw much more out of it though..

[Hungovergraham]

I think it's cigar gal and dobes.I'm stil try to get the hang of dss I have quite a few pics that I need to do.there should be a service for dummy's like me who could give pics over to be stacked and coloured lol.cant wait to try my 450d.this weekend it is ment to be dry and clear.ive got lots of new toys for me to try out.

[Quatermass]

post the stacked image .tiff files up here via drop box and I will happily have a go at them for you bored out of my head with all this cloud about.

[Hungovergraham]

I have 1 prob how do you do it as I said I have no idea how to use a comp it's taken me 2.1/2 months to find out how to change tiff to jpeg and reduce its size that's how bad I am my girls just laugh at me never had the need to use comp apart from email and bits this is a big learning curve for me I'm not happy.push this turn that adjust this all abit much for me I'm getting to old lol

[Quatermass]

You will need to visit this link and watch the video as well..

https://www.dropbox.com/

then when you have set up your account with dropbox you put your .tiff file in the drop box public area. Having done that you then copy the link to your file and post it on the forum here using the insert link icon above. If you get stuck let me know and I will help you out.

[Hungovergraham]

I give it a go have wait for my daughter to come in as I use her laptop as I have mac so I nick hers to do dss then put it on a memory card back on to mac I use aperture on my mac to do what I can and seeing I have no idea what half the stuff dose I just fiddle til it looks better than it was.im now saving for laptop I hope that's the last for a while wife not happy with me

[Quatermass]

Ok good luck

[Hungovergraham]

Do want tiff as it came out of dss or will tiff as it is now be ok ?

[Quatermass]

If you could post a link to the .tiff file as it comes out of Deep sky stacker that would be good as it can then go into photo shop for processing.

When it has finished stacking your images save it as a 16bit .tiff file and then put it in your drop box and post the link on this thread.

[Hungovergraham]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/78692571/cigar%20and%20dobs.TIF

[Quatermass]

That's got it down loading it now will post it on here when I have finished processing later on Cheers

[Quatermass]

Here you go, its hard to draw much out from this tiff as there is not enough data in the image to work from but there is the beginings of m82 coming through there and m81 is ok. More subs darks and flats needed to get the full monty but its a good start. Suggest a nice dark site for this one to really bring out m82 and its spirals.