Hydrogen alpha bonanza! PGR Chamaeleon first light

[Andrew*]

Please check out the re-processed versions further down!!

Please bear in mind these are my first images in what seems like years!

I got a nice new Chamaeleon camera recently, and from this set it looks to show a lot of promise. However, in white light there seems to be a regular pattern grain which comes out severely in post processing.

First, two white lights:

Forgive the processing on these. Didn't use Photoshop so it's a bit hit and miss.

higher exposure for nice faint promincences:

Mount: HEQ5 PRO

Scope: ED120

White light filter: Lunt 1.25" herschel wedge

H alpha filter: PST etalon, BF10

Barlow: Zeiss 2x abbe

Camera: PGR Chameleon

Capture: FireCapture

Stacking: 20% of 500 frames in AS!2

Wavelets: Registax6

Post processing: IrfanView (could have done a lot better in PS...)

Data: Ha: 30 seconds@18FPS. WL: 60 seconds@18FPS, 8bit

Seeing: Attrocious and very windy

Transparency: Excellent

Welcome any comments and tips for improvement.I think this data has a lot more in it than I've got out.

[Andrew*]

One more!

The compression from uploading has rather destroyed some of the proms unfortunately

[David Smith]

Wow, an impressive collection of images.

[allcart]

Thats a fine collection of images Andrew. It looks to me that you havent quite nailed the focus and the artifacts you see are caused by oversharpening. A bit more practice with photoshop could possibly cure it. I would think that all cameras require a slightly different processing technique. It just a matter of working out whats best for your cam.

[Notty]

Nice pics, I'm waiting for my Chameleon in the post... Even more excited now.

[Andrew*]

Thats a fine collection of images Andrew. It looks to me that you havent quite nailed the focus and the artifacts you see are caused by oversharpening. A bit more practice with photoshop could possibly cure it. I would think that all cameras require a slightly different processing technique. It just a matter of working out whats best for your cam.

Thanks Allen, good feedback. It's disheartening to hear that the focus is not quite perfect but you're probably right. I actually thought I did quite well given the conditions. The scope was buffeted by the wind and the seeing was horrendous that it was so difficult to determine best focus. I was using the fine focus at 200% zoom. Is there any software assistance available for focusing on solar?

Must have another go at the processing with PS this time.

Cheers

Andrew

[allcart]

Andrew, take the image back into photoshop and give it a shot of Guassian blur with a 1.0 radius. Then smart sharpen 200%, radius 1.0 and see how it looks.

[allcart]

I struggled yesterday with focusing because the image on the screen looked like it was boiling. I find a max 150% works for me. At 200% it all looks too soft and blurry to judge.

To be fair, I do not get on well with wavelets. I cannot get them to work for me at all. I do everything in photoshop. If your using wavelets, you're one up on me.

[allcart]

I took the liberty of doing a quick 10 second edit to hopefully show what I mean. Actually, studying the Ha pics, the focus is pretty good.

WL Andrew by allcart2, on Flickr

WL1 Gaussian blur smart sharpen by allcart2, on Flickr

[hunterknox]

Nice to see that camera's reached a good home. I'm flummoxed by the blocky artifacts though. I can only imagine it's oversharpening with relatively poor seeing affecting the original captures.

I do like the blur-then-sharpen approach myself. Totally counter-intuitive but it works. If you haven't seen MarkT's processing vids on YouTube they're well worth looking up.

[Andrew*]

It's strange, isn't it? It's only on the WL images and was even present with minimal sharpening. I'll re stack them and see what happens.

Could it be something to do with using polarisers?

[Psychobilly]

Nice set with the new kit especially

Hopefully you can get rid of the artefacts if the camera wasn't showing them before then it's probably come form the processing.

I find focussing difficult , With the PBK built LOHA there are two focusers - a motorised two speed focus and a Borg helical focuser I am using the motorised one from the handbox rather than the PC at the moment but the kit is there to do it.

Not having to touch the scope certainly helps. The scopes under mounted on the EQ3-Pro so quivers like a jelly at the slightest touch. I really should sort out the new pier adaptor....maybe this weekend...

Peter...

[Andrew*]

D'Oh! Just found out what I was doing wrong! I had step increment in Registax set to 1. Loads more control with it set at 0. I've done them all again in PS and I'm much happier now. A despeckle and unsharp sorted out the lines in the WL pics and I am really pleased with the prom/surface combos.

[Psychobilly]

Sorted

Fantastic detail in there now....

Peter...

[Luke]

Super images, Andrew Looks like the new camera is really going to deliver for you.

[Andrew*]

Thanks

It's got to be done... I'm always amazed how big these features are...

[allcart]

Wow! what a difference a day makes. Glad you found the cause and sorted it. These look great now. Well done.

[Mr Spock]

Nice set of images. Most impressive.

[Psychobilly]

It definitely went to a good home.. I was extremely tempted...

My new Solar cam search is still on-going...

Peter...

[Andrew*]

It definitely went to a good home.. I was extremely tempted...

My new Solar cam search is still on-going...

Peter...

They're a good buy at £312 new. I heard they were flogging them cheap on eBay in USA but I don't think there are any left.

I think the only other cam in the price range is the 120MM, at least if you want 12-bit and more than a 640x480 array.

[Psychobilly]

They do look good but I'm waiting for someone to try out the new Celestron Skris cams.. I have upgraded the lappy to SSD and external USB3.0 HDD's to make the most of the interface...

What's the sweetspot effect like on your setup ?

I have Photobykev's LOHA ( Lyra Optic 102/f11 setup with a 110mm D-ERF and BF-15 setup) and I'm still learning how to use it.. I'm taking it to Kelling and hoping to try a few different cams there...

Peter...

[Helen]

Those reprocessed shots are gorgeous Andrew! Did you hear the 'Wow' from me when I opened the prom/spot combo one?? Great stuff. I'm wondering about getting one of the bigger Point Grey cameras to allow greater resolution but still full disk on my set up and your shots here suggest that would be worth doing!

Helen

[Andrew*]

Sweet spot is not an issue with a 2x barlow but I had to tune it carefully to get good contrast across the frame. The whole optical system has to be very well centred too. Without the 2x barlow there were areas with slightly lower contrast, and I would be happy with this unless I was doing a mosaic (nightmare to process the edges).

Stick a barlow in and you're laughing.

I am wondering about storage on my lappy too. I want to do a time lapse movie, but shudder to think of the volume of data! Wondering if it will save at 18FPS onto an SD card.... Thoughts?

[Andrew*]

Those reprocessed shots are gorgeous Andrew! Did you hear the 'Wow' from me when I opened the prom/spot combo one?? Great stuff. I'm wondering about getting one of the bigger Point Grey cameras to allow greater resolution but still full disk on my set up and your shots here suggest that would be worth doing!

Thanks Helen! I'm really chuffed actually. I haven't used one of these newfangled computer-controlled cameras for several years, so was really chuffed with the results. I think a PGR will do you very well. The only complaint I've heard on the Cham is the low frame rate, but the bigger ones in the range are very well regarded indeed.

[Psychobilly]

I have been perusing the PGR website .. some fantastic cams on there... nice sized chips and 24 bit output.. . dont think I want to register to get a price....

As for the SD card route... there are several potential bottleknecks but it has got to be worth a try.. I use USB3 readers with fast cards and they are quite nippy...

Peter...