First ever astro pics - scb2000 :)

[hoops86]

Hey Guys - ive finally got the scb2000 up and running and managed to take a few captures last night of M57 and M13. I played them back and just took a print screen when watching it on windows media player. I cropped them in paint to make them smaller but thats it.

Using scb2000 + 0.5 focal reducer + baader neodymium filter on a lx90 8" SCT

I know it looks stupid with the menu still on but i was just happy to finally see objects on my screen!

Cheers

Chris

[Schorhr]

Great!

It's amazing what 8" and the camera shows, nice snapshots!

I left the display on as well in my first tries with the camera ;-)

You could use irfan view (freeware) auto correct (it'll darken the background but sometimes is a bit much) or the manual color settings to enhance it a bit, or gimp, paint.net if you are looking for a more complex free editing software :-)

[hoops86]

Thanks Marcus! I will check the editing software you suggested i just have no idea what im doing with it all

[Nibor]

Thanks for sharing - like you I am looking forward to seeing my first images of the great deep sky celestial wonders on my own monitor - so far I am just at the getting to understand the best setting / mount / telescope combination - but did manage to capture a few shots of Alberio a couple of nights ago.

Keep up the good work - I shall be interested to see more images as you progress!!

[shirva]

Brilliant Chris well chuffed for you...came a long way in a short time..looking forward to more images. ...Davy

[hoops86]

Cheers guys! I will post more pics when i can. I have some frames of M92 but i wasnt overly happy with them so didnt post them.

Big thanks to you Davy! Would never have got this far without all your help! I am in your debt sir!

The difference when comparing the views through the sammy to just normal visual viewing is huge! Visually viewing M13 is okish...i can only make out maybe 10 stars... but through the sammy its so much better! Same with M57... its just a small smoke ring with not a hint of colour when looking through the eyepiece.

Cant wait to get back out and attack these skies!!

[johnno]

great shots for first attempts Chris, don't bother about leaving the menu on, i'm just like you when I see something for the first time and sod the menu i'm taking a shot of it.

did you try lowering the X times one notch or was they just to dark at lower settings

[hoops86]

Cheers John! Yes mate i started at like x12 and just increased it till i could see more colour / detail.

Question about that.... how long do i need to wait when increasing / decreasing the shutter settings? It would flake out a bit going really really grey then slowly settling back down a bit. Hmmmm I have one of M57 at x256 im trying to post but the option to insert a pic has gone?!?! Where did it go lol?

[hoops86]

Ahh ok found it Here is M57 at x256. I think the x512 looks better.

[Carl Reade]

Good job Chris well on the way. I agree the X512 looks smoother.

Carl

[Dragon Man]

Excellent work Chris 

I like seeing it as the camera shows it, not after it has post-processed to look better.

It shows how good (or bad) each camera is for Live viewing work.

If you want to be able to fiddle with Brightness, Contrast, saturation, etc 'Live', download Gstar-ex software.

That way you can adjust all your settings 'live'.

Get it HERE

How it works: Open your Video image like normal. Then open Gstar software. Click on 'Camera' and select your camera from the list.

Then click on 'Properties' then 'Amp'.

Now you have full access to settings to make your Live image look better.

If you need any help working through it if you get stuck, just ask. 

But it's really easy.

[hoops86]

Cheers Carl and cheers Ken that gstar software looks great! Other software i have tried like sharpcap just crash on my netbook all the time. Ive hooked up the camera and tested it out a little and it seems to work really well!

[Dragon Man]

Cheers Carl and cheers Ken that gstar software looks great! Other software i have tried like sharpcap just crash on my netbook all the time. Ive hooked up the camera and tested it out a little and it seems to work really well!

Excellent!

Yeah, it's a really stable little piece of software.

If you click on the 'Session' tab down the right hand side it enables you to stack 2 images, sort of giving you the ability to double your integration time.

Have a play around with it. It helps on very faint objects when you are restricited to only 512x integration.

It's like you magically upped your camera to 20 seconds, not stuck with 10. 

[hoops86]

Second attempt

Managed to get out for an hour in-between the wall of clouds last night! Same target M57. For some reason anytime i went from x256 up to x512 it killed the image. It would settle down slightly after a while but would never fully recover.

Here are pics from x256 and x512. The x512 pic was after waiting several minutes after jumping up from x256.

Any ideas?

[Dragon Man]

That looks much better Chris.

I don't understand why your camera keeps crashing on changing integration.

I remember mine could freeze up for 30 seconds or so if I made changes too fast.

The circuitry in the security cameras isn't designed for constant and fast changes. They are usually set and forget monitoring cameras.

The security installer would set up the camera for best image, then leave it that way for its life.

[Carl Reade]

HI, the 2000 does seem to take a buckle now and again when switching between integration. As Ken says we do tend to push these cams out of their operating comfort zone. But hey thats part of our sport

Carl

[hoops86]

Thanks ken and Carl was using ulead to capture and gstar for the settings (thanks for the tip ken). I only changed the brightness for the pics above. That Hue setting is weird! changes the colour of everything haha.

So is the only way to fix it just drop right back down to like x32 and slowly increase again? How long should i wait before jumping up each level?

[Carl Reade]

More or less Hoops, no set way I usually knock it down to 64 then bring it back up. Most of the time if you just bring the menu back on screen it kicks it in or wakes it up as it were.

Over all not a serious issue.

Carl

[Dragon Man]

Just try it a bit slower.

If it crashes, you'll know to wait a bit longer between button presses.

If it freezes, just wait for a bit and it should unfreeze. Don't push any buttons while waiting. You'll see when it unfreezes. It will go to what you last pressed. Then try again.

It's all Trial & Error testing.

If it works - Yippeee,

it is doesn't - wait and try again 

[hoops86]

Ok cheers guys will just play around with it and see what works best.... if the clouds ever let me that is

[hoops86]

Hey guys had some clearish skies last night for a couple of hours.

Here are some first attempts at M27 dumbell, C27 cresent nebula and C30 random galaxy.

I think i went a bit over kill on lowering the brightness to keep the background black cause they seem really dim. If you squint hard you can kinda see them lol (for some reason i can see them much better on my netbook. on my mac book i can hardly see any detail).

Print screen then cropped in paint. All were at x256

[Carl Reade]

Good job and tracking Hoops. Did you try X512 To bring out more detail?

[Dragon Man]

The detail is really good. Don't worry about trying to get the background sky darker because the sky isn't black anyway.

Leave it at a brighter level. If it looks a bit dark, raise it even more. Light sky is ok. 

[DoctorD]

Great first images - as Dragonman says, don't worry too much about a black sky, crank the brightness up so you can see more of the nebula.

Clear skies

Paul

[johnno]

Good first attempt on them,  maybe the screen brightness might want adjusting on your Mac to bring it up to the level of the netbook.

I've just tried to get a bit more detail out of the pic. I'm not very good at processing.