First ever astro pics - scb2000 :)

[hoops86]

Thanks Guys! I did try and use x512 but it always just seems to kill the image

Im on my works laptop at the moment and again the detail is much easier to see than on my mac book(brightness set to max). Very strange!

I must say tho that all the images did look better when i was viewing live on my netbook. The contrast was much clearer.

I almost shat myself when C30 appeared on the screen! First galaxy ive ever seen through my scope was a very exciting moment  I also ran the avi file of C30 through registax and it came out with interesting difference from just the screen grab. Will post it when im home from work as i want to ask you's something about it!

I will increase the brightness next time to get more detail! Also notice anything about these???? NO MENU THIS TIME!!!

[Schorhr]

Very nice! Can you Post the short and long Senseup "raw" image?

[hoops86]

Hey Marcus

Do you mean a pic of say M27 at x128, x256, x512? Im pretty sure i have that for M27 im not convinced i have them for the other 2. And as i remembered to remove the menu this time before capturing it might be more difficult to find haha. I will have a look when im home and post them if i can

[Schorhr]

Hello :-)

No rush, just if you can find them and if you can spare the time.

[Dragon Man]

That is very good Johnno, considering you are trying to process from a clipped Jpeg with lost data due to being posted in it's Forum form.

You managed to bring out the Red borders of the Neb. I wouldn't have even expected it to be in the image that was posted due to Jpeg compression and the black clipping  

I gave it a try with some very heavy processing which unfortunately creates artifacts and ruins good stars, but I wanted to see what data Karl has actually captured in the Nebula itself,

Yep, there's a lot in there!

[Dragon Man]

Oops, sorry Chris, I called you karl again lol!

[hoops86]

Wow thats so much brighter and better! Thanks Ken! Wish i knew how to do this haha

Also no worries you had about a 50% chance of getting it right due to the amount of Karls and Carls we seem to have here!

[hoops86]

Hello :-)

No rush, just if you can find them and if you can spare the time.

Sorry mate no joy. I didnt record any with the menu still showing so no idea what intergration they were lol. I think i only captured them when i was happy with the images on screen so didnt take any at x512 as they just seemed to bloat everything. I will start recording with the menu still on screen next time so i can keep track of things in future

[Schorhr]

That's okey :-)

Same problem here, I try to just let sharpcap capture every second or so... It lacks of a in-capture note function

do you still have any unprocessed frames though?

[hoops86]

Yeh man i have loads of AVI files for them all. I have one pretty good file about 45 secs long of M27 at x256. Ive got a few from a couple of nights ago of M57 about 3 minutes long it shows different intergrations but they arent great got a bit of star trails in them.

Is there a certain way i should take the screenshots and upload them to keep as much data as possible? Should i always save the pic as a jpeg?

[Schorhr]

PNG would allow relatively good compression while being lossless But I'm not picky.

[Spacedout]

Thanks Guys! I did try and use x512 but it always just seems to kill the image

Im on my works laptop at the moment and again the detail is much easier to see than on my mac book(brightness set to max). Very strange!

I must say tho that all the images did look better when i was viewing live on my netbook. The contrast was much clearer.

I almost shat myself when C30 appeared on the screen! First galaxy ive ever seen through my scope was a very exciting moment  I also ran the avi file of C30 through registax and it came out with interesting difference from just the screen grab. Will post it when im home from work as i want to ask you's something about it!

I will increase the brightness next time to get more detail! Also notice anything about these???? NO MENU THIS TIME!!!

Nice one Chris, your excitement is contagious and reminds me of when I first used my camera.  It's like wow am I seeing things

[hoops86]

Hahaha yeh totally i was honestly so excited! When i first slewed the scope to C30 i was like "ehhh so where is this galaxy im meant to be seeing you stupid scope???" Then a few second later stuff started to appear and that was followed by a "HOLY **** THERE IT IS!". My neighbour was out smoking and heard me so came over to see what all the fuss was about. He seemed pretty impressed with it. So i went back to M27 and he loved that! So much so that he stayed out with me for the rest of the night 

[shirva]

Another convert chris

[Dragon Man]

Hahaha yeh totally i was honestly so excited! When i first slewed the scope to C30 i was like "ehhh so where is this galaxy im meant to be seeing you stupid scope???" Then a few second later stuff started to appear and that was followed by a "HOLY **** THERE IT IS!". My neighbour was out smoking and heard me so came over to see what all the fuss was about. He seemed pretty impressed with it. So i went back to M27 and he loved that! So much so that he stayed out with me for the rest of the night 

     Yep, I remember that feeling Chris.

Did I say I "remember it"?  . . . I still get it 

[hoops86]

Ohh and Marcus what frames would you like? I have all the avi's for everything so should be able to upload some PNG files for you

Just let me know what you want and i will post them when im home from work!

[hoops86]

     Yep, I remember that feeling Chris.

Did I say I "remember it"?  . . . I still get it 

Im very glad that even after you have seen / produced some breathtaking views of stuff that you still get that feeling!

I hope i still feel the same way in many years to come and its not just a 'first timer' wow feeling

[Dragon Man]

Chris, it goes on for years.

New exciting objects to see, using new gear, showing newbies the view from these cameras, etc. 

2 years at Video Atronomy and I'm just beginning!

[hoops86]

Hey Guys here are a few screenshots of my adventures last night

Conditions were very poor on and off all night with a thin layer of cloud in the sky pretty much at all times

Here are a few poor attempts of M27 dumbell, C4 Iris nebula and M31's core

Was able to show my dad and sister on the big TV and they were very impressed! Quote from my dad was "Now thats my kind of astronomy! F sitting out in the cold all night"

All were captured at x512 intergration (i used Marcus's suggestion about saving them as a PNG file so dunno if it will post correctly)

All same gear as always - LX90 + SCB2000 + 0.5 reducer + Baader neodymium filter

[Dragon Man]

You're on fire Chris    woo-hooooo 

[Schorhr]

Thanks for sharing those! Very nice!

And a lot of faint detail and color in there when you crank up the contrast, gamma and saturation :-)

Amazing for single frames.

How come you have them on white canvas? What software do you use for grabbing now?

[hoops86]

Cheers guys! I need to try this prosessing thing! what software do you use to change the contrast, gamma and saturation?

And Marcus i fully blame you for the white canvas! Seems to do that when you save as a PNG for some reason

I use Ulead software to capture then play the avi file back in windows media player and hit printscreen

[Schorhr]

Oh okey, I don't know about ulead's settings. It's strange though!

In sharpcap it's as it's supposed to be, it'll just save the image.

Doesn't one of those capture suits run on your computer?

[hoops86]

I actually was playing about with Ulead last night and found a "capture still image" or something button. But kept getting an error when i clicked it. Only after i had finished observing i worked out that i can take a still image only when im not recording something at the same time. I will use that feature in future

[Astrogate]

Some great captures Chris with your SCB2000!

Chris A

Astrogate