First Try with ASI120MM-Jupiter 20_02_14

[Clockwork_Orange]

Evening all

Well I pulled the trigger on the ASI120MM, and the nice man Sam in China delivered it from China in 3 Days and no import tax  .

So Thursday night being clear I gave it a try, now I've never done any LRGB imaging before so I'm still picking things up as I go. These are just the RGB parts, as I haven't discovered how to add in the 'L' yet. I shot 2000 frames with each filter, stacked them in AS!2, then wavlets in Reg6 then loaded then into PS, adjusted the levels and combined. The first one is at F10 on the SE8, The second one is at about F15 to F16. I fitted the 6.3 reducer to bring the focal length down, then used a 2.5 powermate to get to that. I did try a few runs a F20 with a Xcel 2X barlow but they didn't come out well at all. Both Images look a little washed out to me and I'm sure there is a lot more detail in there to be had, once I work out what I'm doing wrong. The L capture which is not included in either of these does seem to show a lot of detail so if anyone can point me in the required direction I'd be most grateful.

F10 Image:-

F15/16 Image :-

Regards

John

[ArmyAirForce]

Good first go with a new camera! I've had mine since about mid January, and still experimenting with settings under different conditions!

[Clockwork_Orange]

Thanks AAF

I did do a bit of one shot colour prior to this with my Neximage5, but this is the first time I've even tried a mono camera, let alone a filter wheel.  I had read up a fair bit about the ASI before purchase though, and thought I'd give it a go, I had read somewhere about keeping the F ratio to around F15 for the best results. But I think the F10 image I have taken is better than the F15/16, but then again it could be the convoluted way I've got to that ratio using the 6.3 reducer. I need to find a good 1.5 Barlow for it I think.

Regards

John  

[SnakeyJ]

Excellent first images with this camera John, and great service direct from ZWO - I know many UK based e-tailers that can't seem to manage this sort of turnaround time on orders.

Always a little familiaristion required with a new camera and with the darker arts of LRGB imaging as well.     Which software are you using for the captures?    I'd recommend trying out with Firecapture and Sharpcap, as both offer excellent support for this camera and once acquainted speed up the workflow and can support electronic filter wheels and focusers if you're so minded.

Stacking the channels directly in PS will limit the length of the total capture time for all channels, to avoid blurring due to rotation effects - less time, less frames and lower SNR in the resulting stacks.    I'd strongly recommend WinJupos as this will allow you to take 90-120s videos for each channel at F10-F20 and will then derotate the resulting (L)RGB subs on combination.   You can also derotate and combine multiple R, G and B subs - say you capture two sequences of LRGB, you can derotate 2xL, 2xR, 2xG and 2xB and then use the resultant new frames for the LRGB combination/derotation - there's an excellent tutorial here,http://www.rkblog.rk.edu.pl/w/p/planetary-maps-and-de-rotation-winjupos/ (provided by Darryl / Kokathaman).

These cameras can easily provide 100FPS for <640x480 ROIs, provided your laptop can keep up - but although the high frame rates can help with poor seeing, I actually find it better to use less gain and increase the exposure (though I try to keep above 60FPS) - just seems to give a smoother output.    Target histogram is generally 70% on channels, though I'm trying with slightly less for lum - the camera will easilly do this on an 8" scope unless shooting through cloud/haze, even at F20-F25

Good luck with new addition and weather and look forward to seeing some more images soon.

Re focal lengths F16 is quoted as optimum, but if the seeing and transparancy is good these cameras will deliver at F25 and beyond for lunar and brighter planets - F40 even with larger apertures.

[Clockwork_Orange]

Thanks Jake

Yes excellent service by ZWO and UPS, I went to bed Tuesday night having checked its status and it was in Germany, The UPS delivery man was at my door on Wednesday Morning 8:30. Considering they only dispatched it Monday 3.25pm I was gob smacked!!

I used Sharpcap to capture as I had used it with my Neximage5 and was familiar with it, I'm pretty sure they F10 image ran at about 110 fps, where as the F15/16 ran in the high 80's. I will have to look into this winjupos, sounds like a very neat idea.

Regards

John

[DrRobin]

Looks good to me John. Some nice detail and the colour looks good too. I had intended to have a go at RGB this year, but since I can't get OSC to work properly yet, I am reluctant to complicate it.

Robin