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Imaging with the 130pds


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1 hour ago, Gerry Casa Christiana said:

IMG_4505.thumb.PNG.9308fa78fbd99a20182d2160cb4d5146.PNG

 

Hello all. 

Did some frames in H Alpha on my dslr last night for the first time. Any way in particular to stack in DSS? I did flats and bias. 

Thanks

Gerry

In recommended settings choose 'super pixels' this switches off debayering so red won't be affected by green and blue channels. This is so you can easily separate it later by splitting the final image into RGB layers and 'losing' G and B. It will be 1/4 the size of a normal DSLR image (1/2 as wide, 1/2 as tall).

Stack as normal. Open photo editor and split channels to RGB, be surprised how much detail is in the G & B channels, but delete them and save R as a mono TIFF.

If you later stack RGB data to provide colour to go with it you can use super pixel mode to get a colour image the same size to combine with it.

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2 hours ago, Galen Gilmore said:

@tony8690Nice images, especially the Andromeda. The Orion is nice, but it needs more frames.

Are you adding flat frames? If not you should, that will fix most of the vinneiting. 

Thank you :)

Really happy with my Andromeda, first go at it and luckily my Mount behaved (after a bit of fighting with it!) and aligned almost perfectly!

M42 as just a couple of shots the i didn't actually think would show anything! so very happy with that for only 2 shots.

I don't use flats. TBH i have no idea what that means. i thaik i need to do some reading up on a lot of AP things.

I'm still learning a lot at the moment so i had a couple hour window and it took me most of that time just setting up/getting aligned and working.

I have a guide setup but haunt had a chance to really practice how to use it. in wales from Thursday over Christmas so will hopefully get a few clear nights there and get some more shots in :)

 

Thanks,

T

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1 hour ago, tony8690 said:

Thank you :)

Really happy with my Andromeda, first go at it and luckily my Mount behaved (after a bit of fighting with it!) and aligned almost perfectly!

M42 as just a couple of shots the i didn't actually think would show anything! so very happy with that for only 2 shots.

I don't use flats. TBH i have no idea what that means. i thaik i need to do some reading up on a lot of AP things.

I'm still learning a lot at the moment so i had a couple hour window and it took me most of that time just setting up/getting aligned and working.

I have a guide setup but haunt had a chance to really practice how to use it. in wales from Thursday over Christmas so will hopefully get a few clear nights there and get some more shots in :)

 

Thanks,

T

Flat frames fix two things. Dust bunnies that appear as little smudges on images, and vinneiting, the darker areas on the edges of the image.

You take flats by shooting a completely evenly illuminated surface, I like using a laptop screen with a white t-shirt taped over the front of my scope with my camera on AV mode. You take about 10-20 of these. An important thing to know is that optical train must be exactly the same for flats as for lights, same filters, same focus, same position if the camera, everything.

HTH.

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19 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

In recommended settings choose 'super pixels' this switches off debayering so red won't be affected by green and blue channels. This is so you can easily separate it later by splitting the final image into RGB layers and 'losing' G and B. It will be 1/4 the size of a normal DSLR image (1/2 as wide, 1/2 as tall).

Stack as normal. Open photo editor and split channels to RGB, be surprised how much detail is in the G & B channels, but delete them and save R as a mono TIFF.

If you later stack RGB data to provide colour to go with it you can use super pixel mode to get a colour image the same size to combine with it.

I'm having problems (maybe because I didn't use super pixel mode) to save in mono. When I delete the green and blue channels it won't let me save in anything except a PSD file. There is no option for tiff. I'm using CS2. 

I'm also having problems when I copy and paste the rgb onto h Alpha. They don't line up perfectly and I see rotate but it needs fine adjustments. Is there also a transparency option so I can see through one picture to another? Sorry for the questions. Maybe I should do it on a separate thread. Only if you have a quick answer :) 

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34 minutes ago, Gerry Casa Christiana said:

I'm having problems (maybe because I didn't use super pixel mode) to save in mono. When I delete the green and blue channels it won't let me save in anything except a PSD file. There is no option for tiff. I'm using CS2. 

I'm also having problems when I copy and paste the rgb onto h Alpha. They don't line up perfectly and I see rotate but it needs fine adjustments. Is there also a transparency option so I can see through one picture to another? Sorry for the questions. Maybe I should do it on a separate thread. Only if you have a quick answer :) 

Photoshop makes it very hard to work with split images, it's much easier in photoshop which has simple commands to split to various sets of channels and automatically recombine them.

 

You may need to change the mode to grayscale first.

Yes transparency is done with a slider when the layer is highlighted in the layer manager.

You need to:

Paste Ha on top of RGB

Select Ha layer

Set transparency

Zoom in

Choose transform tool

Align the same star on both images at (say) stop right.

Enable free transform (edit menu)

Reposition the rotation centre (little crosshair at centre of image) on top of the aligned star (can take a while to find them when zoomed in!)

Pan to opposite corner

Type in different rotation amounts until the images register (you can go down to 0.05 degree in PS2, which is about good enough)

Choose another tool and apply the transformation.

Remove the transparency and set the mode to luminance. Adjust transparency to get the effect you want.

 

To blend Ha only with the red layer you would split to RGB, do that on the red image, then recombine them.

 

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1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Photoshop makes it very hard to work with split images, it's much easier in photoshop which has simple commands to split to various sets of channels and automatically recombine them.

 

You may need to change the mode to grayscale first.

Yes transparency is done with a slider when the layer is highlighted in the layer manager.

You need to:

Paste Ha on top of RGB

Select Ha layer

Set transparency

Zoom in

Choose transform tool

Align the same star on both images at (say) stop right.

Enable free transform (edit menu)

Reposition the rotation centre (little crosshair at centre of image) on top of the aligned star (can take a while to find them when zoomed in!)

Pan to opposite corner

Type in different rotation amounts until the images register (you can go down to 0.05 degree in PS2, which is about good enough)

Choose another tool and apply the transformation.

Remove the transparency and set the mode to luminance. Adjust transparency to get the effect you want.

 

To blend Ha only with the red layer you would split to RGB, do that on the red image, then recombine them.

 

I'm going to try it! Thanks! 

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4 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Photoshop makes it very hard to work with split images, it's much easier in photoshop which has simple commands to split to various sets of channels and automatically recombine them.

 

You may need to change the mode to grayscale first.

Yes transparency is done with a slider when the layer is highlighted in the layer manager.

You need to:

Paste Ha on top of RGB

Select Ha layer

Set transparency

Zoom in

Choose transform tool

Align the same star on both images at (say) stop right.

Enable free transform (edit menu)

Reposition the rotation centre (little crosshair at centre of image) on top of the aligned star (can take a while to find them when zoomed in!)

Pan to opposite corner

Type in different rotation amounts until the images register (you can go down to 0.05 degree in PS2, which is about good enough)

Choose another tool and apply the transformation.

Remove the transparency and set the mode to luminance. Adjust transparency to get the effect you want.

 

To blend Ha only with the red layer you would split to RGB, do that on the red image, then recombine them.

 

Tried all of that but no success. I think I ruined the collimation on the night when doing a star test. So the stars won't actually line up at all! Lesson learnt!

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1 hour ago, Gerry Casa Christiana said:

Tried all of that but no success. I think I ruined the collimation on the night when doing a star test. So the stars won't actually line up at all! Lesson learnt!

You can stretch the image if the scale isn't quite the same.

If my instructions seem complicated, be assured it's more difficult than that, I find it can take several tries! Very easy to align on the wrong star near the beginning.

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On ‎19‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 13:14, Galen Gilmore said:

Anybody know what is causing these pacman shaped stars in my images? They always go the same direction, not increasing towards the outside.

Orion Processed copy 2.jpg

I can't really see the image too well. Is it a constant or occasional problem? Things to check might be collimation and focus; also are you getting any 'clicking' sounds from your mount - it could be that a gear is jumping, particularly if your mount is heavily loaded or  the worm spindles needs regreasing or your rig is not very well balanced.

If you have the slow motion controls for your eq5 check that they turn easily when your imaging set up is all in place.

Edited by pushrod
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On 19/12/2017 at 13:14, Galen Gilmore said:

Anybody know what is causing these pacman shaped stars in my images? They always go the same direction, not increasing towards the outside.

Orion Processed copy 2.jpg

Have you made any modifications to your 130PDS at all? If not, this might be the classic "focuser drawtube" problem that we have all faced :) There is endless discussion regarding it and ways to "fix" it in this thread.

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Hi,

Well i guess its my turn to post here now, I've had a 130 for almost a year now, I'm using it with a basic EQ5. These are my best images; I'm working on software/control reworking then i should be back into imaging for the new year.

John


Pleiades.thumb.jpg.17493e1b5421be401cbb505e09ab41fd.jpg 

5a428948eeec5_OrionNebula.thumb.jpg.e3dada941ee002850e256d68756df0f9.jpg

Rosette Nebula.jpg

Edited by JohnSadlerAstro
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3 hours ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

Hi,

Well i guess its my turn to post here now, I've had a 130 for almost a year now, I'm using it with a basic EQ5. These are my best images; I'm working on software/control reworking then i should be back into imaging for the new year.


Pleiades.thumb.jpg.17493e1b5421be401cbb505e09ab41fd.jpg 

5a428948eeec5_OrionNebula.thumb.jpg.e3dada941ee002850e256d68756df0f9.jpg

 

John

Rosette Nebula.jpg

So if the regular eq5 can handle it, than can the NEQ5 Pro goto handle it for photography with dslr+guide cam+guide scope on it? :)

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1 minute ago, serbiadarksky said:

It can easily handle the 13pds?

It can easily handle anything! :D
The EQ5 I am using is one hardly anybody uses, because the motors for it were only recently given a handset with ST4. I wouldn't really want to increase focal length, to be honest, but i am using a 50mm finder as guidescope, so some improvements could be made there! ;)

John

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On December 22, 2017 at 05:28, sagramore said:

Have you made any modifications to your 130PDS at all? If not, this might be the classic "focuser drawtube" problem that we have all faced :) There is endless discussion regarding it and ways to "fix" it in this thread.

I guess that is possible, but would it really take such a huge bite out of the star?

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On 27/12/2017 at 16:40, Galen Gilmore said:

I guess that is possible, but would it really take such a huge bite out of the star?

I'm afraid it can do, yes! That's why so many in here have modified their scopes to fix it. There's destructive ways (sawing, etc.) and non-destructive ways (extension screws to bring the mirror up the tube) and none of them are too difficult. Lots of guides/advice/photos on earlier pages in this thread if they bother you.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎1‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 22:48, al-alami said:

I am quite happy with this result for now. :)   I guess the light pollution is messing with my colouring, but the Ha detail is coming out really nice.

 

Image04.jpg

Le Moulin Rouge o la la :-)

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This has been posted in it's own thread, but thought I should post it in this thread too.  Still haven't been brave enough to take my SW130PDS to an Astrocamp as still uncertain of dew control, but I took this in my obsy at home from my LP location in SE London.  I did this with no dew shield, but I did wrap some dew heaters around the 2ndry location in case it helped, and now I have bought myself a observatory tent which hopefully might help with damp, I might give it a try at camps this year.  

Horsehead Nebula IC434
from Home 27 & 28th December 2017
Ha 21 x 900secs + 10 x 600secs - Almost 7 hours
RGB 32 x 150 binned total 1hour 20mins
Grand total 8 1/4 hours
SW130PDS & Atik460EX, HEQ5
  

czVJ8wRug1HQ_1824x0_vEFfvLwC.jpg

 

Edited by carastro
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