choochoo_baloo Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Dear all,I had my first proper attempt at solar system imaging last night. After using Registax 6, attached is one image - upload limit!Saturn 2.bmpI am pretty pleased with it. Though ultimately I aspire to this sort of standard: http://www.astrobin.com/full/98008/0/and so wanted some constructive criticism on improvements I should make. My equipment was: QHY5L-II, 12" refractor, EZPlanetary capturing, and Registax 6I noticed this chap used a Baader IR/UV filter - is that worthwhile for any solar system work?I strongly suspect I was not prey focused. I now realise that the EZPlanetary has a Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) function. TO use this feature, do I simply frame a high altitude bright star and just adjust until I get the smallest FWHM value?I also notice this chap used about 9000 frames! I used about 600 - so is it the case that for planetary work the more the merrier with regards resolution? Would gathering about 9000 frames on my gear not induce blurring form plan try rotation at that length of exposure?Anyway advice or suggestion would be most welcome.Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m37 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 That's a pretty darn fine image, especially for a first attempt. Very nice work.I teased a bit more out of it with some blur and denoise, unsharp mask, bit of curves, levels, contrast and a blue overlay on soft light blending mode to balance the colour a bit more but a lot of this is fudging and should be better if processed differently in Registax.There was no data in the blue channel! This could be your processing again.I would say put it through registax again (I always get better results with registax 5 over 6 but ymmv) and try some drizzle, don't be afraid to discard duff frames as they can in fact degrade the image, and take your time getting used to wavelets. Subtle is good.More frames make for better images (generally) but rotation on planets can be an issue if you go too long so a higher frame rate might be better than longer videos (sorry, not familiar with your camera but looks like you can go to 100+ fps). No harm in shooting for as long as you like though; you can always discard it from the point where the rotation is too much of an issue. If file sizes get too big there's a bit of freeware called castrator which will help.http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Video-Editors/Castrator.shtmlThe 9000 frames could well be a short video at a high frame rate or vice versa. You didn't say what frame rate you used or how long the video was.The division is usually good for focusing, or the gap between planet and rings.Oh, and try using RGB align in Registax as your red and green channels were a bit out.cheersChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penfold34 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Wow. I am new to all of this and still waiting for my kit to delivered, if I produced this in my early attempts I would be very satisfied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxic Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 thought id give it a go its much better than i can do, i get a blurry blob to low and to many houses.just split channels and cleaned then up then recombined them.some times it works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choochoo_baloo Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 Thanks all for the encouragement and advice.Regardimg the absence of blue data, I must admit I had no idea what to select and what all of these options actually meant in the capture software. The 5 available options I can choose from in the software are:RAW (Mono)RGGRGBBGexcuse what may be adapt question; but why is RGB not available - surely I want to use all 3 primary colours?!What is the RGB align feature, and what do I need to aim to do with it?Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choochoo_baloo Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 One other thing: does anyone have a view regarding the Baader Neodymium or standard Baader UV/IR filter usage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m37 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 They look like Bayer patterns. Is there a manual? This may help...http://qhyccd.com/en/top/faq/qhy5-ii-faq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choochoo_baloo Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 They look like Bayer patterns. Is there a manual? This may help...http://qhyccd.com/en/top/faq/qhy5-ii-faqHow do you think I ended up with no blue data in the final image? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m37 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 I would guess you used the wrong colour mode. Some daytime test shots should reveal the correct mode. Examine the histogram and look for all 3 colours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanL Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Thanks all for the encouragement and advice.Regardimg the absence of blue data, I must admit I had no idea what to select and what all of these options actually meant in the capture software. The 5 available options I can choose from in the software are:RAW (Mono)RGGRGBBGexcuse what may be adapt question; but why is RGB not available - surely I want to use all 3 primary colours?!What is the RGB align feature, and what do I need to aim to do with it?Thanks all.The first option is for a monochrome camera, and the other four are for colour. Colour cameras have a repeating set of four pixels with red, blue and 2 x green pixels in a square. The two greens will usually be in opposite corners. The four options describe the first row of the square and knowing that the green is diagonally opposite you can deduce the other row as follows:RG GR GB BGGB BG RG GRTo make up the three channels for each pixel, assuming the pixel is green it's own value is used for the green channel, and the 'average' of the adjacent red pixels for the red channel, and the average of the adjacent blue pixels for the blue channel (same process for red and blue pixels but averaging the 'missing' colours from the appropriate neighbour pixels). There are different methods for the averaging process depending on what the software supports.Either check the camera's manual for the correct 'Bayer' pattern or take a picture of a daylight object and try the options until you get the right color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m37 Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Yeah, what Ian said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Presland Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 having a look around the setting seems to GR although this tutorial should provide the answer http://qhy8.wikispaces.com/How+do+I+verify+my+colors+are+correct%3Fi would have no hestitation recommending the Baader IR/UV filter it certainly should help. i also agree with whats been said about amount of frames the more the better, but be aware of limits due to rotation.i see you are using a 12" refractor, at first i thought must be a reflector, but you are actually using a 12" REFRACTOR! obviously all was revealed by your website. i wondered what you using for such a good images scale, must be quite a buzz to use such an instrument! very much looking forward to seeing your results on it.unfortunately no matter how much advice you get and how good your techniques are, you can not get around the fact that in the UK the imaging conditions are in general not great. but the more nights you get out on the more chance you have of catching that elusive night of good seeing conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choochoo_baloo Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 @bunnygod1 Aye am using the famous Northumberland - one of the privileges of studying science at Cambridge! Glad you found my website useful Will take more frames in future, and adjust the RGB sensitivities in daylight - I suspect that would explain a lot of the 'lost' resolution.Will update my website and let you know bunnygod when I make some progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob0971 Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Iirc GR is the correct colour mode to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobsey Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Interesting read.This would explain why mine came out a yellowy, greeny colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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