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QHY8L pictures are black and white and other problems

Splittersplatter

By Splittersplatter
in Imaging - Discussion

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Splittersplatter

Splittersplatter

Posted
Posted

I've recently acquired a QHY8L, using Sharpcap but the pictures are coming out monochrome - no colour information in there at all apparently. I'm always ready to assume I'm being an idiot but does anyone know what's up here?

Secondly, does anyone know what 'fastsettings' are in Sharpcap? The box that appears is not resizeable and I can't see what the second button below 'high speed' is.

Lastly, does anyone use the latest version of EZCAP? The interface doesn't fit properly on either of my computers - a laptop with 1280x800 screen and the desktop with 1980x1080. Can this be changed because for me it's not useable as it is. 

Thanks

M13qhy8l.jpg

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Thalestris24

Thalestris24

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Hi

I'd recommend APT for image capture (you'll have to set the gain and offset - see the qhy8l manual). Which driver are you using - the Ascom one? Make sure you have the latest version. How are you stacking/processing? You need to provide the software with the correct Bayer filter pattern i.e.  GBRG.

Louise 

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uhb1966

uhb1966

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Hello!

1. you must debayer the picture before you get to see the color info.

2. the fastsettings box appearing is most likely the selection box of the qhy8l driver. set this to normal for reduced read out noise (but slower readout.)

3. +1 for apt. apt does debayering... but only for the preview not the final pic.

hth

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Splittersplatter

Splittersplatter

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19 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Hi

I'd recommend APT for image capture (you'll have to set the gain and offset - see the qhy8l manual). Which driver are you using - the Ascom one? Make sure you have the latest version. How are you stacking/processing? You need to provide the software with the correct Bayer filter pattern i.e.  GBRG.

Louise 

I'll have a look at that one. It seems to support QHY quite closely so might be a good bet. 

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Splittersplatter

Splittersplatter

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2 hours ago, uhb1966 said:

Hello!

1. you must debayer the picture before you get to see the color info.

2. the fastsettings box appearing is most likely the selection box of the qhy8l driver. set this to normal for reduced read out noise (but slower readout.)

3. +1 for apt. apt does debayering... but only for the preview not the final pic.

hth

Thanks, do you know if sharpcap does debayering? Also, with regards to point 3. what is the the significance of APT only debayering the preview pic, not the final? This is my first OCD camera and these are new terms to me. I thought getting a colour image would be more or less straightforward.

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uhb1966

uhb1966

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>Thanks, do you know if sharpcap does debayering? > Nope...maybe they have a faq?

> 3. what is the the significance of APT only debayering the preview pic, not the final? > No idea ;)

I personally handle debayering with DSS. However, this is not an ideal sitaution- i have not found the perfect tool yet...

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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Here is where you need to go in DSS to debayer (under raw/FITS DDP settings)... but, for the QHY I dont know which generic pattern it is - it has been mentioned on the forum a few times so you would need to search for it (its one of the first four generic options):

 

DSS debayer.jpg

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Splittersplatter

Splittersplatter

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1 hour ago, Uranium235 said:

Just found it... its GBRG

;)

Also, if you find the intermediate file settings tab, you can make DSS spit out a debayered/calibrated version of the image in the folder where your images are stored.

 

Thanks for your input, although now all my stacks are coming out light grey no matter what I do. One day I'll know what I'm doing. 

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Uranium235

Uranium235

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Dont forget to adjust the saturation slider in DSS, you wont get any colour until you do that ;) start with about 15 or 20% to kick off with.

Alternatively, you can just drop the Autosave.tiff file into Photoshop or another image editing prog and the colour will appear.

 

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Splittersplatter

Splittersplatter

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1 hour ago, Uranium235 said:

Dont forget to adjust the saturation slider in DSS, you wont get any colour until you do that ;) start with about 15 or 20% to kick off with.

Alternatively, you can just drop the Autosave.tiff file into Photoshop or another image editing prog and the colour will appear.

 

Thanks but adjusting the saturation in DSS processing doesn't seem to do anything, and the same goes for photoshop. And now all my stacked images look like this. Do you know of any other free DSO stacking programs?

M13.jpg

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Thalestris24

Thalestris24

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38 minutes ago, Splittersplatter said:

Thanks but adjusting the saturation in DSS processing doesn't seem to do anything, and the same goes for photoshop. And now all my stacked images look like this. Do you know of any other free DSO stacking programs?

M13.jpg

Hi make sure your raw/fits dialog looks like this:

Raw-fits.PNG

Don't choose 'qhy8' option as a camera as it's not the same as the qhy8l

Louise

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Splittersplatter

Splittersplatter

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44 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Hi make sure your raw/fits dialog looks like this:

Raw-fits.PNG

Don't choose 'qhy8' option as a camera as it's not the same as the qhy8l

Louise

Yes, I had it just like that. I just reinstalled DSS because I'm still stuck with light grey stacked images. This is the screen I get right before registering - does this look normal to you? 

Capture.JPG

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Thalestris24

Thalestris24

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1 minute ago, Splittersplatter said:

ps I just realised the stacks were grey because I'd forgotten to add the dark frame. But the colour remains elusive, and I must go to bed now. 

Perhaps it's something to do with the capture - can you post a single raw sub (dropbox) and I (or someone else) will have a look.

Louise

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Oddsocks

Oddsocks

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Hi,

I might be missing something here because I am using an iPad while away from home for a few weeks....looking at your first post I can't see a bayer pattern present, if it wasn't debayered you should be able to see a regular box pattern over the whole image but I might be wrong as the iPad doesn't zoom in that far.

Could you post a single unprocessed and unstacked raw image from your camera so one of us can try a normal debayer with our software to verify if you really do have a colour camera and not a mislabeled or repaired camera that has a mono CCD.

To make life easier for yourself you can take daylight images with the camera using a "pinhole" lens instead of the telescope, just remove the camera from the telescope and cover the front of the camera CCD aperture opening with a piece of aluminium baking foil held in place with a rubber band, make a tiny pinprick with a needle or pin in the centre of the foil covering the CCD aperture, the camera will now focus a fuzzy image of whatever you point it at. 

To check for the correct bayer pattern and other settings without worrying about stacking just take a single image of a brightly lit object in a primary colour, red book jacket, blue shirt, green jumper, etc, then debayer the image, it will be rather fuzzy and soft but the colour will be true if you really have a colour camera and the correct bayer setting in DSS.

I don't have remote access to my home PC tonight, I think I may have turned it off before travelling this week so don't have access to my own software but I think the free ESA/ESO/NASA program FITS Liberator will debayer and display a single unstacked image if you are struggling with DSS ( FITS liberator is not a stacking program but it us useful for checking single images when you are trying to fault find )

The link to FITS liberator is here: https://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/

Wiiliam.

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cgarry

cgarry

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There you go, quickly debayered (GBRG) in PIPP.

Capture_0002.png.c0d4137671487500bb7c8d910ce4d0e4.png

<edit>
So basically there is nothing wrong with your data, it is raw 16-bit colour data that needs to be debayered.  Whether DSS is a bit fussy and wont accept it in PNG format is another matter.  If you want to progress with this data you can just run you files through PIPP with debayering enabled and the output format set to TIFF or FITS.  Then try stacking the generated files in DSS for a nice colour image.

For the future you are probably better off capturing directly in TIFF or FITS format and letting DSS do the debayering as it is designed to.
</edit>

Chris

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