Firecapture /AS!2 Histo mystery - help please!

[Tommohawk]

Hi all. I'm using Firecapture to image Jupiter with ASI290MM with an EFW and something odd is going on with my red histos.

I set all channels to the same exposure and gain - I realise this isnt neccesarily the best way, but for now thats what I do

As I do the captures, typically 4 runs of 120secs per colour, the histo looks consistent - about 66% for R and G and about 55% for blue. But when I l look at the log files, the reported max and average histo values for the red captures are OK on the first capture, but greatly reduced on all the subsequent red ones. The G and B histos are consistent throughout.

So for example last night I did 6 runs, for the red max/average histos I got:

1. 162/63%

2. 97/38%

3. 107/41%

4. 112/43%

5. 101/39%

6. 103/40%

I watched the histo carefully on the last run and it didnt dip below 60%. So how can this happen??? I'd be really gratefull for any answeres!

One other unrelated - I think - issue, is that on subsequent runs, because I dont have a delay set, I catch the filter as it switches in at the beginning of the run - except on the first run of course.

Hmmmm as I type this I'm just cross checking with the unsorted AVI files in AS!2 and I see that not only am I getting a few chopped up frames as the filter switches in, but also neearly 100 of the previous run. So at the beginning of my 2nd red run I have about 100 blue images (approx 110 fps)

Clearly I could sort this by having a delay. But right now I have 2 issues:

1. Is the reported histo value affected by the carry over of frames from the previous colour run?

2. Crucially, the AS!2 sorted AVI has included at the beginning some dodgy frames at the beginning, ie deemed to be good quality, which are from the previous colour, and also some with half a frame from the filter switch which for some reason arent rejected.

So - how do I delete individual frames from the sorted file??? I cant see any way to do this. Alternatively, can I delete them in PIPP which I run everything thought first?

Or maybe PIPP has a setting to reject dodgy frames with mismatched data or half frames.?

Sorry people - lots of questions!! Would really appreciate any help, especially as Jupiter is about to exit, stage right!!

 

[Tommohawk]

Follow on note. So as an experiment I ran one of the problem AVIs through PIPP with "Enable quality estimation" and "reorder in quality order" ticked. Lo and behold the chopped up frames are now relegated to the end.

Whats more, the carried over blue frames are also put to the end - not sure how that happens, but it does!

Just for interest I ran the sorted file through AS!2 - and it puts the dodgy frames back to the beginning!

Take home message here, for me at least, is let PIPP do the quality estimation and sorting, and just use AS!2 for stacking. I'm beginning to wonder just how much of a problem this has caused with my previous RGB planetary efforts! I've got a full 1TB drive to wade through so that should keep my oout of trouble for a while!

[Tommohawk]

Hi folks - everyone's out enjoying the sun and the clear but short nights I guess!

Really would appreciate a couple of answers if anyone knows!

1. Why do my Firecapture red histos drops off after the first one? If it was to do with focus drifting you'd think the G nd B would drop too. Also when I'm done focus still looks good. Also the live histo show 60+, where the reported histo in the log shows 40ish.

2. Can I delete individual or selected frames in either PIPP or AS!2 ?

Thanks in advance!!