What a palaver!

[simmo39]

Well i thought I would try for Saturn last night and boy what a game. Could only see it by setting my scope next to the house wall and hedge. Made for an uncomfortable session! Anyway After a quick play this morning here is my meager effort, warts an all. Taken with my SW 127 mak and Altair im224.

Hints and tips welcome.

[Craney]

That is a nice result.  You have got the division and cloud features.   Yes,  palaver is the right word, made worse by it all going on at 02:30am with an audience of hedgehogs and tomcats.

My dilemma is the 'big' tree. Saturn leaves its' branches behind at 02:00am...only then to dive into hedges and roof-tops.  Slickness is the word.   Last night, I got scope set up at 20:00pm,  cooled and ready with flip mirror.  Imaged Jupiter at 23:00pm, got the scope focused as best as I could,  then aimed it at Saturn and went to bed for 2 hours with the lens cap on to stop dew.   (  computer put on recharge ).

Awoke at 02:00,  got my head around the reality of what was going on....then was imaging within 5 minutes of the restart.  No results yet, because I had to get up for work at 06:00am... but the feeling was that I had maybe got my best capture to date, even though Saturn was lurking in a sea of pollution. We shall see.  If it as good as yours I will be happy. 

"Slick-ness"  ... prior planning prevent pee poor performance.... or motto's to a similar meaning....  helps.

All the best for your next attempt.

 

Sean.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice result, with some good detail showing, which is not easy with the planet so low in the sky. The image does seem a bit too brownish. I would try using the Colour Balance option in Registax, and press "automatic colour balance" That should give a more neutral view. You can then tweak at will. For Jupiter I tend to lower the blue channel by two clicks after auto balance, for a more natural look.

[simmo39]

29 minutes ago, Craney said:

That is a nice result.  You have got the division and cloud features.   Yes,  palaver is the right word, made worse by it all going on at 02:30am with an audience of hedgehogs and tomcats.

My dilemma is the 'big' tree. Saturn leaves its' branches behind at 02:00am...only then to dive into hedges and roof-tops.  Slickness is the word.   Last night, I got scope set up at 20:00pm,  cooled and ready with flip mirror.  Imaged Jupiter at 23:00pm, got the scope focused as best as I could,  then aimed it at Saturn and went to bed for 2 hours with the lens cap on to stop dew.   (  computer put on recharge ).

Awoke at 02:00,  got my head around the reality of what was going on....then was imaging within 5 minutes of the restart.  No results yet, because I had to get up for work at 06:00am... but the feeling was that I had maybe got my best capture to date, even though Saturn was lurking in a sea of pollution. We shall see.  If it as good as yours I will be happy. 

"Slick-ness"  ... prior planning prevent pee poor performance.... or motto's to a similar meaning....  helps.

All the best for your next attempt.

 

Sean.

Hi Sean, A couple of years ago i built a pier for my set up and I can get about 80% of the targets i want to shoot with it but there is always one or two that makes the game harder! lol. Hope your image comes out well.

18 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Very nice result, with some good detail showing, which is not easy with the planet so low in the sky. The image does seem a bit too brownish. I would try using the Colour Balance option in Registax, and press "automatic colour balance" That should give a more neutral view. You can then tweak at will. For Jupiter I tend to lower the blue channel by two clicks after auto balance, for a more natural look.

Hi Michael. will give that a go thanks. I did try to lessen the brown in gimp but I seemed to loose detail.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

3 minutes ago, simmo39 said:

Hi Michael. will give that a go thanks. I did try to lessen the brown in gimp but I seemed to loose detail.

Do you use an IR/UV block filter? As the IMX224 chip is very sensitive in IR, this could cause a brown cast in the images that is hard to get rid of. I always use an IR/UV cut filter to prevent this

[simmo39]

14 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Do you use an IR/UV block filter? As the IMX224 chip is very sensitive in IR, this could cause a brown cast in the images that is hard to get rid of. I always use an IR/UV cut filter to prevent this

No I didnt, I have got a IR filter but didnt think to use it. I have only been playing with this camera on and off the past few months. Still trying to get to grips with it. I do find it better than my old neximeg 5 but seems hard to find the sweet spot.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

8 minutes ago, simmo39 said:

No I didnt, I have got a IR filter but didnt think to use it. I have only been playing with this camera on and off the past few months. Still trying to get to grips with it. I do find it better than my old neximeg 5 but seems hard to find the sweet spot.

Is that an IR-pass filter or an IR-block? The IR pass is useful to get a monochrome IR image, the IR block is needed to prevent IR from contaminating RGB. for colour imaging. Most IR block filters also block UV

[simmo39]

1 hour ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Is that an IR-pass filter or an IR-block? The IR pass is useful to get a monochrome IR image, the IR block is needed to prevent IR from contaminating RGB. for colour imaging. Most IR block filters also block UV

I think its an IR pass, not sure why i purchased it for in the first place, just one of those things that you seem acquire over time.

[Tommohawk]

I think its a good go at a very challenging target especially with a 127. Agree that the colour balance is a bit yellow/brown.

Also agree re IR block - not sure how much IR there is from Saturn, but if your sensor is IR sensitive you will get smearing due to atmospheric dispersion which you cant fix with RGB alignment in processing.

good luck!

 

[simmo39]

11 hours ago, Tommohawk said:

I think its a good go at a very challenging target especially with a 127. Agree that the colour balance is a bit yellow/brown.

Also agree re IR block - not sure how much IR there is from Saturn, but if your sensor is IR sensitive you will get smearing due to atmospheric dispersion which you cant fix with RGB alignment in processing.

good luck!

 

Hi Tommohawk. Thanks for the pointer. I have tried the rgb alignment tool but the image ends up like a rainbow. Very large blue and red fringe. Not sure what the I'm doing wrong. I will have ago again in gimp and see if I can back off the yellow/brown tinge.

 

[simmo39]

Well here is the redo. not sure if its better or not but its less yellow/brown.

[Tommohawk]

I tried Photoshop auto colour autocontrast and autotone - not sure if you prefer this? I think thats nearer to the typical rendition.