advice needed and welcomed

[shamba504424]

Hello,just starting to use my ZWO120MC-S camera and using Registax free software,I have attached two pics of the moon that I processed using it and would welcome some advice on where I  am going wrong as dont really know how to fix some things,firstly the very bright crater about a third of the way up from the bottom of the first picture,try as I might I cant find a way of altering this without affecting the whole thing and secondly the focusing as it is not very crisp,there was quite a bit of shimmer on the night that I was taking the video I must admit but sure I could improve a lot on it so any tips would be very welcome.

Please be honest as you like because I would like to produce some nice shots like you guys and I do realise there is no substitute for experience so I dont expect to run before i can walk.

Thanks

Tony

[symmetal]

Both images are fine for a first attempt, but they are overexposed so the brightest areas including the crater in your first image are clipped to white. There is nothing you can do in processing to correct this. Whatever program you use to capture the video, (I use FireCapture (free)) check out the histogram display and adjust the exposure (and gain if necessary) util the right hand side of the histogram is not touching the right hand limit. If it is the image is being clipped.

For focusing I focus on a nearby bright star using a bahtinov mask and then swing back to the moon (or planet) to take the videos. It's difficult trying to get good focus just looking at the moon due to the shimmering as you say.

For stacking Moon and planetary images Autostakkert (free) is also very good though you'll still need Registax for the wavelets sharpen.

Alan

[shamba504424]

Thank you so much for replying Alan,would you say that using FireCapture is a better option in your opinion?

[symmetal]

You don't say what you currently use but FireCapture has many useful features. It may look a little daunting when you first look at it but there are quite a few Youtube tutorials on using it. I was editing the last post, adding the last line when you posted. 

Alan

[shamba504424]

Thanks again Alan,just using Registax at the moment so will try the others you suggested,may as well if they are free??