ASI1600 first light

[david_taurus83]

First chance last night I've had to do any imaging in over a month! I spent an hour or so messing around with flattener spacing and checking on CCD Inspector. Got it somewhere I thought was ok (turned out it's not!) and swung towards M45. A bit low to start off with as it was very close to the worst streetlight looking over the back garden. Checked focus of the filters using my B mask, LRG are ok and B needs to be refocused it seems. I set an imaging plan on APT and left it to it. Well, came back at midnight and the bloody laptop had froze halfway through the reds. So I reset everything and shot some flats for the Luminance. They didn't look special in the previews so I wasn't expecting much. Out of curiosity I ran the Lum through DSS and only calibrated with the flats I shot.

 

WOW!

 

I done a quick DBE in Pixinsight and I couldn't believe how much dusty stuff I picked up. I only shot 60 x 60s subs! An hour! There's no way my 600D would have picked up that much detail. The stars aren't great even around the middle, but I don't care for now. I'm going to finish this eventually with another hour for each colour filter. The main goal is to see if I can shoot RGB from the back garden and remove any gradients before combining into colour. If not, can do NB instead. Hoping the investment made turns out to be a good one.?

[tooth_dr]

What a great first light. Superb for just an hour, but I feel your frustrations. Look forward to RGB version. 

[bdlbug]

welcome to the world of ASI1600 CMOS imaging - and yes you do get amazing sensitivity for ridiculously short integration times - as you have doubtless researched this camera does need BIAS frames in the stack and despite all the reading about pros and cons I also shoot and include darks and dark flats to compensate for the 'amp glow' demons that lurk in the camera chip and readout electronics.  I dont have the 'Pro' version but I believe amp glow can still affect the Pro
I have done several single night LRGB images and although the deeper integration times of the amazing images posted here can justify the hours of imaging time, I find its a good camera to deliver  a decent result in a relatively short time of a few hours within the weather windows we get in UK.

I did a 2 hr LRGB M45 last week and that was my WOW moment despite having had the camera for nearly a year - if RGB is what your planning then vertical plans in APT are another way to get something out of a relatively short imaging session making use of the short subs on each filter.

I have quite a bit of LP so recently invested in a IDAS light pollution filter, the latest D2 variant and it has helped significantly in reducing gradients in my LRGB images. I prefer RGB images so this D2 route helps achieve it either that or a lot of use of astroflat pro in PS or DBE in PI

All the best with this camera - I certainly have got a lot more out of astro imaging since moving from 600D to ASI1600

Bryan

[noah4x4]

Not surprised to hear your laptop froze. I have the equivalent Atik Horizon and discovered  my average laptop was taking a real pounding from these large sensor, high resolution, small pixel, low read noise CMOS cameras which are data and processor hungry.  My camera (cooled) also requires almost 2 Amps so it gobbles as many watts as my mount.  I now regularly advise people to never underestimate the computing or power required with each step up the imaging ladder. Modern CMOS are somewhat more demanding than 1k resolution CCD. My original Celeron laptop simply choked and spluttered.

I now run mine connected to an Intel NUC with Iris 640 Plus Graphics and output using a Thunderbolt display cable to a 4K UHD monitor. 4K UHD isn't necessary for AP,  but it's great fun for EAA, especially on Hyperstar that renders long exposures unnecessary. However, small pixels are not always an advantage where objects are faint. There I use binning, which combines pixels and is hence more sensitive but at the expense of resolution. These are great cameras for people with limited photography skills as they are very forgiving. 

[david_taurus83]

17 minutes ago, bdlbug said:

welcome to the world of ASI1600 CMOS imaging - and yes you do get amazing sensitivity for ridiculously short integration times - as you have doubtless researched this camera does need BIAS frames in the stack and despite all the reading about pros and cons I also shoot and include darks and dark flats to compensate for the 'amp glow' demons that lurk in the camera chip and readout electronics.  I dont have the 'Pro' version but I believe amp glow can still affect the Pro
I have done several single night LRGB images and although the deeper integration times of the amazing images posted here can justify the hours of imaging time, I find its a good camera to deliver  a decent result in a relatively short time of a few hours within the weather windows we get in UK.

I did a 2 hr LRGB M45 last week and that was my WOW moment despite having had the camera for nearly a year - if RGB is what your planning then vertical plans in APT are another way to get something out of a relatively short imaging session making use of the short subs on each filter.

I have quite a bit of LP so recently invested in a IDAS light pollution filter, the latest D2 variant and it has helped significantly in reducing gradients in my LRGB images. I prefer RGB images so this D2 route helps achieve it either that or a lot of use of astroflat pro in PS or DBE in PI

All the best with this camera - I certainly have got a lot more out of astro imaging since moving from 600D to ASI1600

Bryan

Hi, Thanks. Yes it does still have amp glow as I tried a few darks and stretched them while testing indoors. I did read that bias were not necessary though dark flats were. I also bought the D2 filter. Hoping it does the business and colour is better balanced.

[noah4x4]

+1 For the IDAS light pollution filter. Much better with this sensor than the alternatives.  I also find Hyperstar helps as a 20 second exposure is equivant to around nine minutes. I can hence do more stuff between the clouds and have become much more productive whilst it cuts through light pollution. I will never win Astrophotographer of the year but "cheating" with Hyperstar allows me to have highly satisfying hobby without the frustration of wedge, polar alignment and guiding. 

[david_taurus83]

11 minutes ago, noah4x4 said:

Not surprised to hear your laptop froze. I have the equivalent Atik Horizon and discovered  my average laptop was taking a real pounding from these large sensor, high resolution, small pixel, low read noise CMOS cameras which are data and processor hungry.  My camera (cooled) also requires almost 2 Amps so it gobbles as many watts as my mount.  I now regularly advise people to never underestimate the computing or power required with each step up the imaging ladder. Modern CMOS are somewhat more demanding than 1k resolution CCD. My original Celeron laptop simply choked and spluttered.

I now run mine connected to an Intel NUC with Iris 640 Plus Graphics and output using a Thunderbolt display cable to a 4K UHD monitor. 4K UHD isn't necessary for AP,  but it's great fun for EAA, especially on Hyperstar that renders long exposures unnecessary. However, small pixels are not always an advantage where objects are faint. There I use binning, which combines pixels and is hence more sensitive but at the expense of resolution. These are great cameras for people with limited photography skills as they are very forgiving. 

Not sure if it was the camera. My laptop is an old workhorse, I still use it for work. Sometimes it freezes momentarily but recovers after a minute or so. Last night when I checked on it the HDD light was on solid, not blinking, and it had completely crashed. Couldn't even bring up task manager. Long press on the power button! Up to then it was fine for a few hours. Tec cooler and dew straps are powered off their own 80ah battery and the mount had a 12ah Tracer pack all to itself. I'll try again with the cable management I used last night. If I get another crash I'll go back to a powered Startech hub for the mount and guide camera and run a separate USB just for the 1600.

[spillage]

I would say not to use bias on this camera and instead use a dark flat in its place. From memory I am sure its due to the bias frames not being consistent enough and they can end up causing more problems than they solve.

I just use darks, flats and dark flats.