All the gear & no idea ?

[Guest]

Hi all.

I am totally new to CCD webcam imaging although I have had some basic success but now I have my observatory almost complete I want to really get stuck in and understand the process much better.

I have a ZWO camera with it's own capture software, I have downloaded sharpcap 3.2 and registax.

I have done what i think are some pretty decent vids of the moon and planets and had some nice results with registax but here is where my noobness hampers me.

I recently did some avi with the ZWO software but registax can't load it and i haven't changed any resolutions etc so can't understand what's wrong so i tried using the sharpcap software but that only processes in monochrome and my camera is a colour one ? 

Anyhow here is my question.

Can you please lead /advise me on which software I need to compliment my camera and how best to process it. 

My imaging interests are moon and planets and some brightest deep sky.

I read about darks, flats, bias etc but it's all double dutch to me so i need to scrap all (which is nowt) I know and start a fresh with knowledge from you lot who do it and understand it.

Any advice / info will be much appreciated.

Note:- please give full descriptions as I probably won't know what any abbreviated suggestions are ??

Cheers.

Lee.

[david_taurus83]

Hi. Though planetary isn't really my thing, I did have a dabble before but I lack focal length and the planets were quite low. I've posted the link to these videos before but they are very good and are aimed at the complete beginner. Worth a look at them all!

 

Ps, try Autostakkert as an alternative to Registax.

 

 

[Craney]

There is a very good and free program called PIPP, which stablises the image of Lunar / Solar and planetary AVI's.   It makes it possible to get a result out even when the atmosphere is like a jacuzzi.   

It's one to have up your sleeve when the need arises.

[rickwayne]

You are primarily interested in lunar and planetary imaging, right? If you just did that because the software was in front of you, well, there's a whole 'nother world out there. But if that's your goal, us deep-sky guys will shut up and shuffle away quietly.

[Guest]

19 hours ago, rickwayne said:

You are primarily interested in lunar and planetary imaging, right? If you just did that because the software was in front of you, well, there's a whole 'nother world out there. But if that's your goal, us deep-sky guys will shut up and shuffle away quietly.

Please dont !!! I am interested in everything my ZWO web cam can achieve, it's the process I need your guidance on so please keep firing info and options my way ??I understand that planets/moon take different methods to deep sky but as I am only an alt/az scoper, deep sky will be limited but I so do want to understand how to do all aspects. It's the programs that best suit these requirements I need help with please ?

[ACross]

Hi from a fellow newbie.  As David says in the first response, Autostakkert is part of your answer for planets and particularly the moon.  I have the ASI174 and have achieved some lovely photos of the moon very quickly, with only 1000 frames of video pushed through this app. The author Emil Kraaikamp has prepared an in depth guide and also lists other tutorials on the webside autostakkert.com.

For deep sky you will be looking to capture long exposures of 5 minutes or more and this could be tricky with an alt-azi mount. That said, some of the brightest such as Orion can be snapped with lower exposures but will compromise on the finer detail. 

Good luck with the learning curve, its a journey!