Sun in colour but black and white

[bomberbaz]

Ok I bet I am making a really silly error here but hopefully someone can advise me what. I made some images of the sun this morning, think the focus is a little shakey but my end results are all B&W although on screen they were a nice continuum filtered blue strangly.  Think I forgot to set white balance in the histogram by the looks of the settings.

However this does not explain why the B&W processed images. BTW the FITS images and the AVI movie are all B&W.  Any ideas guys?

Settin below from file:

Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=0
Output Format=FITS files (*.fits)
Binning=1
Capture Area=1304x976
Colour Space=RAW8
Temperature=35
Hardware Binning=Off
High Speed Mode=Off
Turbo USB=100
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=189
Exposure=0.000126
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=99
White Bal (R)=41
Brightness=1
Auto Exp Max Gain=300
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
#Black Point
Display Black Point=0
#MidTone Point
Display MidTone Point=0.5
#White Point
Display White Point=1

sun 2 .bmp

sun 1.bmp

[Cornelius Varley]

If you run the avi file through PIPP before further processing the colour can be restored. The avi file from your colour camera is saved to the computer as a bw file to speed up the download time. The avi then needs to be debayered using PIPP or stacking software to restore the colour.

ps upload images as .jpg or .png so that they can be displayed in the thread.

[bomberbaz]

4 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

If you run the avi file through PIPP before further processing the colour can be restored. The avi file from your colour camera is saved to the computer as a bw file to speed up the download time. The avi then needs to be debayered using PIPP or stacking software to restore the colour.

ps upload images as .jpg or .png so that they can be displayed in the thread.

Thanks Peter, just looking into the PIPP pogramme options, I can see monochrome conversion (convert colour to monochrome) but nothing I can see to do the opposite. !

[Cornelius Varley]

Under input option tab there is an option to debayer mono images.

[bomberbaz]

1 hour ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Under input option tab there is an option to debayer mono images.

Thanks Peter, finally got there after much trial and error. The more blueish one is a stack of 150 FITS and the other a stack of 1500 AVI files. Shame I can't get it to come to focus with the reducer but getting my head around things slowly. 

Just a quick FYI, I did a short AVI with the ASI studio programme recorded in and saved in colour, results of that though when stacked similar to these, not focused correctly, 🤣

Anyway thanks for the help, at least i am slowly gettin somewhere. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by bomberbaz

[Davey-T]

Coming along Steve, shame about the focus issue, BTW the sun is white hence white balance, just looks various shades yellow and red through the atmosphere 😁

Dave

[bomberbaz]

11 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Coming along Steve, shame about the focus issue, BTW the sun is white hence white balance, just looks various shades yellow and red through the atmosphere 😁

Dave

using a continuum filter thouh dave, should be green actually, haha

[bomberbaz]

44 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Coming along Steve, shame about the focus issue, BTW the sun is white hence white balance, just looks various shades yellow and red through the atmosphere 😁

Dave

Davey, I assume you image the sun also. What method do you use to achieve focus. I am guessing a bahtinov mask wont work or will it?

[Davey-T]

1 hour ago, bomberbaz said:

Davey, I assume you image the sun also. What method do you use to achieve focus. I am guessing a bahtinov mask wont work or will it?

I have electronic focusers on my solar scopes, can then hide under cover and focus remotely using their hand controller on the laptop screen, focusers don't need to be anything flash, the Skywatcher one can be modded to fit most scopes or if you're into DIY you can make one with a stepper motor.

Dave

[bomberbaz]

hmm, I did focus with the laptop under shade but with a dirty screen (now clean) and reflections of myself on the screen I was struggling. I had the mount right next to me.

Maybe more practice and a darker t shirt (along with a now cleansed screen) will yield a better result next time. 

[Rusted]

The little "Skywatcher" DC motor is really quite powerful.
You can use a toothed GT2 "timing" belt in any length you need.
The belt will happily drive any focuser knob by friction alone.
It also looks smarter than most of the commercial focuser motors.
Being quite at home on the finest focusers available.
It is far more compact than most commercial focuser motors.
Most of which stick out of the side of focuser knob instead of being folded over the shaft.
I made a simple, plastic bracket to grip my Feather touch focuser without modification.
The belts and timing pulleys cost only small change thanks to the interest in 3D printing.

 

https://fullerscopes.blogspot.com/2019/07/monday-15th-july-2019-motor-focuser-pt3.html

[Davey-T]

Electronic focuser eliminates scope shake and you can zoom in on the rim and then go back and forwards past focus to get it sharp, obviously be easier if we ever get any decent spots again.

Dressing in black certainly helps and finger prints on the screen can look deceptively like proms in HA 😂

Dave

[Rusted]

26 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Electronic focuser eliminates scope shake and you can zoom in on the rim and then go back and forwards past focus to get it sharp, obviously be easier if we ever get any decent spots again.

Dressing in black certainly helps and finger prints on the screen can look deceptively like proms in HA 😂

Dave

I don't think anybody really discovers how tightly something needs to be focused for the best images.
At least, not until they get a motor focuser.  Manual focusing has everything wrong with it.
The telescope moves when you focus. Just when you want it to be perfectly still! 
Even a slow motion knob is rather pointless if the image is moving every time you touch it. 

[Merlin66]

+1 for the SW electronic motor and toothed belt focus drive.

I use the same but geared it to the 10:1 knob for fine control......

I used a 80 ltr grey bin on a camping table as my solar "observatory" for many years. Hinged the lid with Gaffa tape and rigged up a fence wire "hook" to hold it open horizontally.

Laptop and focus control in the bin, and the whole lot shrouded (including the operator) by a dark sheet. Worked very well.

 

[bomberbaz]

Thanks guys, I will bear all the above in mind although I am looking at a small newt (100 to 130) F4 or maybe F4.5 instead of the F7.5 frac so will hang fire for now. 

Cheers again, all this info really in so helpful. 

Steve