IC434

[centroid]

Thanks goodness, a clear night at last :cheers: , albeit late arriving here in Suffolk, which mean't being out in the obsy until 02.00 hrs.

However, after a 'string' of problems (scope handbox going terminal, light leaking into the H9C, and software problems (all now fixed), it was just so nice to actually get out an do some proper imaging.

The whole thing was really a test run, to ensure that all of the 'fixes' had resolved all of the problems, and having today processed the results, I'm happy to see that everything is working just as it should .

So, here's the result of 1 hour 10 minutes (7x600 sec subs) on the 'Horse head'. 2 hours would have been better, but its not bad, given the insensitivity of an OSC camera, on an 80m scope.

The slight coloured glow at the left hand side of the picture, is from Alintak, which I deliberately kept out of the frame.

SXVF-H9C + IDAS Filter, Meade 80mm triplet, guided with the SX Lodestar and a WOS66, and all 'piggy-backed' on the 12" LX200R.

Dave

[Plastic chicken]

Seems everyone had problems last night!!!!! Me Included!!! Thats a cracker Dave !!!!

PC

[CELESCOPE]

Nice one Dave , and nice to see its all working again , must be a relief , just one small point to be a pest , i have a lot of green in the lower part of the image, does that show on yours.

Rog

[centroid]

Don't see any green on my 'calibrated' monitor Rog :?

Dave

[CELESCOPE]

i will fire up my other puter

[centroid]

Maybe run Adobe Gamma on it Rog, that's how my monitor is set up, although I'm probably going to buy the Spyder2 monitor calibration device.

Dave

[centroid]

If I really push up the brightness, then there is a green tinge in the noise, down in the dust, but to see it, I really have to turn the wick up.

Dave

[centroid]

Interested to hear how anyone else sees this image.

It is possilble that the way I've set up the monitor with Adobe Gamma, isn't correct.

I did this because the author of the new book I have (Photoshop Astronomy), says that the default setting on monitors is rarely correct, and recommended using Adobe Gamma to set it up, or better still, a hardware device. Hence my thoughts on buying the Spyder.

Dave

[steppenwolf]

Well done, Dave - I am pleased that you have resolved your various issues - disappointed that you had the SXC-H9C problem in the first place though.

This image looks relatively 'noisy' to me for this length of exposure and this CCD but I suggest that this was moisture in the air?

[centroid]

It is noisy Steve, hence my saying 2 hours would have been better.

I've always felt the (or my) H9C to be a bit low on sensitivity, but have no way of proving it unfortunatley. Unless someone knows how?.

Also, I don't know anyone nearby, that has one, to run a direct comparison with.

Do see this green tinge a the bottom of the image, that Roger is seeing?

Dave

[Les Tilly]

with the amount of time you had on it I think it looks very good add more time I would say about another 3 hours

Also I see the green but I am on my Laptop and don't judge color from this

Good Job

Les

[centroid]

Hi Les

Thanks for your comments, but I still have a 'gut feeling' that my H9C is down on sensitivity.

I have just 'posted' this issie on the Starlight Express forum, as Terry Platt of SX, monitors this forum and is a 'top man', when it comes to hepling SX camera users.

I still think I'm going to by me a Spyder2 monitor calibration device, so that I can be sure tha I'm starting from a correctly calibrated base.

I don't like too many variables in an equation

Dave

[markcol]

Good idea to frame below Alnitak Dave.

BTW I definitely feel Adobe Gamma makes my flatscreen monitor much too dark although it was OK with the old CRT, hence I don't use it to calibrate anymore. I find Yfronto's scale a handy guide too.

cheers

Mark

[Tim]

Hi Dave. Nice to see you posting pics again

It does look green to me on my laptop, but it's a decent laptop and I have calibrated the display. Mike Yfronto's scale fits my display perfectly, and that was what I checked against after calibrating, if thats any help?

[centroid]

Mark/Tim

Yep, I've just logged onto the forum with the Lap top, and it does look pretty rough. Also, I can now see the green tinge.

I'm now inclined to agree with you Mark, Adobe gamma has made my desktop PC look far to dark, and the image looks half decent on that.

Here on the lap top, it looks absolutely c**p

I'm still pretty much convinced now, that the H9C is way down on sensitivity.

Roger went and had a look at some of the old images on my website, and says that the quality of my more recent images is way down by comparison, and he is absolutely right.

Dave

[steppenwolf]

Do see this green tinge a the bottom of the image, that Roger is seeing?

I fear so, Dave - it is quite prominent in my normal 'astro image viewing' screen.

[steppenwolf]

Hi Dave,

To put this into some visual context, the attached is as close to your image as I can get with my past images:-

9 X 600 second subframes with my SXVF-H9C and Skywatcher 80 ED Refractor taken on 21/01/07. I would venture to suggest that yours is down on sensitivity although this is hardly an empirical test, the results are somewhat different.

[robindurant]

Hi Dave

Nice image.

I can see the green quite prominent. I am looking at it via my MAC which give a definite colour difference to MS. Also I find that whether I post MS or MAC images the resulting colour on SGL is different, that why I try the preview before posting and altering my colour on PS accordingly.

Robin

[centroid]

Thanks for that Steve.

That is indeed how it should look.

If you have a look at my 'thread' on the SXCF-9C saga, you'll see that, with Terry Platts help, be on the right track, to the root of the problem. Initial tests have shown the camera is only peaking at around 54000 ADU on bright stars, when it should be 65535 ADU, with anything above this being 'clipped'.

Hopefully, I can get it sorted, one way or another.

Dave

[RobH]

Sorry the camera is unwell Dave, and lack of sensitivity is what you don't need on the HH!

The green is showing for me too. I'm on a high spec laptop that I do all my processing on.

Cheers

Rob

[barkis]

Sorry Dave, the green is on mine too mate. I can remove it with the levels in cs3, but I'm not that much of a processor at present.

The Image is fine other than the green mottling that I see on my LCD Monitor.

Pleased you are getting all your headaches sorted. They all seem to appear at once. Well, in threes anyway.

Ron.

[centroid]

I've now discovered that the camera's dynamic range, is falling well short of spec

Hence I've been trying to extract what just isn't there to extract. There's around 11000 ADUs of range missing, and I'm sure this has been to case right from when I first bought camera.

On brighter DSOs, it doesn't show so much, but on dimmer objects the camera isn't up to the task.

Dave

[barkis]

You are absolutely correct Dave. Terry Platt is tops, and there's no doubt it will be sorted for you.

I've never known a more helpful guy. A lot of after sales people could learn a lot about people skills from mr Platt.

Ron.

[Tim]

Let us know how you get on Dave.

Does that camera have adjustable gain settings btw?

[centroid]

No it doesn't Tim.

The only adjustment is to set the level of the anti-blooming gate, which if 'clamped' to hard, will reduce the dynamic range of the camera. Not, enough and 'blooming' will appear,

However, I may be thinking along the right lines now, as to the cause of the problem, and have just this minute e-mailed Terry Platt with my thoughts.

More updates in my SXVF-H9C 'thread'.

Dave