EP46 - Saturday, 8th May 2021 7:30pm BST - Pixinsight - Advanced Calibration Concepts by Adam Block

[Grant]

We have a special talk this SATURDAY where we will be joined by Adam Block of  https://www.adamblockstudios.com/ to give us a talk looking at more advanced calibration concepts in Pixinsight.

Adam has been at the forefront of Astroimaging for many years, having received his first telescope from his parents at the tender age of seven! His work in astronomy led him to the University of Arizona to study Astronomy and Physics, and soon after graduating, joined Kitt Peak National Observatory to run nightly observing sessions for visitors, and eventually to create the Mount Lemmon Sky Centre at the University - now a firm fixture on the tourist trail in Arizona!

His passion for bringing astronomy to people through his pictures has never diminished - his list of published images and APOD images is extensive, and his articles are published across the spectrum of astronomical journals. He has discovered an asteroid (Williamson - named after Dr Richard Williamson), has a minor planet named after him (172525 AdamBlock) and has had an image of R Aquarii used by CHANDRA Space Observatory as a reference image!

Adam has written and published tutorials in Photoshop - which culminated in the very successful Making every Pixel Count - and of course in Pixinsight.

Adam has developed a whole set of training videos and content for all levels of astroimager - you can see samples and details at http://adamblockstudios.com

In this talk, Adam is taking us through some of the more advanced concepts of calibration in Pixinsight - such as Selective Rejection and Manual Calibration versus the new WBPP script.

If you want to take the next steps in calibrating your images and ensure they are the best quality data possible, then this will be invaluable!

Meeting details below:

Topic: EP46 - Saturday, 8th May 2021 7:30pm BST - Pixinsight - Advanced Calibration Concepts by Adam Block
Time: May 8, 2021 07:30 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/93738573334?pwd=NytQb2t1VVNKTStDRkpCcElqNUJTZz09

Meeting ID: 937 3857 3334
Passcode: 069681

[Richie092]

I subscribe to Adam’s video tutorials so I can, hand on heart, say that if you are a PI user this episode will be of great benefit to you. Well done SGL for organising. 

[Grant]

Starting in 45 minutes 🙂

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Brilliant talk , missed the start but will watch again when the recording is released 🙂 

Steve

[Simon Pepper]

Agreed Adam was clear and precise looking forward to watching it back and the parts I missed. Thanks Adam and SGL for putting it together! 

[Ibbo!]

Missed this one due to other commitments.

Looking forward to the replay.

[MartinB]

Damn, I assumed it was on Sunday!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 minute ago, MartinB said:

Damn, I assumed it was on Sunday!

I too forgot until it was half way through, but saw the 2nd half.
I certainly recommend watching the recording when it is released.

Steve

[daz]

Links

During the talk, Adam showed the Photometric Colour Calibration module and mentioned that the catalogues could be downloaded. He also showed the GAME script for the Selective Rejection method,

GAME - courtesy of Herbert Walter - can be downloaded from his repository at: https://www.skypixels.at/HVB_Repository/  (In PI, go to Resources, Updates, Manage Repositories, then add this URL). There are lots of different scripts that Herbert makes available too.

The database files for PCC are now available to download via the PI Software Distribution platform. So, login to your account and they are with your normal software downloads. Additional information can be found on the PI forum at: https://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?threads/new-in-pixinsight-1-8-8-6-gaia-dr2-local-database.15385/

 

Grant will get the video up in the next day or so - and we're hoping to arrange another session with Adam in the not too distant future!

 

[steppenwolf]

9 hours ago, daz said:

GAME - courtesy of Herbert Walter -

Herbert's other offerings are very good as well - PSFImage in particular

[daz]

Be warned - the catalogs are chunky downloads!!

 

[daz]

15 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

Herbert's other offerings are very good as well - PSFImage in particular

Makes the Deconvolution process much easier!!

[Ibbo!]

Thanks To Adam, Grant and Daz for the talk,upload and links.

[cardconvict]

Hello where is the location of this video

[teoria_del_big_bang]

12 minutes ago, cardconvict said:

Hello where is the location of this video

This was from nearly a year ago

Steve

[cardconvict]

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

This was from nearly a year ago

Steve

And 

[Grant]

 

[cardconvict]

Thank you Grant really appreciate it.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

9 hours ago, cardconvict said:

And 

I didn't think it was still available, but as it is I will watch again it was a good talk 🙂 

Steve

Edited April 17, 2022 by teoria_del_big_bang

[cardconvict]

Know worries just come back into the hobbies after along time away and this actually came up in a Google search and I wanted to see the video

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 hour ago, cardconvict said:

Know worries just come back into the hobbies after along time away and this actually came up in a Google search and I wanted to see the video

Well worth it, after seeing it the first time I actually subscribed to some of his other stuff and learned so much regarding Pixinsight.

Steve

[cardconvict]

Hey could ypu recommend which package you went for as I'm seriously considering this. Just alot of money to chuck in all at once shame he does not do a subscription 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 hour ago, cardconvict said:

Hey could ypu recommend which package you went for as I'm seriously considering this. Just alot of money to chuck in all at once shame he does not do a subscription 

It does seem a lot of money and that did put me off for a couple of months but I knew I was not getting the most out of PI and thought that as I already had a lot of cash invested in equipment and in PI itself that it was something I needed to try, so took the plunge.
So I went for the Fasttrack training and have learned loads of stuff, a lot to do with the processing but also a lot of tips just to do things faster or easier.
I actually emailed Adam and said I had seen his presentation on SGL and was impressed and wanted to see some more of his training but was worried the cost was high and he replied to say if I did not like them he would refund me my money but I never asked for a refund.

The whole set of lessons take some time to get through so you will not be proficient in a week or two but quite quickly they really help you get to grips with PI and work much faster and more confidently.

One problem I do find with PI (even though I love it now) is that it is constantly developing and although there are hundreds of videos on line many are now so outdated that its not really the best way to process your images anymore, yes the methods still work as all the old processes are still there but there are also much better processes to use (certainly in some cases).
So it's a bit of a good thing and bad thing as yes it's good that the software does not stand still and does develop but not so good you are constantly learning.
But to be fair to Adam he does try to keep coming back and updating the lessons as some of this new stuff appears.

One downside I would say is that he does not do a lot with NB stuff mainly LRGB, I guess he does not have the light pollution issue many of us suffer from, but he is trying now to add more NB stuff.

Steve

Edited April 17, 2022 by teoria_del_big_bang