Just pulled the trigger on a ASI2600 mc pro, Advice needed !

[simmo39]

Hi all, sitting here board unable to do a lot due to bad sciatica ( not been able to shoot anything since September! ) I just pushed the buy button on a ASI2600mc. I have used a ASI 1600 mm for a few years and aim to keep it going for narrowband stuff but OSC is a bit of a dark art to me. Do i still need to take darks? and make a dark library and how about dark flats? Also I take it that flats are run the same?

Thanks in advance.

Edited November 28, 2021 by simmo39

[The Lazy Astronomer]

All calibration frames (that I assume you've been taking for your 1600) still apply, and the process of doing it is no different - if anything, slightly easier because you won't have to do seperate sets of flats and flat darks for different filters.

[simmo39]

51 minutes ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

All calibration frames (that I assume you've been taking for your 1600) still apply, and the process of doing it is no different - if anything, slightly easier because you won't have to do seperate sets of flats and flat darks for different filters.

Thanks, thats what I thought. I have read though that darks may not be needed due to no amp glow.

[The Lazy Astronomer]

14 minutes ago, simmo39 said:

Thanks, thats what I thought. I have read though that darks may not be needed due to no amp glow.

You may be able to get away without using any darks, however they should still provide a benefit by removing bias signal, correcting hot pixels, etc.

[simmo39]

35 minutes ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

You may be able to get away without using any darks, however they should still provide a benefit by removing bias signal, correcting hot pixels, etc.

Yep, I had forgotten the hot pixels. Just looking forward to getting to use the camera. 

[Allinthehead]

Congratulations on the new toy and I hope you get to enjoy it soon.

Bias frames work fine with this camera subtracted from the flats. I get away with using the bias as darks and dithering takes care of hot pixels. 

I might try taking darks again to see if there's any difference, I think I tried this when I got the camera first and  couldn't notice any improvement.

[Scooot]

I just take Darks, Dark Flats & Flats. Dark Flats are first subtracted from the Flats. 
 

Edited November 29, 2021 by Scooot

[Stefek]

The most recent CMOS cameras generally do not suffer from amp glow , except maybe under some extreme conditions. Dithering combined with good stacking takes care about hot/cold pixels . So, all in all, darks are like holy water they do not harm , but do not help much either... I am not using them for both my IMX571 based cameras. 

[Scooot]

11 hours ago, Stefek said:

The most recent CMOS cameras generally do not suffer from amp glow , except maybe under some extreme conditions. Dithering combined with good stacking takes care about hot/cold pixels . So, all in all, darks are like holy water they do not harm , but do not help much either... I am not using them for both my IMX571 based cameras. 

I’m effectively using the Dark as a bias. Subtracting the Dark Flat from the Flat removes the bias and subtracting the Master Dark from the light removes the Bias and any hot pixels. A bias instead obviously just removes the bias. However as you say there’s zero amp glow and probably not many hot pixels if dithering. 

[simmo39]

On 28/11/2021 at 15:41, The Lazy Astronomer said:

You may be able to get away without using any darks, however they should still provide a benefit by removing bias signal, correcting hot pixels, etc.

 

17 hours ago, Scooot said:

I just take Darks, Dark Flats & Flats. Dark Flats are first subtracted from the Flats. 
 

 

1 hour ago, Scooot said:

I’m effectively using the Dark as a bias. Subtracting the Dark Flat from the Flat removes the bias and subtracting the Master Dark from the light removes the Bias and any hot pixels. A bias instead obviously just removes the bias. However as you say there’s zero amp glow and probably not many hot pixels if dithering. 

Thanks for all the pointers, If the weather dosn't play nice when i get the camera I will take that time and make a darks library just to be on the safe side. As for the others frames seems to be the same as i took for my ASI 1600. Anyway looking forward to getting it and trying it out.