Supermoon

[Mandy D]

Last night's supermoon.

Nikon D800, Skywatcher 200P

[Laurieast]

Nice photo!

You might like this, I use it on my Canon EOS with good results. Control your exposure and focus etc on your laptop. Take images and AVI's and stack them.

https://www.otelescope.com/store/category/4-backyardnikon/

 

[Mandy D]

20 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

Nice photo!

You might like this, I use it on my Canon EOS with good results. Control your exposure and focus etc on your laptop. Take images and AVI's and stack them.

https://www.otelescope.com/store/category/4-backyardnikon/

 

Thank you!

I'm using a Hahnel system at the moment to remote release the shutter and have the intervalometer, too. I've never seen Backyardnikon before; it looks interesting. I like the idea that it can stack images and AVIs as that is something I am currently stuck on. The only problem is that I am lending my laptop to a friend tonight, otherwise I'd try it on getting the other moons of Saturn.

I'll definitely give it a go. Do you use the classic or premium edition?

[Laurieast]

22 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

I'll definitely give it a go. Do you use the classic or premium edition?

I went for Premium because of all the "Yes" boxes here, and the price difference is not much: https://www.otelescope.com/byncompare.html/

It will make AVI's 

I made it sound like it will stack multiple single shots, which it won't, sorry.

To stack stills like TIFF or RAW or whatever your choice you would still need Autostakkert to stack, and Registax to sharpen etc for the Moon and planets, both are free.

And Photoshop or Affinity (cheaper) to process (Adjust  😉 ) images. 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Laurieast

[Laurieast]

Although it can create AVI's, you still need to run them through Autostakkert to get the best stacked output. 

Yet another learning curve.

(forgot that part, it's the weather!)

[Mandy D]

5 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

I made it sound like it will stack multiple single shots, which it won't, sorry.

To stack stills like TIFF or RAW or whatever your choice you would still need Autostakkert to stack, and Registax to sharpen etc for the Moon and planets, both are free.

And Photoshop or Affinity (cheaper) to process (Adjust  😉 ) images. 

Ahh, I have Registax, just need to learn to use it and must download Autostakkert. I currently do everything in GIMP, so not sure if I need Affinity. I think now is the time to up my game. I have just bought an AZ-EQ5, but am currently unable to drive due to an eye injury and very little sky available at home due, mainly, to trees.

[Laurieast]

Take an AVI of the Moon to start with (easier) , open it in Autostakkert and select "surface" , take about 2000 frames, tell it to stack the best 25%, on the right you will see a box for Allignment points, try 104 or 200.

It's easier than it looks at first sight.

 

[Mandy D]

1 hour ago, Laurieast said:

Take an AVI of the Moon to start with (easier) , open it in Autostakkert and select "surface" , take about 2000 frames, tell it to stack the best 25%, on the right you will see a box for Allignment points, try 104 or 200.

It's easier than it looks at first sight.

OK, thanks. I've installed Autostakkert. My D800 appears to produce MOV, not AVI. Will this work or do I need to convert it first?

Edited August 12, 2022 by Mandy D

[Laurieast]

9 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

My D800 appears to produce MOV, not AVI. Will this work or do I need to convert it first?

It says "Support for TIFF, FIT, BMP, AVI (uncompressed) and SER files (thanks to Heiko Wilkens). MOV files and other compressed files are also supported when FFmpeg executable is available to AS!. In principle there are no file size limitations."

I have no idea what that might mean lol 

https://www.autostakkert.com/wp/guides/

Looks like VLC can convert them.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Laurieast

[Mandy D]

8 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

Looks like VLC can convert them.

Ah, good old VLC. Looks like that might be what I need to get started. I'll see if I can grab a few minutes of video tonight.

[Steve Ward]

The MOV files are just a stream of JPEGs and very compressed.

Better to shoot full single frames on the DSLR and then use PIPP (https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/) to evaluate , crop and centre the frames and join into a full res AVI before feeding them into AS!3 .

You should be able to use the Nikon in house control software  "Camera Control Pro 2" to adjust everything you need to from the laptop in much the same way as Canon's "EOS Utility" does for us Canon users.

[Mandy D]

8 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

The MOV files are just a stream of JPEGs and very compressed.

Better to shoot full single frames on the DSLR and then use PIPP (https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/) to evaluate , crop and centre the frames and join into a full res AVI before feeding them into AS!3 .

You should be able to use the Nikon in house control software  "Camera Control Pro 2" to adjust everything you need to from the laptop in much the same way as Canon's "EOS Utility" does for us Canon users.

Sadly, unlike Canon, the Nikon software is not free. In fact it is very expensive. Backyardnikon, as suggested by @Laurieast is probably what I will use.

I get that PIPP will give me the full resolution of the camera, but for simplicity at this point I will go with shooting video until I get my head around this processing game. But, thanks for the additional suggestions. I'll certainly investigate them further once I get going with this.

[Steve Ward]

4 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Sadly, unlike Canon, the Nikon software is not free. In fact it is very expensive.

This is supposed to be very good ... and free.    http://digicamcontrol.com/

BackyardNikon is only free in it's trial version  , then $35 or $50 for the Classic or Pro versions.

 

[Mandy D]

4 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

This is supposed to be very good ... and free.    http://digicamcontrol.com/

BackyardNikon is only free in it's trial version  , then $35 or $50 for the Classic or Pro versions.

 

Yes, I was quite happy with $50, but not with what Nikon wanted to charge. I'll try your link first though and if that covers what I need, I'll be very happy. Thank you for the suggestion. I just need to find my Nikon USB cable, now ... 😉

[Steve Ward]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=nikon+uce+14+usb+cable&_blrs=spell_check&_fsrp=1

[Laurieast]

Best thing I ever did was switch to a dedicated fairly cheap astro camera from the DSLR, an Asi 224 mc and FLO have an offer on camera's right now 😁

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras.html   (cables, adapters and software included)

High speed avi's in colour, no messing about 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Laurieast

[Mandy D]

16 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=nikon+uce+14+usb+cable&_blrs=spell_check&_fsrp=1

I've found my cable and playing with digicamcontrol now. It looks good so far. Thanks.

[Mandy D]

14 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

Best thing I ever did was switch to a dedicated fairly cheap astro camera from the DSLR, an Asi 224 mc and FLO have an offer on camera's right now 😁

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras.html   (cables, adapters and software included)

High speed avi's in colour, no messing about 

Yes, I have an ASI178MM already. I just never got to grips with ZWO software. Let's get the DSLR stuff working for now as I can already get good images with that. I just need to make them great, then I will re-visit the ZWO. One step at a time. 😊

[Steve Ward]

You're very welcome. 

I was just hunting for a really good Lunar Imaging Tutorial that "JamesF" made years ago , the one that got me on the right track.

But despite numerous requests it never got pinned and you can only go back 400 pages now ... 🙄

[Laurieast]

4 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

I was just hunting for a really good Lunar Imaging Tutorial that "JamesF" made years ago , the one that got me on the right track.

This one? 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/184192-full-disc-lunar-imaging-with-a-dslr/

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Laurieast

[Steve Ward]

34 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

This one? 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/184192-full-disc-lunar-imaging-with-a-dslr/

 

Well done that man ... 🥰

[Laurieast]

I had another look at Backyard Nikon, and it says:

https://www.otelescope.com/byncompare.html/

 

But Trial it first, just in case.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Laurieast

[Mandy D]

On 12/08/2022 at 17:04, Steve Ward said:

This is supposed to be very good ... and free.    http://digicamcontrol.com/

BackyardNikon is only free in it's trial version  , then $35 or $50 for the Classic or Pro versions.

 

Yes, it is very intuitive and seems to work quite well. There is one problem with it though, it keeps the camera awake and hence drains the battery rapidly. So, either use a mains PSU for the camera or turn the camera off when not actively using it. Fortunately, I have dual batteries in the D800 and spotted it before the first battery was completely drained.

[Mandy D]

On 12/08/2022 at 17:53, Laurieast said:

This one? 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/184192-full-disc-lunar-imaging-with-a-dslr/

 

Thank you. I've had a quick read and will keep it on my reference list. I don't know when my next clear sky will be for further imaging!

[Laurieast]

It was clear around 3am, but I was not going to do anything about, looks like cloud for a while now. 

Have you got a Lunar Atlas? this is very good.

https://ap-i.net/avl/en/start