M101, the Pinwheel and friends

[RobH]

Hello Tim.

It really is very subjective once you've done all of the 'by the book' balancing of white and black points etc.

I was just going through my colour data again, and did a quick RGB without the Ha added to the red.

This gave me a very neutral coloured image, not biased towards either R,G or B.

I'd forgotten, but I got the Ha data with my 16HR, and I think this is skewing the colour balance, as when I stack with the Ha added to the red channel, everything starts off very red, even when I balance the colour channels in the background.

The 16 HR is turning out to be a heck of a lot more sensitive than the SXVF H16, so I think what I need to do is shoot some green and blue with that, and either add them to the green and blue SXV subs in lighten mode, as I did with the Ha, or shoot the Ha with the SXV.

What I'd really like is a mono cam with the chip size of the SXV, and the sensitivity of the 16HR, but it'd have to come with antiblooming....they probably exist but I bet they're expensive

It's turning out to be a good learning experience, putting this one together....I'm learning about cameras, well depth etc etc, and having to develop new processing techniques too....great

Cheers

Rob

[Tim]

At least you have a quality image to practice on Rob. How are you aligning the images from the two cameras? Registar?

[RobH]

Hello Tim,

I'm using Maxim to align. Looking forward to having a look at registar though.

I did a rough reprocess without the Ha data added to the colour channels, and the overall colour came out much more like the traditional images one sees of M101.

I'm working on a proper version now and will post when it's done.

11 hours on a plane coming up so I have plenty of time

Cheers

Rob

[RichieJarvis]

Ah - so you want someone to buy you an SXVF-H35 then, eh Rob??

Good answer - I like that idea - can you get them to buy me one as well???

Its still a lovely looking image though - you can't take anything away from it - beautifully framed, focused and captured - what more can a man want?? (apart from more aperture, bigger chip, larger warm-room, etc? )

Richie

[bazza]

Superb image Rob - I won't ask you how long you've spent on processing it by now. Suffice to say, it's been well worth it.

Fantstic detail in the arms.

I am presently going through Scott Ireland's book to try and remind me of everything you showed us at SGL4!

Barry.

[Starflyer]

Lovely image Rob, I like the colour balance and saturation you're gone for.