10th September: Best images yet but how do I improve clarity/detail?

[Cosmic Geoff]

25 minutes ago, Mark2022 said:

I've never yet seen a night where, on screen during capture, I can see the detail (even slightly) that Kon has in his photos.

You won't see much detail on the live screen during capture, compared with the final processed result.  Typically you can see a cloud belt or two, and the Great Red Spot if it's on the Earth-facing side.  

I'd hesitate to cast aspersions on your camera, but I could not find any reviews comparing it with the ZWO range. 

Have you checked the collimation of your Meade?  I thought my CPC800 was okay, till I did a side-by-side collimation star test with another SCT, tweaked it and noted an immediate improvement in the imaging results.  Clearly the collimation is critical - if it is noticeably off during general viewing then it's really bad.

[Mark2022]

17 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

You won't see much detail on the live screen during capture, compared with the final processed result.  Typically you can see a cloud belt or two, and the Great Red Spot if it's on the Earth-facing side. 

That is exactly what I can see and it appears quite clear while capturing.

18 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

I'd hesitate to cast aspersions on your camera, but I could not find any reviews comparing it with the ZWO range.

Here's a thing: I bought the camera used and the previous owner had removed the UV/IR glass so as to enable improved Ha capture. However, I bought a UV/IR screw thread filter to replace. Just wondering if the softness could be due to anything there.

22 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Have you checked the collimation of your Meade?

Collimation is good to perfect.

[Nigella Bryant]

I started using winjupos taking 10x2min video recordings. Once each autostacked use the files into winjupos and derotate. I use a C11 so a bit more resolution. Mars and Jupiter last year. 

[Mark2022]

1 hour ago, Nigella Bryant said:

I started using winjupos taking 10x2min video recordings. Once each autostacked use the files into winjupos and derotate. I use a C11 so a bit more resolution. Mars and Jupiter last year. 

Ah! A C11 would help! LOL Nice photos Nigella. I think one of the first things I will do is keep to 2 mins. I have no idea how to use Winjupos (particularly since I believe it works with Sharpcap and Firecapture well). I don't think AstroDMx 'integrates' with it but I  know you can input things manually but that  you also need to be precise with the times of every video or photo you capture?