1st serious DSLR DSO attempt

[Demonperformer]

Last night

M3

102SLT [alt-az mount] + unmodded canon 1000D @ ISO 800

40x15s lights

20 darks

20 bias

(haven't got to grips with 'flats' yet)

stacked in DSS and 'tweaked' in registax (brightness/contrast/wavelets)

The colour seems very 'red' in the cluster itself - or is it supposed to be like that (I have not adjusted any of the colour settings)?

For future reference, am I right that I can use the same bias files without having to take new ones every time?

Thanks for looking.

[Psychobilly]

Yes Bias can be recycled...

In Alt/Az just keep adding more and more of those short subs...

Peter...

[msinclairinork]

i would be very happy with that as a first serious attempt! Well done

[jgs001]

Nicely done there DP.

I've always had problems with Bias frames imparting a heavy colour cast that was a so and so to remove and I think I've worked out why. Dark frames already contain the Bias information, so subtracting the darks from the lights removes the Bias. The Flats contains the Bias and using the Bias frames will remove it from those, but the way DSS works it removes the Bias from the lights as well which is already removed from the darks. Try a restack without the bias.

I agree with Peter, throw large numbers of subs at it. At these short exposure lengths, you can take loads in a very short time. Also, given the shortness, push the ISO to 1600. Going over 100 to 150 subs will do wonders for the noise, and may even pull out things you didn't think you could capture.

[Deneb]

I think this is the best I have seen from you so far, as Peter says just keep adding data to it.

Nadeem.

[greenkat]

Hi DP

Great start & with just a quick run through Photoshop & Neatimage to remove a bit of noise you have quite a lot of stuff in there

Hope you dont mind me tweaking your image

Greenkat

[TheThing]

Well done DP. A great shot.

[Demonperformer]

Thank you all for your kind comments.

I certainly feel that the Canon has enabled me to make a quantum leap forward compared to the mintron. I suspect this is largely due to the increased (although still limited) exposure length.

John: Did a restack without bias, and it seems to me the colour actually got even redder. Was going to post it, but it is still feeble in comparison to GK's reworking, so I guess I won't humiliate myself.

GK: I have no objections whatsoever to you having a tweak. One thing it shows is that the data is there, I just didn't manage to get at it. So now I suppose I will have to start the learning the complexities of processing. Not to mention having to save up for a copy of PS/NI. I've also seen a lot of talk about a prog called Pixinsight. Do you know if these are similar, or if one would be a better option than the other?

I guess standing around for an hour or so while the camera takes a couple of hundred frames, is rapidly going to become the easy bit!

[Psychobilly]

With the bias frames included DSS would have had a better chance at setting the black point automatically...

It's the stacking that will take the time once you end up with loads of frames but at least you can leave that running in the background...

Harry Page is probably one of the best guys to ask about Pixinsight... it's a very powerful app and being actively developed as well...

CS2 and CS3 can be picked up quite cheaply as they are now getting on a bit but perfectly adequate - only thing to watch is you loose raw support of the newer cameras with the older software although you can use DNG instead usign a free download app...

This doesnt apply if your using DSS to work on the raws...

Peter...

[greenkat]

Hi DP

Adjusting levels & curves in Photoshop isnt too hard to get the hang of, theres a good tutorial in the stickys on here. Any paint or imaging program with levels/curves adjusting would do, and though I dont condone illegal downloading, I dont know anyone who actualy pays for photoshop, even Adobe themselves realise this because they make their money from bussineses buying licences.

Neatimage is a free program, just google it and download, works wonders with noisy images.

As for Pixinsight, I have tried it but find it a bit complicated for my liking.

Keep at it and keep grabbing those subs

Greenkat

[dph1nm]

You really can't need darks with 15s exposures on the Canon 1000D. I do 1min exposures without any need for darks. You just end up increasing the noise. Biases yes - very important I find on my 1000D, with so many short expsoures.

If you have any light pollution then you may well get a red/orange cast to your stars. I suspect that is what you are seeing.

NigelM