Embarrassing Jupiters webcam clinic

[Zakalwe]

Oh and what capture software did you use?

Apologies for not responding sooner.

I used Sharpcap, but TBH, I don't think that the original AVI file was much cop. The seeing was fairly poor with lots of shimmering. I also need to work on my focusing technique.

I can post the original AVI file, if that helps?

[Saata]

Thanks for the reply Stuart - I have a barlow x2 so I'll give it a go when the clouds part...

Then I just have the stacking issues to think about

My learning curve has been going on so long, I think it may be a circle now....

[Space Cowboy]

I think you are right about the focus, I have a nice new Bahtinov Mask to try out if the sky ever clears. I stacked around 1000 out of the 2400 the AVI gave me.

I am not sure if I was a bit heavy handed with the wavelet controls.

These were done with a x2.5 powermate, but Jupiter is still very small on the sensor. Is it worth trying a x4 or even a x5 barlow to spread the image over a bit more? Or is this likely to be counter productive since the focal length is already 3750mm.

Thanks,

Chris

That's pretty much what I've been getting lately Chris. Can't see a lot wrong with your processing. How does the image look during capture is there a lot of boiling? I think everyone's Jupiter images have been less good of late due to the unstable conditions and the Planet moving further away from earth.

For sure you could try 4x barlow always worth experimenting but if conditions are unstable its not ideal as you would be magnifying the blur.

[Space Cowboy]

Apologies for not responding sooner.

I used Sharpcap, but TBH, I don't think that the original AVI file was much cop. The seeing was fairly poor with lots of shimmering. I also need to work on my focusing technique.

I can post the original AVI file, if that helps?

No worries It would be interesting to see the original video stream for sure.

[yeti monster]

How do people do manual tracking when takings AVIs for stacking? I feel that continually turning the slow-mo controls is going to introduce vibration and affect most of the frames of the video.

So is the best bet to get Jupiter on one edge and let it drift to the other before bringing it back with the slow-mo controls and then letting go again, the planet moving back and forth across the field of view?

--- Penguin.

I've tried with both my Skymax 90 and one of my TAL-1s. Once I've found the target, I set the position of the webcam so that the image travels from left to right across the screen, without rising or falling. This give my brain one less thing to worry about as the image is moving in the most instinctive direction.

I'll then spend a few seconds getting my tracking speed correct, to maintain the image in the centre of the screen, some nights my polar alignment is so good that I can track with just the RA control, but usually there'll be some DEC movement required.

Having satesfied my self with the tracking, I can then tweek the focus until I've convinced myself that it's ok.

Finally, I'll pull the image right off the left side of the screen, this gives me time to grab the mouse and start the capture, the image will drift into sight and I can then start the parlour game that is manual tracking.

Ending the capture, I'll just let the image drift away whilst I stop the program.

First part of processing is to crop the avi so that it starts with a central image, and ends before the image drifts away.

With this method, I'm finding that I don't require Castrator anymore.

Yesterday evening: TAL-1, 2x 2x Barlow stack, manual tracking:

[Saata]

Hi there

Taken my first ever astrophoto!!! I used Castrator and Registax and it was taken with a barlow x2 attached. There is 5 mins of footage stacked here.

HELP!!!!

Steve

[Space Cowboy]

Bravo getting your first image Steve! Looks slightly overexposed what settings did you use?

How much wavelets did you use in Registax as your image looks like it needs more sharpening. How did it look on your screen during video capture?

[colincb]

Hi Stuart,

First go at webcam (spc880 flashed) planetary imaging. Not very good but it's something; just about see the great red spot. Reading through this great thread, you mention that you couldn't obtain focus, when putting on a barlow, guess what, nor could I, (in fact I couldn't see anything). Is it impossible or am I being stoopid.

Anyway tomorrow I am going to read through the tutorials you mentioned earlier on and try to improve.

Image taken with; C8 SCT, SPC 880 flashed, no barlow, using sharpcap, Registax (about 750 frames).

[Space Cowboy]

Good start Colin! Glad you are finding this thread useful. Using a Barlow is tough at first but with practise it will be a breeze. Sounds like you were way out of focus or the image was off screen. Make sure your finderscope is nailed on Jupiter there is no margin for error when using a barlow your field of view is tiny. The webcam chip is similar to a 5 or 6mm eyepiece so if you have one of those or a 7 or 8mm one try focusing with a barlow using one of those eyepieces first to get things set up. I use a zoom eyepiece which is very good for setting the finderscope and focuser up before using the webcam.

If you image without a Barlow and then want to add the barlow make sure auto exposure is selected to make the image as bright as possible because when out of focus there will be a very faint doughnut. This can be invisible if the exposure is too low. I find turning the focuser clockwise until the non-barlowed image becomes a doughnut before adding the barlow makes a big difference as you should then see a bright blob which you can then bring into focus.

Hope that didn't sound too complicated lol

[colincb]

Hi Stuart,

No that makes perfect sense; thank you for taking the time to explain the basics. Cheers, I shall try again.

[Telescope40]

Hi All. I'm back. Space Cowboy. Seen a note on your excellent images about " sizing up " ??? Is this done in registax.

Thx as always - John

[Zakalwe]

No worries It would be interesting to see the original video stream for sure.

I've got a 98Mb avi file, hosted here:

[Space Cowboy]

Hi All. I'm back. Space Cowboy. Seen a note on your excellent images about " sizing up " ??? Is this done in registax.

Thx as always - John

Yes John using the "final" tab after wavelets then select "resize" at the bottom left of the screen and you will have a selection of resize options.

[Space Cowboy]

I've got a 98Mb avi file, hosted here:

Can't get the video to play for some reason

[Zakalwe]

Can't get the video to play for some reason

Did you manage to download it? Is it corrupted?

I'll use a different file host and try it again.

[Zakalwe]

Try this one...

linky

[Space Cowboy]

Ok I've had a look at your AVI and run it through Castrator and Registax. The avi itself looks ok atmospherics don't look too terrible. I would say the main problem is white balance setting which has produced a weird colour and your focusing is slightly out.

Here is an image I produced stacking and then using auto RGB balance to try and get some natural colour. Image was rotated too.You can see the GRS coming around the corner lol

[Zakalwe]

Ok I've had a look at your AVI and run it through Castrator and Registax. The avi itself looks ok atmospherics don't look too terrible. I would say the main problem is white balance setting which has produced a weird colour and your focusing is slightly out.

Here is an image I produced stacking and then using auto RGB balance to try and get some natural colour. Image was rotated too.You can see the GRS coming around the corner lol

All together now...."She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes..":p

Thanks for having a go at this, much appreciated!

OK, so some work needed on focusing. As with everything in photography, I guess that you have to start with a decent image first. no amount of post processing will fix bad focusing.

White Balance? I assume that SharpCap will have a WB setting in there somewhere?

What does Castrator do? And why would you use it?

Did you run all of the .avi thru Registax? or did you select certain parts of it?

[Space Cowboy]

No problem mate!

White balance should be on auto. Castrator crops the video footage so that the image is fixed and does not move or vibrate as there was some movement in your footage....this helps Registax when aligning the frames.

I selected just over 1000 frames to stack in Registax from the whole avi.

[Zakalwe]

No problem mate!

White balance should be on auto. Castrator crops the video footage so that the image is fixed and does not move or vibrate as there was some movement in your footage....this helps Registax when aligning the frames.

I selected just over 1000 frames to stack in Registax from the whole avi.

Thanks fella.

OK, more dumb questions (sorry).

You selected 1000 frames. How? You don't sit there clicking on each one, I presume?

[Space Cowboy]

Sounds like you need to read the Registax tutorials on page 1 of this thread ;-)

Once a reference frame (a good quality frame) has been selected Registax automatically ranks all the frames based on the reference. I selected all the frames within 90% of the reference which produced over 1000 frames.

[Zakalwe]

Sounds like you need to read the Registax tutorials on page 1 of this thread ;-)

Once a reference frame (a good quality frame) has been selected Registax automatically ranks all the frames based on the reference. I selected all the frames within 90% of the reference which produced over 1000 frames.

Do I ever......

Thanks for your patience.

Off to play with Castrator now.

Sheesh...I feel like a monkey looking into a jet engine..

[superjody]

Hi, im another newbie to webcam imaging. im using a 10" newt on an eq6 with a spc880.

i got jupiter in my view on wxastrocapture and its just coming up as a white disc, i tried changing some settings like you have said on here but cant change the shutter speed......

can someone please help and tell me where im going wrong and the exact settings i need on this program.

i did manage an image with some detail, some clouds came over and let some detail come through

[tonyowen]

I've noticed after the Philips SPC800 revolution of the last few weeks there are a lot of newbie webcam imagers around. Many are asking questions on different threads. I'm not God's gift to the web imaging world but if anyone has got a question or problem with their Jupiter images however strange it may look...weird colour or odd shape....don't be shy...just post it up on here and myself or I'm sure other learned SGL folk will try and help.

Stuart.

Attached is a webcam image of Jupiter and three jovian moons; together with a much manipulated image via PhotoShop Elements 7

The original was taken through a 3 inch BCF terrestrial telescope with the webcam attached to the RAS thread which is exposed when the 'terrestrial eyepiece unit' is removed. I'm using one of the Morgan Phillips webcam (unmodifed) but running successfully under Win7.

Using cratelet I recorded a video at 640x480, @30fps, totalling 828 frames and 685mb. Because I did not have access to a laptop, the video was recorded through double glazed (unheated) bedroom windows!!

I used Registax 5.1.9.2 using the default alignment and 64 alignment box locked on Jupiter.

I opened the saved Registax image (jupiter & moons) in Pholoshop and using various layers, together with manipulation of the jovian moons in a separate frame ended up with the flattened image jupiter&moons02

I also tried multiple images boxes that I believed were locked on the jovian moons, but ended up with a crazy segmented image.

I also tried adjusting the many Registax variables to try and highlight the moons for Registrax processing, but to no avail. as they were all but invisible in the noise

I note that one of the correspondents in this clinic suggests using separate videos of Jupiter and its moons. How is this achieved, how does on block out Jupiter etc etc??

With the webcam running on manual (all automatic operations unticked) what determines the better settings for a given exposure?

I do not have a trackable telescope mount.

Any comments received with thanks

Hopefully my images are attached

regards

Tony Owen

[Space Cowboy]

Hi, im another newbie to webcam imaging. im using a 10" newt on an eq6 with a spc880.

i got jupiter in my view on wxastrocapture and its just coming up as a white disc, i tried changing some settings like you have said on here but cant change the shutter speed......

can someone please help and tell me where im going wrong and the exact settings i need on this program.

i did manage an image with some detail, some clouds came over and let some detail come through

Have you flashed your spc880 to 900? Seems strange you can't change shutter speed unless your camera driver is not loaded properly. You have unchecked auto exposure?

On my 10" newt I use 1/50 shutter 50 Gain and 0 Gamma. I leave everything else unchanged.