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Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | >> (show all) Alex Post Pooh-Bah Reged: 09/24/08 Loc: Iowa, USA Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Alex Post]       #4839685 - 10/02/11 04:16 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   This post could go in either NexStar or the Graduates thread, but I decided to place it here for one reason. The reason being simplicity of the AP method for planetary imaging, which in my mind would help NexStar AP enthusiast the most. Here is the scoop: prime focus imaging with a barlow. I am sure this method has been used in the past by NexStarians, but I "discovered" it for myself just very recently: The idea is that you use the prime focus imaging setup, which requires as most of you know absolutely nothing other than a scope and a camera. I was doing most of my planetary imaging using Hyperion EPs. One idea was on my mind for a long time: what if I insert a barlow between the scope and the camera without an EP? Would it work at all? Again, I will claim complete ignorance how optics work. I looked around and found a place that sells adapters to connect camera T-rings with standard 1.25" holders: Adapaters I did not know if this contraption is going to come into focus and bought the #TAPP, which is a combination of the #TADP and an extension tube. Long story short, the #TADP piece is all that is needed to connect the barlow and the camera. Since I have the TV 5x barlow, it was a nice and astonishingly simple method of doing planetary imaging at just about the sweet spot for the Alt-Az mount with an F10 scope. What I mean by that is that since Alt-Az tends to drift every which way once you start magnifying, it's a balance between magnification and the speed of the image drifting outside of the frame. Here is a full frame image of the Jupiter with this method: My technique is not up to Eric's new standard just yet, obviously, but I hope this simple method of prime imaging with barlow is known to a wide audience. Post Extras:       flboy Carpal Tunnel Reged: 08/10/10 Loc: De Leon Springs, FL Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Alex Post]       #4839957 - 10/02/11 06:22 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Wow Alex! Very nice indeed!! Post Extras:       JB@DISL newbie Reged: 09/03/11 Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: flboy]       #4840277 - 10/02/11 09:34 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Ok, so here goes nothin! For my first post here at CN I'd thought I'd entertain yall with an example of my first steps into AP. It's also my first attempt using DSS, M31: 3x 30 second images. Nexstar 8se, f6.3 FLR, Canon Rebel XT. It might not look like much, but I'm pretty psyched about some of the dark bands I can see (on my good monitor at least). It's also my first attempt at a galaxy. I chose the 3 best of about 10 images total. I get a lot of scope shake due to the constant wind on the Island where I live. That's my biggest challenge at the moment. A few lessons learned, and many, many more to come. And the token moon shot: Post Extras:       BLINEAU super member Reged: 05/23/11 Loc: Paris, France Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Alex Post]       #4840687 - 10/03/11 03:50 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: I admit, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but trying to setup Batch/Macro mode in Registax is making me want to go kill myself. They state that it's easier to do it in version 6 than ever before. Eric, what do you use for your batch file processing for the animations? I am processing them frames now by hand. I am on frame 3 out of 72. Yes Alex, I use the Macro/Batch mode in Registax 6. Very easy in R6. I suppose you have seen this tuto : http://www.astronomie.be/registax/previewbatch.html Eric Post Extras:       Tel Postmaster Reged: 03/31/06 Loc: Wallingford England Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: BLINEAU]       #4840697 - 10/03/11 04:11 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Alex, Nice imaging from a nicely devised set-up ! Congratulations ! Your notes regarding magnification and image drift are, I believe, also particularly relevant to Kim's latest thread and support that which I replied in answer to his question on this particular phenomenon associated with Nexstar mounts. Best regards, Tel Post Extras:       Tel Postmaster Reged: 03/31/06 Loc: Wallingford England Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Tel]       #4840700 - 10/03/11 04:22 AM Attachment (47 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Jake, A very warm welcome to CN and to this particular forum. Many congratulations too on your first image post. I saw what you meant about the dust lanes you'd also captured within M31 so made an attempt to bring them to the fore a little more. I hope you don't mind. This small amount of processing also seems to have brought its satellite galaxy M32 to some prominence. Best regards, Tel Post Extras:       Arthur Dent Galactic Hitch-Hiker Reged: 10/23/08 Loc: South Yorkshire, UK Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Tel]       #4840765 - 10/03/11 06:43 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Jake, Welcome to the Forum Those are two nice images and Tel's reprocessing has brought out those dust lanes. Kudos to both of you Post Extras:       Midnight Dan Postmaster Reged: 01/23/08 Loc: Hilton, NY, Yellow Zone (Bortl... Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Arthur Dent]       #4840790 - 10/03/11 07:12 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Jake & Welcome to our little corner of Cloudy Nights! Nice job on M33 and the Moon! As you can see from Tel's reprocessing, you took a better image than you thought! Processing is half the battle with astrophotography and there's a ton to learn on that end of it! But it looks like you're enjoying getting started! -Dan Post Extras:       Skip Starlifter Driver Reged: 01/23/08 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas, USA Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Alex Post]       #4841369 - 10/03/11 01:11 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Beautiful Jupiter, Alex!! Post Extras:       JB@DISL newbie Reged: 09/03/11 Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Tel]       #4842136 - 10/03/11 07:31 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hey guys, thanks for all the warm welcomes! Quote: I saw what you meant about the dust lanes you'd also captured within M31 so made an attempt to bring them to the fore a little more. I hope you don't mind. I don't mind at all, Tel. That's much more like what I was looking for. If you don't mind me asking, what did you do to get that effect? I've gone through a few tutorials on some processing techniques, but not nearly enough. Also, I shot all my images for this in JPEG instead of RAW, so I didn't have as much data to work with to in the first place. Post Extras:       Smittty692k4 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 07/05/11 Loc: East Bernard, TX Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: JB@DISL]       #4842314 - 10/03/11 09:11 PM Attachment (36 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thats all I could get out of it. At the end of processing, you either can sacrafice dust lanes and dark for brightness and discoloration. But Still a nice challange!! Post Extras:       Alex Post Pooh-Bah Reged: 09/24/08 Loc: Iowa, USA Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Smittty692k4]       #4842702 - 10/04/11 01:17 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Pretty amazing how much data is in 3x 30sec shots. Matt's processing is quite remarkable. Post Extras:       BLINEAU super member Reged: 05/23/11 Loc: Paris, France Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Alex Post]       #4842745 - 10/04/11 02:13 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi guys ! Turbulence was fair in Paris last night : FileFormat=SER Camera=i-Nova PLA-Mx BeginRec=2011-10-04T03:51:30.515 EndRec=2011-10-04T03:51:54.218 ExpTime=25ms ImageDimensions={Width=320, Height=240} Resolution=BIN SavedFrames=1200 (buffered) ReadoutMode=8,FAST Gain=259 BlackLevel=0 FilterWheel= Filter= (slot 0) Origin=PlxCapture FileFormat=SER Camera=i-Nova PLA-Mx BeginRec=2011-10-04T04:12:14.828 EndRec=2011-10-04T04:12:38.734 ExpTime=25ms ImageDimensions={Width=320, Height=240} Resolution=BIN SavedFrames=1200 (buffered) ReadoutMode=8,FAST Gain=219 BlackLevel=0 FilterWheel= Filter= (slot 0) Origin=PlxCapture FileFormat=SER Camera=i-Nova PLA-Mx BeginRec=2011-10-04T04:27:28.812 EndRec=2011-10-04T04:27:53.718 ExpTime=25ms ImageDimensions={Width=640, Height=480} Resolution=FULL SavedFrames=1200 (buffered) ReadoutMode=8,FAST Gain=379 BlackLevel=0 FilterWheel= Filter= (slot 0) Origin=PlxCapture Have a good day Eric Post Extras:       Tel Postmaster Reged: 03/31/06 Loc: Wallingford England Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: JB@DISL]       #4842800 - 10/04/11 04:39 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: Hey guys, thanks for all the warm welcomes! Quote: I saw what you meant about the dust lanes you'd also captured within M31 so made an attempt to bring them to the fore a little more. I hope you don't mind. I don't mind at all, Tel. That's much more like what I was looking for. If you don't mind me asking, what did you do to get that effect? I've gone through a few tutorials on some processing techniques, but not nearly enough. Also, I shot all my images for this in JPEG instead of RAW, so I didn't have as much data to work with to in the first place. Hi Jake, Thank you for not minding my playing with your original image. What did I do? Not much really. I use an old but serviceable CS2 version of Photoshop and in this case, merely applied Levels and Curves to bring out the detail in your image a little more plus the use of the Photo Filter (blue) application to give it, in my view, a more appealing overall colour. That was it ! As to its capture in Jpeg, well, you obviously appreciate that Raw would have been better. Looking forward to seeing more of your work. Best regards, Tel Post Extras:       Skip Starlifter Driver Reged: 01/23/08 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas, USA Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Tel]       #4843360 - 10/04/11 11:43 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Tel and Matt, Good work! Probably are not going to get anymore out of that jpeg file. Since saving in a jpeg compresses the image by getting rid of some of the data, there probably isn't much left there. I've stopped even trying to get anything out of jpeg files. Your results are MUCH better than mine would be! Post Extras:       Smittty692k4 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 07/05/11 Loc: East Bernard, TX Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Skip]       #4843542 - 10/04/11 01:27 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I owe my data processing to you Skip. All I did was follow Neil's steps the best I could. I made a flow chart like his to use. The saturation killed it. Thats only 1 itteration. Anymore and the light pixels in the galaxy became RGB'd in color Post Extras:       Geo. Carpal Tunnel Reged: 10/01/08 Loc: Upstate NY Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Smittty692k4]       #4845034 - 10/05/11 11:32 AM Attachment (38 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   This will give you an idea of the limitations of the 1.25" rear port of the smaller Celestron SCTs. Only the very high line DSLRs and astro cams use the 35mm film format. APS-H is limited to a Canon midline model. All other Canons use the APS-C sensor. The new 4/3rds cameras are interesting, but still very expensive. The KAF1603 is used in the SBIG ST-8 and the 0402 in the ST-7. Post Extras:       Alex Post Pooh-Bah Reged: 09/24/08 Loc: Iowa, USA Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: BLINEAU]       #4846668 - 10/06/11 08:38 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: Yes Alex, I use the Macro/Batch mode in Registax 6. Very easy in R6. I suppose you have seen this tuto : http://www.astronomie.be/registax/previewbatch.html Eric Thanks Eric, finally figured it out. Processing in progress, a few more hours to go. How do you align images into animation? Photoshop? Post Extras:       BLINEAU super member Reged: 05/23/11 Loc: Paris, France Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: Alex Post]       #4846815 - 10/06/11 10:17 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Quote: Quote: Yes Alex, I use the Macro/Batch mode in Registax 6. Very easy in R6. I suppose you have seen this tuto : http://www.astronomie.be/registax/previewbatch.html Eric Thanks Eric, finally figured it out. Processing in progress, a few more hours to go. How do you align images into animation? Photoshop? Hi Alex! For the animation below, I aligned with GIMP 2.6. For this, the technique is different (WinJUPOS): I'm still learning the technique, it's the first time I use WinJUPOS for an animation. 11 images (not all the 53 frames used for the first animation), Jupiter is not a perfect circle, satellites and the shadow disappears ... Much work to be done to achieve what I want to do! Eric Post Extras:       Smittty692k4 scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 07/05/11 Loc: East Bernard, TX Re: AP Images Taken with Original NexStar [Re: BLINEAU]       #4846845 - 10/06/11 10:26 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   If there was such a thing as perfect animation, the second one is as close as Ive seen. Way to wow us again Eric!! Post Extras:       Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | >> (show all)

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