· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article    Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Cloudy Nights - Official Forums of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User   You are not logged in. [Login] Forum Archives · Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Astrophotography and Sketching >> DSLR & Digital Camera Astro Imaging & Processing Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all) Fabio Papa Pooh-Bah Reged: 03/01/05 Posts: 1460 Loc: Piacenza, Italy Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: cvedeler]       #2113448 - 01/11/08 04:27 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   First of all, your images are far from garbage! I don't know jack about flat frames as I never took one. But, flats aside, you seem to have an awful lot of things in front of your sensor. I mean, flat or not, I think a little cleaning is in order. I'm also surprised all that stuff is invisible in the M45 shot. But maybe you exposed differently? And while on exposure matter, I would say, from a very light polluted site, you have either to change subject or invest in a good LPS filter. Else, you'll get a lot of frustration! Anyway, don't give up! As I said, that's far from garbage! -------------------- Fabio Papa Celestron C8 F/10 Vixen ED81SWT F/7.7 Orion Atlas EQ-G Gruppo Astrofili di Piacenza Post Extras:       cvedeler Carpal Tunnel Reged: 12/20/05 Posts: 2161 Loc: Scottsdale, AZ Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: Fabio Papa]       #2113582 - 01/11/08 05:35 PM Attachment (30 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I reprocessed my horsehead and this time the flats seemed to work. Strange it didn't work the first time... It still isn't my best work, but it is certainly better. -------------------- Chris Vedeler Astro-Physics 160EDF Astro-Physics 900GTO Q453HR / QHY8 CCD camera Canon 450XSi ---------------------------- www.aznightsky.com Scottsdale, AZ Post Extras:       walt r Post Laureate Reged: 02/13/07 Posts: 3462 Loc: Doylestown, PA Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: cvedeler]       #2113597 - 01/11/08 05:38 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Big improvement Chris. It may have been just a fluke with the cal processing not opening the flat file. Nice to see that it now works. Sure is magic how all the dust donuts vanish. Clear skies. -------------------- Walt Obsession 18" f/4.45 #1370 AN/SC MK67 Deluxe 6" f/12 Mak-Cass, Super Polaris GEM, JMI MicroMax DSC DIY 60mm f/6 Achromat Cookbook 245 CCD Post Extras:       D_talley scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 07/07/05 Posts: 890 Loc: Richmond VA Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: walt r]       #2113710 - 01/11/08 06:51 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Great photo! Now try for 2 hours worth of subs.. -------------------- Dwight SBIG ST2000xm TEC 140 APO #74 Meade LX200 14 OTA Orion 12.5 DOB Celestron C8+ Celestron 102AZ Losmandy G11 Gemini Argo Navis Canon 350D self mod Hyperstar ST-4 Guider STV Guider Post Extras:       RogerRZ Whatta you lookin' at? Reged: 01/09/06 Posts: 2584 Loc: West Collette, NB, Canada Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: D_talley]       #2113761 - 01/11/08 07:26 PM Attachment (25 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   If anybody is wondering what the difference between a modded and unmodded camera, here it is. Mine is unmodded, and notice how much more subdued the colors are. A stack of 30X60 sec, iso1600, no darks, flats or bias frames. The mirror clips create terrible dark spikes. This ain't no refractor, lol! -------------------- -Roger Pitre- 1 X 7 binocular Astro-Tech Imaging Newtonian MPCC Starblast guidescope Starshoot autoguider EQ6 Pro, HEQ5, Canon 50D, 70-200 f/4L "He's got shoulders on him like a smelt..."--Anonymous http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10723&id=509325956&l=79d06a1d10 http://ajpobservatory.isgreat.org/ Post Extras:       Buzzer professor emeritus Reged: 07/21/07 Posts: 659 Loc: Long Island, NY Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: RogerRZ]       #2113908 - 01/11/08 08:48 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Chris, with a clear dark sky clock like that, please don't quit. My pictures at the beginning and mostly still now, are not up to snuff. I am currently without a scope, that is a story for another time. set the camera to manual, set the iso to 100,keep changing the exposure time until the histogram peaks at 50%. I don't know why but I always take 30 flats. A bad flat will destroy a picture. That is the fun of this hobby, it is alike lot golf, you will hit that one good shot or 2 every round, but probobaly never master it, but trying so hard is where it's at, no quitting allowed. Please, repost the picture after you try this. Andy -------------------- Meade SN-10 Carbon Fiber TMB 92ss Mini Borg 50 Guidescope Celestron CGE Mount QHY8 Orion Starshoot Autoguider http://buzzer.zenfolio.com/ "I THINK THE WEATHERMAN NEEDS MORE EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT" WANING CRESCENT OBSERVATORY Post Extras:       ChazK Pooh-Bah Reged: 11/23/05 Posts: 1453 Loc: Melbourne, Florida Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: cvedeler]       #2114013 - 01/11/08 09:34 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Chris, Hang tough bro! I just tossed 2 hours of B33 myself due to excessive noise. That's a good effort and far from garbage! And if I may ask another question. There seems to be a lot of noise in your shot as well. Is that from it being a compilation of 2 minute sub-frames as opposed to longer exposures? Is it a signal to noise thing? Chris...don't give up the ship. If we all took shots like Robert Gendler where would the fun be in that? Post Extras:       D_talley scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 07/07/05 Posts: 890 Loc: Richmond VA Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: ChazK]       #2114327 - 01/12/08 12:03 AM Attachment (25 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   A unmodified camera will react differently depending on the scope it is attached to. Here is the Horsehead also from an unmodified Canon 350d on a 14 inch scope. A lot more of the red is visible. I will not modify my camera because I get enough red for my taste. 50 minutes at ISO 800. When the camera is attached to my 4 inch, it has the same picture as Roger's. -------------------- Dwight SBIG ST2000xm TEC 140 APO #74 Meade LX200 14 OTA Orion 12.5 DOB Celestron C8+ Celestron 102AZ Losmandy G11 Gemini Argo Navis Canon 350D self mod Hyperstar ST-4 Guider STV Guider Post Extras:       s58y Postmaster Reged: 12/12/04 Posts: 5502 Loc: Eastern NY Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: cvedeler]       #2116130 - 01/12/08 08:12 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   It turned out to be a good image after all, especially for just 60 minutes unfiltered (I'm assuming). If I were imaging the HH from a light-polluted site where 2 minutes at f/7.5 was the maximum exposure, I'd probably use a LP filter for RGB data, and also grab some h-alpha data shot through a narrowband filter to cut through the light pollution. -------------------- Hutech 30D, SBIG ST-402 autoguider SV80S, TV102iis Old camera lenses: 800mm f/5.6, 180mm f/3.4 AP900, Barndoor tracker http://www.pbase.com/s58y Post Extras:       Awesomelenny Carpal Tunnel Reged: 05/02/04 Posts: 2801 Loc: Long: 81.42 W Lat: 41.21 N Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: cvedeler]       #2116204 - 01/12/08 08:51 PM Attachment (19 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I processed the fixed up image in NeatImage to get rid of some of the noise. How is this? -------------------- Len Meade 178 ED APO 127mm Astro_Tech ED APO 4" f/15 Model 166 Unitron with UNIWITT Pier Televue Genesis SDF 101mm f/5.4 W.O. Zenithstar 66 2.4" f/15 Model 128C Unitron Coronado Solarmax 90 DS Telescope Losmandy Titan; G-11; all w/Gemini All in a "Backyard Observatory" "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1 Post Extras:       cvedeler Carpal Tunnel Reged: 12/20/05 Posts: 2161 Loc: Scottsdale, AZ Re: Flats, frustration and garbage oh my! [Re: Awesomelenny]       #2116225 - 01/12/08 09:06 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Len, that makes quite a difference. It really takes down the grainy noise without too severely impacting the resolution. -------------------- Chris Vedeler Astro-Physics 160EDF Astro-Physics 900GTO Q453HR / QHY8 CCD camera Canon 450XSi ---------------------------- www.aznightsky.com Scottsdale, AZ Post Extras:       Pages: 1 | 2 | (show all) Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 8 registered and 14 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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