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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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All stars appear to be white in all the images I've taken with my color Mallincam.
In this image you can see a 7 sec (from memory) shot of the open cluster NGC 4755. I've also included a comparative image which shows the central star as yellow. Also, this star is quite distinctly orange/yellow through the eyepiece.
Should I be able to view star colors, as seen through the eyepiece, using the Mallincam? If so, any suggestions for settings I should tweak?
Thanks
Gavin
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14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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JAT Observatory
Space Freak
Reged: 02/20/05
Posts: 5606
Loc: Eastern PA
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You need to play with your white balance settings. I like to using the manual mode.
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-Marcus
The problem with free speech is even the stupid have a voice.
http://jatobservatory.org
12" LX200R on a Paramount ME
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rolandlinda3
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/24/06
Posts: 1591
Loc: Crozet VA 22932
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Yes you will see some colors in stars. When you say the color mallinCAM, do you mean the Hyper Color or the older color system? Makes a difference on settings. As for the Hyper Color, a normal good setting for a nebula or nice galaxy is the same setting to use for stars. The reason is this: if you hype the color you can get false color on the stars as the internals work overtime to deliver any hint of color in a point source, so you don't want to overdo it. So rather than go by settings, I adjust and remember my settings for a galaxy I know where yellow and pinks may be in the arms...then I use the same settings (along with the monitor settings) to observe any star color. Also remember that star color that is achievable depends on aperture for stars...more is better. For nebula, I have found the opposite...the color seems easier to achieve with smaller aperture and faster scopes.
Hope someone else can give you more techy comment; my approach is sort-of pragmatic.
Roland
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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Quote:
You need to play with your white balance settings. I like to using the manual mode.
Yes, I use manual mode and have played around with the settings to try to bring out the star color but to no avail. Colors look good for nebulae.
Gavin
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14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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Roland
I have the Mallincam Hyper Plus. The settings I use work well for nebulae but no matter how much tweaking I do on the Mallincam and monitor I don't seem to get any color in the stars.
The image above was taken with a 14" SCT and MFR-4. Through the eyepiece I can easily see the yellow/orange of the central star using the 14" and also with my 90mm refractor.
Gavin
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14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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skyguy88
member
Reged: 11/13/06
Posts: 62
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When I do initial allignment using the camera at two seconds, the allignmet stars are almost always white with a bright halo of red or blue. I wonder what they would look like if I cut the exposure to 1/1000 or so. I've never tried it and we're in the midst of our "monsoon" season so I guess it'll be a while before I can try a very short exposure. Has anyone tried to look at stars with very short exposures?
Bill
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HendyPhoto
Sith Lord
Reged: 08/09/06
Posts: 1485
Loc: Bountiful, Utah
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Has anyone tried a UV/IR cut filter? That may bring out some natural color. I was shooting the leaves one night and that filter made them green and normal looking!
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~jon
SparkCast Ustream
CGE1400XLT w/HyperStar
90FD 66SD C6-R SN-8
CPC1100XLT Hutech 20D
Manny-Mod Vixen Porta
Mallincam MCHP
SPC900NC
CG-5 GT
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the universe." --Albert Einstein
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JAT Observatory
Space Freak
Reged: 02/20/05
Posts: 5606
Loc: Eastern PA
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Quote:
\ Has anyone tried to look at stars with very short exposures?
Bill,
The image I captured above was taken with a 12" SCT.
No integration.
WB was in Manual/User mode.
Red setting 1 tick from the left.
Blue setting was in the middle.
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-Marcus
The problem with free speech is even the stupid have a voice.
http://jatobservatory.org
12" LX200R on a Paramount ME
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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Quote:
When I do initial allignment using the camera at two seconds, the allignmet stars are almost always white with a bright halo of red or blue. I wonder what they would look like if I cut the exposure to 1/1000 or so. I've never tried it and we're in the midst of our "monsoon" season so I guess it'll be a while before I can try a very short exposure. Has anyone tried to look at stars with very short exposures?
Bill
I sometimes check the focus using Alpha Centuri which is a yellow double but always appears white in the Mallincam. Admittedly I haven't tried tweaking the WB settings for this particular star and have just used my normal settings that work well on nebulae etc.
Here's a fascinating shot of Alpha Centauri with sense up off and a sub-second exposure time. 
Gavin
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14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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Quote:
Has anyone tried a UV/IR cut filter? That may bring out some natural color. I was shooting the leaves one night and that filter made them green and normal looking!
I don't have a UV/IR cut filter but have tried an IDAS LPS filter but didn't like the results.
I once had strange banding through an image and was worried I had some sort of equipment defect until I realized I was shooting through a palm tree. 
Gavin
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14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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HendyPhoto
Sith Lord
Reged: 08/09/06
Posts: 1485
Loc: Bountiful, Utah
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I have both filters and the IDAS LPS filter is alot different from the UV/IR blocking filter. You may want to pick up a cheap one to see if you like the results. Last night I was using both in 2 different scopes and there are HUGE improvements with both, although it does cut down your light and the integration time will have to be longer. Each filter also requires a different WB color tweak. I am at the point where I use a filter pretty much all of the time, but I dont stick with just one, different objects like different filters. It's fun to play!! lol
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~jon
SparkCast Ustream
CGE1400XLT w/HyperStar
90FD 66SD C6-R SN-8
CPC1100XLT Hutech 20D
Manny-Mod Vixen Porta
Mallincam MCHP
SPC900NC
CG-5 GT
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the universe." --Albert Einstein
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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That's interesting the IDAS LPS makes such a difference for you. After tweaking etc my results ended up being about the same as with no filter. However, after what you said, I'll play some more and will also get a UV/IR blocking filter out of interest.
Gavin
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14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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rolandlinda3
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/24/06
Posts: 1591
Loc: Crozet VA 22932
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Gavin, wish I could help more but I need to check some clusters to see if I am remembering correctly. I do adjust my colors but my adjustment is semi-permanent: I leave red down one notch left of middle and blue one notch above the middle to compensate for the heightened sensitivity of the chip for the red. That being said, I have noticed colored stars in clusters but not that often. If I am using extended settings on bright stars (popular doubles where there is color) then I have not noticed color (probably because the stars are oversaturated anyway). You might see if Jack chimes in on this subject or also check with the yahoo group to get more particulars.
I tend to avoid filters because I have had little noticeable success with them and I have a hard time trying to compensate color balance when one is installed. I am sure others may have better information on filters and how to use them than I, however.
Roland
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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Roland, my color settings are the same as yours and I don't often change them. I haven't had much luck with filters either but will probably try an IR/UV blocking filter as it's a relatively cheap purchase.
I'll do some more experimenting, weather permitting, and will let the forum know if I find anything useful.
Gavin
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14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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nytecam
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/20/05
Posts: 4778
Loc: London UK
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I suspect your star images are saturated and thus 'white' - could try reducing exposure to the minimum or defocusing to spread the the starlight over more pixels 
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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+DS-2090+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9/Lodestar/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-spectro page
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try these when the weather permits. However, I would have thought my sub-second shot of alpha centauri (see above) would not be saturated.
Gavin
--------------------
14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
|
rolandlinda3
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/24/06
Posts: 1591
Loc: Crozet VA 22932
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Checked the other night when we did M8 with the SV102ED....we can see a host of yellow stars in the scene. Same for the Trifid. This was at fairly modest settings (14 s and 40-50% AGC.
Roland
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gavbray
sage
Reged: 12/31/06
Posts: 230
Loc: Gold Coast, Australia
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Thanks Roland. I'll be trying again later this week, weather permitting.
Gavin
--------------------
14" LX200R + SV90T + AP1200GTO
31mm, 22mm, 17mm Naglers, 13mm Ethos, 10mm Pentax XW, 2X Powermate, AP MaxBright
Mallincam Hyper Plus Color, DFG/1394 video converter, Optec 0.33 & 0.7 FRs
IDAS LPS, DGM NPB & OIII, Lumicon Deep Sky, Baader UV-IR Cut, Baader SkyGlow
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