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Old 19-11-2011, 11:08 PM
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rainwatcher (Peter)
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Post Processing

Hi all i have been using Deep Sky Stacker and Canon Digital Photo Professional to stack and process my photos. Spend half the night and the final stacked image is not as good as a single CR2 file. The images are not too demanding, Canon 1000D at 18, 25 and 55 mm aimed at the centre of the Milky Way, usually about 10 of 15 second shots. Not ready to do eyepiece projection untill i get the basics right. I am also not using tracking as I am still experimenting with my new camera setup. Not ready to give up yet but my old film photos were far superior, however i would expect stacked images to be better than they are. Any ideas ?.
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Old 19-11-2011, 11:39 PM
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Tandum (Robin)
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Peter, you don't actually say what is wrong. Can you post a sample image maybe?
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Old 20-11-2011, 07:45 PM
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I agree, can we see at least see a JPEG from the single, and one from the stack.
Gotta be honest I didn't really gel with DSS, but many here do.
Let's see what they look like and we will be able to help.
Gary
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Old 20-11-2011, 09:43 PM
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rainwatcher (Peter)
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Below are four images. Two are original CR2 converted to jpg, the other two are stacked images converted from tif to jpg.
The Milky Way stack was 5 shots at 10 and 5 at 20 seconds these ones are not too bad. The second pair are of Orion rising and as you can see there is plenty of light pollution in the bottom right - Tullamarine airport about 15 k away. In reviewing these it seems I maybe expecting too much with the difficult conditions and limited shots. I must admit i am a bit wary of DSS, it is slow and somwhat cumbersome, i tried the trial version of Maxim (overseas with my first set of star photos when i was still finding out what the camera could do - Ursa Major) it seemed to reproduce star colour very well and it was easy to use but at the moment i can not afford it.
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Click for full-size image (Milky Way Single Image.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Milky Way Stacked Image.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Original.jpg)
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Click for full-size image (Orion Stacked.JPG)
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Old 20-11-2011, 10:11 PM
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Hi Peter,
Welcome to IIS!!!!!
I've used DSS and had no problems ( to the extent of your pictures )
Strange to see the horizontal banding.......
I'm also still kinda new to all of this ....(so no answers from me, just eager to see an answer myself.... )
I certainly dont wont to put you on the wrong track ( and please anybody set me straight), but from memory it might have to do with the sensor heating up and/or some anomalies with the sensor.
Here is a quick google search I did. seems helpful to some degree....
Hope it helps
Bartman
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Old 21-11-2011, 08:43 AM
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I would suggest a bit more exposure to be honest.
Do you use the in camera dark subtraction at all? Not sure what Canon call it, but is is "noise control" or similar.
More exposure, more exposure.
What are you using to capture? A software package you might like to try at some stage is Images Plus, it has Camera Control, as well as Processing. For DSLR files I find it great, chugs through them with ease. Nebulosity is another good one too.
Maxim is possibly THE best, but at this early stage it really isn't needed.
Gary
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Old 21-11-2011, 10:39 AM
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rainwatcher (Peter)
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Thanks gbeal. I was not tracking so was restricted on the Milky Way by star blur, had to limit to 20 seconds at f5.6 18mm, and on the Orion ones just 4 seconds at f5.6 damn Tulla airport washes everything out to the south east.
I use long exposure correction which automatically takes a dark and subtract within the camera. Basically I am being a bit lazy and testing my gear in my backyard which has quite a bit of light pollution and it has been rainy but warm so lots of atmospheric problems. I am testing nebulosity now, it does not automatically align the images - you have to select stars but that’s OK. I will have a look at Image Plus also. (i also get "out of memory" error using DSS with anything other than basic settings ) I will be going bush and doing some real dark sky shots and then I will see how good the set up AND I perform.
Bartman, thanks for the reply. The bands are weird, but the link you sent was great and has given me some ideas on monitoring and managing my chip heat.
The real way to go is with dedicated ccd but i am just a poor pensioner and cant afford it, plus this gives me lots more flexibility. My camera is not modified as i use it for all photography so i unfortunately miss the IR nebula stuff, i will use my film camera for this.
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Old 21-11-2011, 10:42 AM
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rainwatcher (Peter)
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One final note trying to get the image right on laptop is almost impossble and when i duplicate the image across to my second dedicated screen it is completely different. Maybe i should be using the TV ?.
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Old 21-11-2011, 12:56 PM
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Peter,
ah, the in camera noise reduction could be the issue then, I mean, you have already subtracted a dark. Does this mean you did darks as well, and fed them through DSS, or not? In camera works, but you effectively spend half your time taking darks, something that you will soon tire of.Maybe try a light pollution filter as well, possibly see if you can "borrow" one from someone, it may be the life saver you need.
Don't panic about the un-modded DSLR, I'm in the same boat, use what you have, and the rest can come later.
Gary
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