I tell Ya - - , ---- This astro is getting on my nerves, having very little success in any degree - but I wont give up, , not yet anyway
The 'seeing' and Light Pollution around here, has totally gone from bad to worse, haven't been able to get anything resembling a clear'ish planet for the last 4-5 months, totally shocking, , I'm disgusted,, to the point of thinking a move of location could be on the cards,,,
Maybe just a seasonal thing, as far as the Seeing goes
THE MOST RECENT HASSLE : SOFTWARE
Because 'seeing' is so crap every night, I went to the Moon, not literally, but the astro would be awesome there, huh
In deed - the 12"meade at prime and the ZWO asi cam produces quite a small field, in which I needed 33 frames to cover the disc, and I took a 20 image set of each frame to get a couple/few clear ones for the mosaic,,
But when stacking in Registax 6 - this is what I get, (Attached) What Tha Heck
Why does this stuff always happens, so much goes wrong, what ever I do ??
I just don't have any luck with programs, they pee me off someth'n shockin'
That is a strange one Bob, not sure what is happening there. i was in a similar boat to you a little while back, i couldn't get software to work and the imaging was pointless, for me, all of my software issues pretty much came down to the fact that my seeing was just that bad that nothing worked, focus, stacking, guiding, PEC, everything. doesn't look like that is the problem here but i thought i would share your frustrations
That is a strange one Bob, not sure what is happening there. i was in a similar boat to you a little while back, i couldn't get software to work and the imaging was pointless, for me, all of my software issues pretty much came down to the fact that my seeing was just that bad that nothing worked, focus, stacking, guiding, PEC, everything. doesn't look like that is the problem here but i thought i would share your frustrations
Share away mate, its the perfect response needed for this duck, as Im not expecting this stacking issue to be easily resolved and I am not personally going to try - just another Failed mission. Could be something to do with the Image File Type, I used Bmp (Bit Map) so I didnt need to extract them from a video and had ability to view each frame separately - prob a better way to do it, just thought to give that a go, dont know if dont go,,,
Might stick with the tripod & Dslr Thanx mate !
Bob, I won't give up churning out technicolour yawns. I do it for my own enjoyment, not the glory
I paid a half a thousand damned bucks for MaxIM DL several years ago. I upgraded to Win 10. Seemed to work (after I had to start it in Administrator mode), but it won't connect to my SBIG cam, no matter what I try. Nada.
You're not alone Bob. It's been clear but the seeing has been unbelievably bad most of July and now August. The jetstream is relentless going from bad to worse on average. Very very few pockets of calm now and then that a few made the most of, but the east coast has been a total washout this winter. Shelf the gear until better days and pick up lawn balls
have you looked at the bmp files to see if they display fine and are uncorrupted, did you record straight to bmp? when I do video I put it through PIPP first to create my BMP files and registax has always been fine with those. Dont forget not all BMP files are created the same way, ditto all file formats, if you are recording to bmp directly that could cause problems, especially if not recording over a good usb connection to a SSD (NOT HDD).
if your source bmps display fine, dump them into AutoStakkert instead, i find it much better for planetary and surface stacking.
Bob, I won't give up churning out technicolour yawns. I do it for my own enjoyment, not the glory
I paid a half a thousand damned bucks for MaxIM DL several years ago. I upgraded to Win 10. Seemed to work (after I had to start it in Administrator mode), but it won't connect to my SBIG cam, no matter what I try. Nada.
I have no advice but to keep trying!
Cheers Lewis, you have just given advice & is good & encouraging
Realising that back in the day, 10yr ago, astro was exciting, just learning with a dslr, ED80 and dark clear skies out west, getting just the wings of Orion one felt like a champion, Lol & I must say, Progs are very much my weak point, being a concreter, builder etc for most of my yrs, PC's I find awkward, took 5 yrs learning just to 'sit-down' at one for 10mins straight, Lol !
you mentioned, Administrator mode, definitely secretarial work in my books, ,
Cheers champ !!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
You're not alone Bob. It's been clear but the seeing has been unbelievably bad most of July and now August. The jetstream is relentless going from bad to worse on average. Very very few pockets of calm now and then that a few made the most of, but the east coast has been a total washout this winter. Shelf the gear until better days and pick up lawn balls
Shelf the gear, mate, where its been the last 2 yrs But seriously, am hearing Ya, thanx Marc - hoping it is what you mention, 'A Seasonal thing' & not 'Progress' as in Expansion on the Gold Coast, Road works all around us atm, and being done At Night' Grrrr, Lights going up by the dozens every week
Comforting feedback all the same Marc, argg, we live in hope
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glend
Take a break, walk away. I have taken the winter off. Does you a world of good to go do other things.
Yes & no Thanx Glen, , Havent done much for 2 yrs, Prob expecting too much, I'd say, not realising the difference between Dark Skies from times gone & practicing at home in the burbs recently now-a-days, also the images produced here now are way better than 2 yr ago aswell !
Cheers glen, have brought some good thoughts to mind there
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sil
have you looked at the bmp files to see if they display fine and are uncorrupted, did you record straight to bmp? when I do video I put it through PIPP first to create my BMP files and registax has always been fine with those. Dont forget not all BMP files are created the same way, ditto all file formats, if you are recording to bmp directly that could cause problems, especially if not recording over a good usb connection to a SSD (NOT HDD).
if your source bmps display fine, dump them into AutoStakkert instead, i find it much better for planetary and surface stacking.
I reckon your on to something here, Sil, File format/type ?
Using Fire-Capture with the zwo asi, full frame files in Bmp, saves each individual sub. not actually a video sequence. I then look through each sub in Nebulosity and delete the bad/offending subs, keeping three best subs in each panel to stack, Every 20 subs in all 33 panels were complete full frames.
It wasnt until stacking each 3 in Registax that Regi produced these 'cut-off' slices in the final stack
I reckon it be very wise for me to take 'your advice' with stacking in Auto-Stakkert
If works, which sounds promising, would be better than converting each sub to another appropriate file format, if that's the case
Very much appreciated, Sil
I usually go to UK during winter but this year I stayed back to get in some star time.
I've made use of the clear sky but the outcome only makes me geel it could have been so much more.
I hope the next month or two give me something to be pleased about.
The time since Autumn hasn't been over generous.
Bob, you have my commiserations
I usually go to UK during winter but this year I stayed back to get in some star time.
I've made use of the clear sky but the outcome only makes me geel it could have been so much more.
I hope the next month or two give me something to be pleased about.
The time since Autumn hasn't been over generous.
Bob, you have my commiserations
Interesting aswell, Jenni, Lets hope all us in SE Qld have been in the same boat if nothing improves soon, I'll be going 'overboard' and without a life-ring
Shame you havent made the trip to England again, seeing the seeing here has been seen as unseen
I reckon your on to something here, Sil, File format/type ?
Various filetypes cope better with missing data then others and the way yours is going wonky is similar. Have you got something like Photoshop you can just load in a small number of BMP files and resave them to BMP and TIF formats then throw those at Registax. Photoshop is good at creating files to the proper standard of the format and they will be "good" files, images saved "realtime" often lose data or the programs do a minimal implementation of the format to save time. Saving images real time isn't really real time and something gets lost, its why we have video formats.
AutoStakkert is free and easier than Registax and its sharpening is good by default and you can now save to FITS format if you want to load into something else for wavelet sharpening.
Don't give up on it yet mate, I now the frustrations when starting out and the eagerness to start getting great photos. Just break it down into steps and get them working. I would avoid saving to BMPs at capture but no matter. start with that, test registax with say three bmps only: does that go bad or good for you? if good try with more, if bad it points to the bmp files (registax has been used for years by most people on this forum and I've never seen it do what you're getting. so if bad (the 3 bmps) load them into other image viewers and photo programs, do they all load cleanly, no errors, no visible glitches? I'm betting they will have a problem in something, start with the default Windows Photo viewer it tends to be fussy. If you can try a test capture to another format thats probably the quickest way to get you on track. I dont think the camera is a problem, your usb cable might be also if you are connecting it to a usb hub that is a likely problem and you should never be using one, camera should go to a usb socket on the computer not a hub or expansion unit or other silly thing, socket soldered to motherboard.
Various filetypes cope better with missing data then others and the way yours is going wonky is similar. Have you got something like Photoshop you can just load in a small number of BMP files and resave them to BMP and TIF formats then throw those at Registax. Photoshop is good at creating files to the proper standard of the format and they will be "good" files, images saved "realtime" often lose data or the programs do a minimal implementation of the format to save time. Saving images real time isn't really real time and something gets lost, its why we have video formats.
AutoStakkert is free and easier than Registax and its sharpening is good by default and you can now save to FITS format if you want to load into something else for wavelet sharpening.
Don't give up on it yet mate, I now the frustrations when starting out and the eagerness to start getting great photos. Just break it down into steps and get them working. I would avoid saving to BMPs at capture but no matter. start with that, test registax with say three bmps only: does that go bad or good for you? if good try with more, if bad it points to the bmp files (registax has been used for years by most people on this forum and I've never seen it do what you're getting. so if bad (the 3 bmps) load them into other image viewers and photo programs, do they all load cleanly, no errors, no visible glitches? I'm betting they will have a problem in something, start with the default Windows Photo viewer it tends to be fussy. If you can try a test capture to another format thats probably the quickest way to get you on track. I dont think the camera is a problem, your usb cable might be also if you are connecting it to a usb hub that is a likely problem and you should never be using one, camera should go to a usb socket on the computer not a hub or expansion unit or other silly thing, socket soldered to motherboard.
Yes, thanx, Sil.
I ended up just selecting the best frame in each panel, and stitched them in Ps3, turned out pretty awesome actually
I tried stacking in AutoStakkert, but no go, I got the Bmps in there, but the action button for stacking them was not actuated, meaning, nothing, blank, couldn't click on it, so yep, must be file type, actually a 24bit Bmp, could have converted them, but having so many panels I just took the best one in each and straight in PS3 for the 'photo Merge', took a few minutes, but yep, spat out a complete full image, saved it as a tiff right then & there, Mind you, all 933Mb of it, Needed some cleaning up tho,
Check it out in the Planetary section, will be in there soon
Appreciate your time following up here too Sil I will take your feedback to my 'ever-growing' Document files
its the perfect response needed for this duck, as Im not expecting this stacking issue to be easily resolved and I am not personally going to try - just another Failed mission. Could be something to do with the Image File Type, I used Bmp (Bit Map) so I didnt need to extract them from a video and had ability to view each frame separately - prob a better way to do it, just thought to give that a go, dont know if dont go,,, 
Thanx mate !
Shelf the gear, mate, where its been the last 2 yrs 
Needed some cleaning up tho, 
