Iris

[TrevorW]

Does anyone use this program I just spent a day following instructions in Jims Sullivans Astrophotography Cookbook hopeing to improve on earlier attempts in DSS and PS, on how to create darks darkoffsets dark flat light flats and lights etc etc in Iris from raw data then registering stacking etc etc only to create a image from good raw data that was absolute crap and full of noise an image mind you that was far simpler to create and work with in DSS.

Thoughts please

[Octane (Humayun)]

Trevor,

I'm not sure what you're doing wrong, but, I use IRIS exclusively, for everything, up until it's time to finish the job in Photoshop.

It really, truly is a masterful and powerful application.

If you can somehow get your lights, darks and flats to me, I'd love to have a go at processing your image.

Regards,
Humayun

[Terry B]

I also use Iris for all preprocessing aligning and some image manipulation. I have used it for photometry but currently use AIP4WIN for photometry.
Iris is very clever and powerful.
The Jim Sullivan cookbook seems clear and works well.
Another one is at http://astro.ai-software.com/article...dslr_iris.html

[tempestwizz (Brian)]

Like Octane, I've also been using IRIS for my DSLR work exclusively up until the end when if finish in PS.
There was quite a learning curve, and sometimes I was a little confused, but with perseverance I have managed to get it to produce consistently satisfactory results. Now I find it reasonably simple to use.

As suggested, I followed Jim Sullivan's cookbook, moderated by the site Terry B offered. BTW there us an IRIS user group on Yahoo which you may find helpful.

In the earlier stages I skipped the Dark removal portion as I used the in-camera noise reduction, but I've grown to embrace the dark removal and flat removal process with time and practice.

Keep trying, and I am sure you'll get some good results.

Brian

[TrevorW]

Is it necessary to have flats, lights, dark flats, flat lights etc exactly as per the Cookbook maybe this is where I'm going wrong

Cheers

[tempestwizz (Brian)]

Trevor,
No it is not absolutely essential to have everything, but the more you include, the better the result becomes. The lights are your information sources, so I guess they are essential, but the other inclusions refine what you get.
The flats or flat lights help remove dust bunnies, or donuts that sometimes show up if you have dust on your sensor, they also counter any uneven illumination through your optic system. Lenses typically let more light through the centre area, accordingly, the edges get less light. The flat lights cancel this effect. But, they are not essential in the early stages.

Similarly, taking darks help remove noise from your images. This noise increases with exposure time and temperature of the sensor. In camera noise reduction gets rid of it, but reduces (halves) your active imaging time - since the method takes a dark picture after each exposure and removes the noise. By learning to take darks at a range of exposure times and temperatures when conditions are less than optimal allows you to reuse one (appropriate) master dark at a later time, thereby increasing your light gathering time. Once again though, darks are not essential. As you become more discerning in your results, you can add them to your work flow.

BTW, I am assuming you know to apply dark, and flat subtractions prior to converting to colour. Do your initial RAW to CFA conversions to create a sequence, then (if you choose to),do your dark and flat subtractions before going to CFA2PIC on your sequence.

HTH

Cheers,
Brian

[bojan]

Guys,

Perhaps someone could post the typical script, to be used with Iris ?
Then, the relatively complicated procedure could be reduced to just running the relevant script...

I did not use it much for processing (except for some experiments with deconvolution and gradient removal.. I use DSS and I am happy with results, even on pics taken through this terrible light pollution), but I found it great for photometry..

[TrevorW]

Thanks Brian I followed the manual to a tee but the resulting images were full of far more nouise than the same images stacked in DSS I might revert back to in camera noise reduction to see if it helps

Cheers

[TrevorW]

Ah!! bugger!! silly me!! obviously I didn't really follow the instructions too the T as I tried again tonight and got it to work

Sorry !!!