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Old 27-11-2012, 04:54 PM
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AstralTraveller (David)
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Unhappy Rescue out-of-focus eclipse shots?

It's sad and embarrassing to have to ask this but I need some advice on rescuing out-of-focus eclipse shots. They are not badly defocussed but enough to be noticeable. I can see detail in the corona but the prominences have a slight donut appearance. I've seen a few programs that claim they can at least improve the shot and I presume they will but some are likely to be better than others. I'm looking for any software recommendations or any how-to advice. The shots were taken on a 600D (with 400mm L lens) and are in cr2 format.

BTW in case you want a cautionary tale this is what happened. I never got time to make a solar filter before I left to drive up, camping on the way, so I took the raw materials with me. I realised after we left that I didn't have a convenient place to carry the made filter where it would be flat and safe, and anyway we were tired at night. So I put it off with the intention of making it the day before. However we made a decision to make a dash west that day and so I was left with Plan B, which didn't worry me. So I focussed on Venus in the pre-dawn light and was happy it was a good focus. There was a faint star just to the right of Venus that was only visible right at focus. Then I taped some filter over the pop-up lens shroud and left an end free. At the appropriate moment I undid the tape, removed the solar film and twisted the lens on it's mounting bolt so that to was pointing wrong by 10-15 degrees. I quickly swung it back, with the shutter operating and watched the rest of the eclipse. It looks as though I managed to touch the focus ring while recentering (they are positioned to be easily accessible) and stupidly (in 20-20 hindsight) didn't check the focus.

Like many stuff ups this one actually involved three (at least) things done wrong. I didn't make the filter in time. I only locked down the lens mount with a butterfly nut. If I had used a normal nut and spanner it probably wouldn't have moved. If I had re-checked focus I would have only lost a few shots. I've spent the last few days doing contortions as I try to kick my own butt.
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Old 27-11-2012, 09:08 PM
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gregbradley
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Focus Magic is supposed to.

I have it so if you want to email me your images I can see what it does.

Perhaps deconvolution may help. On colour images that may only be available in Images Plus.

Greg.
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Old 29-11-2012, 08:51 AM
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Peter Ward
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There are various deconvoltion routines out there (PS 6.0 lens blur sharpen tool is jot bad) and they will ( depending on the degree of defocus) make your images appear snappier. That said, sorry, you will unlikely recover and fine structure....learn from it and move on.
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Old 29-11-2012, 09:02 AM
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sheeny (Al)
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+1 for Focus Magic (though I don't have it). My brother runs a photo restoration business and a couple of years ago he took a photo of me riding his motorbike back in through the front gate. Unfortunately, the camera focused on the gate post, not me. As taken, the photo was a reject (especially for a professional photographer), but just for the exercise he demonstrated focus magic on it for me. It worked a treat! ...but there has to be limitations, of course. It might be worth a try.

Welcome to the club. We've all done it at some time.

Al.
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Old 29-11-2012, 02:18 PM
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sil (Steve)
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Never much liked the results from Focus Magic myself, always able to do better with other software and techniques. As already said though, there are limitations.

There are Deblur plugins for Photoshop and Image Analyzer has some powerful features for those willing to put in the effort.
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Old 30-11-2012, 11:17 AM
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Andy01 (Andy)
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Photoshop has a smart sharpen tool now - maybe play with the motion blur option, or you could just try unsharp masking.
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