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Retrograde
06-08-2014, 05:41 PM
After being clouded out right on ingress the other night during the occultation, I thought I'd have a go at using the video mode on my Pentax K-5 DSLR to make a high-res mosaic of the Moon.

It's a bit over-sharpened (as it's my first real go at wavelets in Registax) but came out OK for a 'proof of concept'. Made from 6 images each of which is a stack of 80 frames. Used the trusty ED102 & 4 x Powermate.

Higher resolution here: http://www.astrobin.com/111783/

cometcatcher
07-08-2014, 02:49 AM
A bit over sharpened as you mentioned.

I haven't even tried video on my K-5 yet. Must get around to it one year. ;) Video wasn't real crash hot on the old K-x.

Camelopardalis
07-08-2014, 12:08 PM
Lovely Pete! :thumbsup: it might only need a notch or two dialling back of the sharpness in the coarse controls.

Retrograde
07-08-2014, 02:25 PM
Thanks Dunk. I'm quite amazed by the flexibility of modern DSLRs for astro work to be honest and Registax is an amazingly powerful tool.

The North Group ED102 does a pretty reasonable job on most things but I do get some false colour when photographing really bright objects (though very little when doing visual ) which then has to be processed out. The seeing at my place was very poor on Monday night too - the orginal video footage looks like it was taken underwater!

Camelopardalis
07-08-2014, 02:30 PM
Yeah they are, I'm using a bargain-basement 1100D and have been having a lot of fun with it...but the capturing is just the beginning! I've found it quite rewarding to learn processing techniques - and long may it continue :D

Your scope seems to do a pretty darn good job, maybe it's just my eyes / my computer or whatever, but I'm struggling to see false colour in that stack mate :thumbsup:

Retrograde
07-08-2014, 02:56 PM
That's 'cos I removed it in PS ;).

Being a triplet you wouldn't expect too much anyway however I'm wondering if it might be worth getting the collimation looked at by someone who knows what they're doing as I get some red-fringing on one-side of a bright object & blue on the other.

I did have a couple of - err - 'little accidents' a while ago where the azimuth bearing on the alt-az mount slipped its lock (whilst I was swapping from eyepiece to camera & the balance was out) and banged hard on the mount and another where the dovetail slipped out of the holder when I thought it was locked in so maybe the collimation is out a bit. Just as well I don't own a Tak I guess :lol:

Camelopardalis
07-08-2014, 04:29 PM
Ah OK :lol: I missed the "processed out" bit on first parse ;)