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View Full Version here: : Anyone use RAW video or Log colourspaces for planetary?


Stonius
03-04-2018, 12:05 AM
For those who don't know;

RAW gives more latitude (stops) between black and white.

LOG changes the way the colour information is stored, essentially reassigning more bits to recording data in the ranges where we see most contrast (linear wastes an inordinate amount of information recording near-blown-out highlights, at the expense of noise in the darker parts of the frame).

These capture modes are commonly used in terrestrial videography for a more cinematic result, but I wonder if anyone has played with them in astrophotography? With Magic Lantern, Raw is in reach of most EOS cameras, and EOSLog will give Log capability for something like $30.

The question is are they useful?

Video is really only used on bright planets, so is there enough dynamic range in the subjects to warrant the use of RAW? Are there subtle details that could be extracted? Details that fade away into the shadows and are difficult to fit onto the histogram? Perhaps dimmer planetary satellites? Perhaps conjunctions with other objects like with Mars, Saturn and M22 recently.

As far as Log goes, I'm not sure how useful it would be as the exposures are so short that noise would be countered by frame stacking into a final composite image, right?

Cheers
Markus