Camera only astrophotography - software tools to start

[Jethro777]

I am going to try to use the tools I have to do what I can to get started so will use my Sony A77 / Samyang f/1.4 35mm and a friends Canon 550D to see what I can get out of the sky.

What software (PC) do you imagine might be helpful to me? (Essential, highly useful, auxiliary)

Looking forward to your thoughts!

[JA]

Hi J,
I would say Photoshop (image editing), Deep Sky Stacker (image stacking
Etc) and Stellarium (night sky map)

AND if it's really "camera-only", i.e: no astro mount, then add a compass to that

Best
JA

[Merlin66]

My choices would be:
Canon EOS Utilities - to control and download from the camera.
DSS - to stack all the exposures
Cartes du Ceil - a great mapping program to see what's there (and help find it!)
PaintShopPro - to tweak those images, much much cheaper than PS!!

[silv]

Agree with Kevin's list. Instead of Paintshop Pro I'd use GIMP because it's free software, donations appreciated, like the others. (DSS = "Deep Sky Stacker").

[Jethro777]

No worries, image captures coming up soon!
I have photoshop, and know how to basically use it and i will need a stacker.
I'll explore those options, looking especially for good free ones!!

[sil]

No need for PS etc , your AP software can give the result you need if you learn.

PixInsight basically does it all.

If you are lazy: Astro Pixel Processor

[g__day]

For the Canon Camera I would definitely recommend BYE - Back Yard Astronomer as a major step up from EOS utilities for camera control. Alternatively look at APT as a great tool too for camera control and more.

I would posit the tools you can use should include:


1. Astronomy sky map / mount control suite - from free Cartes Du Ceil or CDC to the beautiful Stellarium to the powerful (and expensive) The SkyX. Suggest with these include ASCOM 6.4 SP1 (free) for gear interaction
2. Guiding - PHD2 (free) (or the more expensive MaximDL, or the free PHD from Craig Stark of Stark-labs.com)
3. Camera Control - APT or BYE for Canon / Nikon gear - may work with ASCOM cameras. For full camera control the SkyX has a camera add in - but it is pretty basic (but its automated gotos, shot, plate solve, correct pointing and re-point is fantastic
4. Stacking - DeepSkyStacker (free - get the 64 bit version - much faster) or CCDStack (expensive and complex)
5. Focuser control - tricky depending if you want to automatically try to temperature compensate, I do it manually with a Bhatinov mask at start of the night versus software that can do VSpline like FocusMax to optimise focus
6. Pointing Optimisation - MaxPoint (for MaximDL) or Tpoint for The SkyX (which will allow you to do plate solves and/or automated precision slews)
7. Mount Permanent error correction (PEC) optimisation - PEMPro v3 - from the CCDWare guys (nice to have - might use it 1-2 a year for PEC and as needed for polar alignment optimisation)
8. Telescope Collimation correction / analysis - CCD DIS from CCDWare (nice to have - only used it once)
9. Post Processing - major options - DSS and Photoshop, Pixel Insight, MaximDL
10. Observatory control - including full scripting of all gear - ACP (I wish - need quality gear to the point it can almost be run remotely to warrant this)
11. Remote observatory control or LAN / IP - VNC or RadAdmin
12. Automation / camera control - Sequence Generator Pro SGP (free)


I would say software that is must have - includes 1, 2, 3, 4, 9 and 12 in the above list - then 5, and 6 are great to have. The rest have diminishing return unless you have a dedicated set up and a lot of spare time!

[skysurfer]

Or even Siril. It is free and works awesome.

Deepskystacker: Even if you are on a Mac or Linux, run DSS in a VirtualBox.

[sil]

also free is Sequator. Saw it mentioned somewhere on this board and gave it a try. damn good! uses slightly different terminology (just to annoy i'm sure) but can take lights darks and flats and give you a nicely stretched output, even linear if you want but havent used everything it can do. but to get a tif output or jpg ready for posting its remarkably good, fast and simple.

[bojan]

Digital Photo Professional comes with Canon cameras, it is excellent for curves etc.

[Astrofriend]

Hi Jethro,

Maybe you can test Fitswork, I used it a lot when the problem isn't too complex. I have also made a tutorial for it. Calibrate and align, color correction, back ground remove etc.

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/tutorials/tutorial-fitswork/tutorial-fitswork.html

It's free to download.

The last fine touch I use Irfanview when I just want to add text and resize. More complex and I use GIMP.

/Lars