Modified my Nikon D5600

[casstony]

I've been ruminating about various mod options and finally decided to give it a go myself. Dealing with tiny cables and not knowing exactly how things are put together made the process scary, but the camera is back together and working.

The chip mounting plate is spring loaded and I forgot to count how many turns it took for each screw on the way out, so I've put then back in using the same number of turns on each - will be interesting to see how a star field looks.

I removed the filter leaving the chip with no replacement filter, but I use IDAS filters with the scope anyway.

Things look suitably reddish in the test shots - no good weather for a while though.

[Outcast]

Hey Tony,

Now that you're an expert.. :) Can I send you my Canon to do cheaply please...:rofl:

Cheers

[casstony]

I'm an expert in the 'knows enough to be dangerous' category :)

Have you seen the Lifepixel guides Carlton?

I tested the camera last night and it looks good. I screwed the spring loaded chip all the way down at reassembly and it looks square. There are a couple of faint marks in the images so I'll get proper cleaning swabs to clean the chip.

The image is a 2 min sub under 85% moonlight with an IDAS D2 filter.

Coincidently my father in law asked what I'd like for my birthday, so there's a Baader 7nm H alpha filter in the mail - looking forward to trying that with the moon. (heaps cheaper from Germany than the US by the way).

[traveller]

Well done Tony and welcome to the self modders club :lol:
If you haven't done so already, I strongly recommend you do a custom white balance using a grey card under full sun. This will remove the pink tinge in your images and make the blue stars pop out.
I have the cards, message me if you want to borrow them.
cheers
Bo

[casstony]

Thanks Bo. I've sent a PM and happy to take any advice.
Here's a processed image, 27x2 min, taken under moonlight. ISO 400

[traveller]

Pm-ed you back Tony.
would be interested if you can do a custom white balance, then re-do the same shot with the same exposure times etc and compare them side by side!
Cheers
Bo

[RyanJones]

Hi Tony,

Awesome work there. I hadn’t read this thread before Bo commented on my excessive red thread saying he’ll also lend me his grey cards. Looks like we’re in the same boat at the same time. Well done on doing the mod your self ! I was lucky enough to have a fellow IIS member see my treads earlier this year and offer me his already modded camera. I’m looking forward to seeing how the colour balance works for you too.

[casstony]

Thanks Ryan. It would have cost $540 to get the mod done at Camera Clinic. Since the d5600 is a relatively cheap camera I decided it was worth the risk. I don't think I'd be as brave with a new Nikon Z6.

I'll pass Bo's cards along ASAP.

[casstony]

I'll do the comparison and post in this thread.

[Outcast]

LOL, I'm in the knows less & still dangerous category...:rofl:

Yes, I've read through the Lifepixel guide.... it scared me silly....:eyepop:

Cheers, be interested to see your results

Maybe I'll get brave enough one day...

Carlton

[casstony]

Aus Post are working slowly on delivering those cards Bo and it's looking clear tonight, so I used a greyish-white envelope to do a CWB. There's quite a difference in the before and after pictures.
Edit: there was something wrong with the earlier 'after' picture - replaced it with the correct one now.

[xelasnave]

Not your best photos Tony I cant even see any stars☺
Good luck tonight.
Alex

[casstony]

Thanks Alex. It's a fad at the moment, extract the stars to better show off the background :)

[xelasnave]

Yes but no stars does not sit well with me..I think I would remove them and replace them with pin points...thats the program I would like.
Look forward to seeing your results.
Alex

[casstony]

The custom white balance I did today reduced the red too much - seems like the gain in HA sensitivity is lost. I'll try with the proper card still when it arrives.
Same ISO 400 and 2 minutes exposure, again under moonlight -

[Sunfish]

Thanks for this post. Good to see it works.

Do you need to add a IR cut filter?
I have been considering doing the same mod with a d5300 following the instructions here:

https://www.lifepixel.com/tutorials/infrared-diy-tutorials/life-pixel-nikon-d5300-diy-digital-infrared-conversion-tutorial

Did you follow a similar tutorial.?

[Sunfish]

Ah , I can see now that the IDAS d2 filter also blocks IR, and that you mention the tutorial.

Well done and looking promising.

[casstony]

Ray, looking through the guides for various models it seems that these Nikons are some of the easiest to modify. Take a look at the Sony A7 series - about 5 times as much work.

Regarding CWB, apart from the brightest nebulae I'm thinking it might be better to stay with auto white balance to pick up the most Ha.
It just occurred to me that, with the extra signal from Ha, I could drop down to ISO 200 which might reduce the red intensity and get more dynamic range.

[traveller]

Have you got the cards now Tony?
Or did the carrier pigeon from Aust Post stop to get a drink along the way?

[casstony]

They just arrived Bo - post seems to be getting even slower.

On a side note, I went looking for a yellow express post box this morning and couldn't find one even outside the PO; an employee told me they don't have one anymore? By the time Aus Post is privatised they may well be back to carrier pigeons.

[traveller]

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australian-internet-fails-pigeon-test-159232
Still true after 10 years...

[Camelopardalis]

Tony, so long as you’re shooting raw, then the white balance used by the camera is irrelevant, it’s just a profile used for display purposes and doesn’t affect the raw data.

Getting a natural colour balance from modded cameras can be tricky with rudimentary tools, but made easier by things like Photometric Colour Calibration in PixInsight - but that is by no means the only colour calibration tool. If you don’t use PI, looking for something that will calibrate based on G2V star types.

The Ha sensitivity isn’t really lost - if you stretched an image of the same object to the same intensity levels, the image from the modded camera would have significantly less noise in the red than the unmodded one. After all, you’ve collected more signal by removing the filter and it will be noticeable.

[casstony]

Thanks Dunk, so I don't need to bother with white balance.

I bit the bullet this morning and subscribed to PI. I liked the background extraction in the trial, now I have homework to do learning more of PI.

[RyanJones]

I agree with Dunk to a point. The RAW data is exactly that, it’s raw and you can set your own colour balance in post processing. What I have found however is that in stacking, at least DSS seems to try to tone the red down and for me it becomes quite pink. You can stretch it as much as you like but the red seems to lose its proper red tone that you see in the subs. I feel, and I don’t KNOW that by balancing the image pre stacking. DSS with give a better toned output.

[Camelopardalis]

PI doesn’t do that ;)

[RyanJones]

I’ve had a taste and it doesn’t surprise me. It seems that it does everything better :)

[Camelopardalis]

Some folk don’t like the UI, but it’s consistent across platforms i.e. Windows, Mac, Linux, which I feel is a valid sacrifice. But really it’s like anything...hover the cursor over something and you get tips ;)

It’s a powerful mathematical toolbox. Lots of functions. Don’t feel you have to use them all :lol: There are lots of “getting started” type tutorials out there on the Internet, Harry’s videos are a good place to start.

I have the utmost respect for other - especially free - tools, but I’ve found PI does a great job worthy of the entry price.

Disclaimer: these are just my opinions please regard them as such

[RyanJones]

I’ve heard that people aren’t great fans of the interface but I do like the way it actually shows you what it’s doing when you push a button.

Also I’ve heard people complain about the way you apply the changes after making them but I think that follows the ethos of showing you exactly what you are doing and once you’re used to it it’s actually not hard to use.

[Camelopardalis]

Ultimately it's just a tool and, just like any tool, it needs to be learned to be effective. Getting bent out of shape over a few icons is irrational IMO

Once you get the gist of the triangle, square and circles, it's just a question of cobbling a bunch of steps together to make a workflow...just like anything else :)

[casstony]

I'll be slowly transitioning over to PI, partly due to the learning process but it's also a bit slow on my I3 powered desktop.
Had a go a processing this image to learn with; it's only 50 minutes of Sh 308 with an O3 filter. I need a few hours to get the image brighter without bringing up the background. I like the pixel rejection algorithm.