My first image using Iris.

[Escortitis]

Hi Everyone,

Having learnt that the you get the most out of your images during the processing stage, I've given Iris a go. I think I might stick with it for now, from relatively ordinary images I got a result that I'm really happy with.

14 x 3min lights, 9 darks, dark & light flats

One question I have, is there a proven way of determining if your camera sensor is perfectly square to the image path, other than just realizing it isn't? Is there a tool or some software to help with this?

Thanks guy's

George:D

P.S. Eric's got a what now........?!@%:(

[EzyStyles]

Hi George, just saw this. Firstly, fantastic result you have done in Iris. Very smooth. There are no software which determine whether the cmos chip is directly inline with your imaging path. Best method is to collimate your scope accurately. :) .

[iceman]

Lovely image, George. Looks nicely processed to me, good star colours!

[gbeal]

Nice shot. IRIS really is a great program, I tried it, but found the interface difficult.
Try this http://www.ccdware.com/products/ccdinspector/ Whether it works for you is open to interpretation, but it does give flatness and alignment information.
Gary

[Escortitis]

Thanks for your input guy's, it will take a while to 'get an eye' for what is a good finished product, I certainly appreciate your 'well tuned eye's' having a glance at my pic's.

Thanks for your link Gary, that's exactly what I was hoping for. I'll give it a shot when I get some time. The collimation of the mirrors is good from what I can tell, I think the problem is in the (cheapish) focuser, and I'm getting some tilt when I screw the locking screw in. I hope that this will help me sort it.

Thanks guy's

George:D

[seeker372011]

while IRIS is a great program have you tried Deep Sky Stacker at all? its great for the stacking and aligning bit-and even handles images that IRIS failed to

and its freeware too. Course it doesn't have some of the the nice (eg "subsky") command and so on but may stack in DSS and then play in IRIS-just a suggestion

[peter_4059]

George - thats a great image, I really like the colours. I tried Iris but like Gary, I found the interface difficult to understand. You have obviously got it worked out.

Well done,

Peter

[Terry B]

Brilliant.
I also like iris. I don't mind the command line and have used it for years.

[Escortitis]

Thanks again for your comments

I've attached a picture done with DSS as a comparison. Not a great deal of difference to notice at first, but I feel the DSS lacks some depth. A good example is the pair of pillars in the top left of frame, they just don't 'come out' as well in the DSS image.

My Dad put me on to Jim's cookbook, it's been a great guide for me to use Iris with, I just play with the asinh figures and the Kappa numbers. Still working on how to get the best from the gradient (subsky) tool. I've done M104 and M83 during the week, but I feel they can be a lot better if I get to understand the subsky function better. This bloody street light (see general chat thread) is killing me. My original images are almost a 'white out' after 4mins so it might just be I'm trying to push poo uphill anyway. I don't have near enough experience to say Iris has got it over DSS, I use both but seem always to get better results in Iris, go figure!

Enjoy guy's

George:D

[Phil]

Hi George your not wrong about the processing nice shot.
Phil