Second Picture Ever ... Omega Centauri

[toryglen-boy]

ok, the first pic ever was piggybacked, this is through the scope and hopefully i am getting a bit better at this, even although its a very amateur entry

any tips, please feel free to indulge me

[TrevorW]

Duncan how many frames time per frame etc details such as ISO whether darks applied or ICNR used etc please then maybe we can give constructive feedback

Cheers

[toryglen-boy]

yeah Sorry Trev, your right as usual

ISO was 800, and this is just a single exposure for 30 seconds. I know everyone stacks images, i have tried this and see absolutely no change, then again, i probably am not doing this right !!

:P

[TrevorW]

The most easiest program you can use is DSS (deep sky stacker) free to boot

30 seconds isn't bad for Omega Centauri so what you need is about 30 subs

30 darks of equal length
and 30 flats(these don't need to be the same expsoure length)
for meanings etc I refer everyone too this link

http://www.saratogaskies.com/articles/cookbook/index.html

Jim uses a program called Iris for stacking but I've used it and is long winded, I prefer DSS for its simplicity

In DSS you basic follow about 7 step (print the manual helps)

load lights(subs)
load darks
load flats
check all
registerd check pictures
click ok
click OK

and away it goes (you can change the parametres when you get used to the prcoess)

If you use ICNR you don't need darks and flats

Hope this helps

Cheers

[Glenhuon]

Focus and tracking look good. Stacking multiple images is Fairly easy with Deep Sky Stacker. Take them as RAW files, that way more of the detail is preserved. Darks really help to clean up any dodgy pixels and artifacts. My 300D saves a RAW and a Jpeg of each frame, makes it easy to have a quick check of how they turned out before stacking. The stack probably won't look much different until you start to bring out the detail in Photoshop. Thats the start of the steep learning curve. Just on the foothills here at the moment, Ben Lomond still to come :)

Bill

[damo_Melbourne]

Hey Duncan

Well done.... I still get frustrated as hell and Im not that far ahead of you.... had a nightmare Sat with PHD last Sat night but small steps.....

Now you have your 1000D get an adapter for the camera if you havent already ( about $35 - I got mine from Bintel) plug your camera directly into your ED80 ( no diagonal) and fire away. If you have a lappy then Canon utils is great and you can store your pics directly to your pc as you take them.

If you dont have the lappy then simply fire off your shots directly on the camera - remote release from Teds camera was about $35 our you can get the more expensive remote release that many people have on here. I dont use it as I have the lappy.

My image below which was my first successful pic after alot of failures -drinking red after you have aligned not during was an important lesson I learnt! plus I had alot of alignment issues that drove me nuts initially - the reason for the red wine :)
Same gear as you with a 450D instead

All I did was stack the raw images in DSS. Let DSS do its thing automatically then saved it as a tiff file.
The image will be really dark so all it needs is a bit of curves and levels in Photoshop to tease out the data.

cheers

[damo_Melbourne]

sorry Duncan reread your post and you are going thru the scope.Just start stacking, you will be amazed at the result.
good luck

[bluescope]

Hi Duncan .... stacking your images is essential with a DSLR. I didn't believe it when I started imaging but it is true.
Here is a link to DSS

http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/download.htm

Your camera should have in camera noise reduction for long exposures ... if you turn that on then you will not need to take separate dark images ... it just means you will be waiting longer in between shots while the dark frame is subtracted from your pic by the camera.

Flats are evenly illuminated images that negate any dust spots on your chip and any vignetting in your images ... there are articles about taking flats on IIS and other sources.

A cable release is also essential to avoid camera shake and lock your mirror up as well during your exposures.

I think that's about all for taking the images ... you are embarking on a long journey and have just taken the first tentative step.

Another journey is processing ... but that's another story for another day ;)

Good luck and clear skies !


:thumbsup: