Saturn 27th May 08:30UT

[von Tom]

A quick processing of Saturn tonight. Canon EOS 550D + 5x Powermate on a Sky-Watcher Goto Dobsonian. 1/60s, ISO 3200, 640x480 crop video mode, 60fps.

Stacked in Registax and sharpening done in PS.

Seeing was pretty good.

Tom

[asimov]

Certainly better seeing than what I received tonight in Bundaberg. I took 3 AVI's but had to delete them.

Nice work.

[lcd1080]

A very good image Tom! I think that you and I are one of the few people who are using DSLR cameras to image Saturn. I like that you were able to go up to ISO 3200 with your 550D; I experienced too much noise above ISO 1600 using the same camera. Rather than using the 640x480 crop video mode at 60 fps I used a screen capture program to record a portion of the DSLR's live view screen. I think that there are advantages to both techniques -- yours is better because you can capture 60 frames per second compared to my 22 fps; mine may offer an advantage in that I can crop the 640x480 live view screen by selecting a portion of that screen with the screen capture program. In case you didn't see my earlier thread from May 22 and I attached my Saturn image from that thread using a 550D at ISO 1600, a 2x barlow and an 8 inch Celestron SCT.

[John Hothersall]

Looks good to me Tom, stars were not twinkling as much last night so thought it might be good but was doing deep space. DSLR video a bit noisy but showing detail of the storm and rings are strong.

John.

[anthony.tony]

Nice work Tom-Reguard's Tony

[Quark]

Well done Tom, it seems you have most certainly caught the planetary imaging bug, I see a DMK or Flea3 in your future.

Regards
Trevor

[Shiraz]

Nice image Tom. Regards Ray

[von Tom]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Peter, I don't have any other experience than using the in-camera movie modes. Your image looks great, thanks for showing it. You are definitely right about choosing your framing being an advantage for screen capture!

Trevor - that's what I'm afraid of!

I have attached anther image from the same night, 45min later and processed more carefully....

Tom

[Clayton]

LUV your stuff Tom

[michaellxv]

Nice one Tom. That second one you posted looks great, doesn't seem so grainy.

[von Tom]

Thanks Rob and Michael,

One thing i've noticed is the colourisation on the rings near the planet. My images are quite saturated and I don't know if the colouring is due to imaging/processing or if it is actually there.

Tom

[von Tom]

I've worked the image a little more and split the RGB channels for comparison.

[lcd1080]

Hey Tom, your most recent re-processing of Saturn (the second image above) is just fantastic; it is the first DSLR image of Saturn I have seen that truly competes with images from some of the better webcams. The 550D may only have a 4.7 micron pixel size but with more experimentation in choosing the best ISO level, exposure setting, and choice of barlow lens, the results are definitely getting better.

I was wondering how you split the color channels; can that be done in Photoshop?

Peter

[Troy]

Nice pictures Tom :thumbsup: