RAW widefields to play with

[iceman]

Hi all.

I've uploaded some of the RAW widefield shots I took on Saturday night.

1. Crux region (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/downloads/20060422-widefield-crux.zip) (8 shots - 54meg zip file)

2. Core of Scorpius area (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/downloads/20060422-widefield-core.zip) (6 shots - 40meg zip file)

#1 is still uploading, but will be finished by about 1:40pm AEST (Tuesday).

They are Canon CR2 RAW files, exposures of about 90 seconds each taken with the 350D @ 18mm ISO 800.

Appreciate any processing work you can do on them, and i'll be keen for you to explain how you processed it. I haven't got any darks or flats to do with it. The in-camera NR was on.

Thanks for your help.

[Striker]

Just played with the 1 set of images for the time being Mike.

I processed the same as I mentioned in Imagesplus.

But once in Photoshop I really had attacked it with gradient xterminator.

Adjusted level's and curves a little...not much

Compressed widefield shots looks ordinery most of the time because of the compression so here is the link to the full JPEG image.... 1.8MB

http://www.users.on.net/~striker/Icemans-full.jpg

forgot to mention this is lovely widefield shot Mike

[sheeny]

Very nice Mike and Tony!:thumbsup:

Is that a little bit of sperical aberration around the ouside of the full image? Pushing the lens to the limit no doubt!

Just love widefields! Thanks for posting.

Al.

[iceman]

That's very nice Tony! Thanks.

Does ImagesPlus allow you to try a trial version?

Al, most definitely inadequacies in the lens.. it's just the cheapy 18-55 kit lens, so it's most likely spherical abberation or coma around the edges.

[Striker]

Yes Mike it does but it places diagonal lines like a chrosshair to your image so it's pointless.

8.5mb demo
http://www.mlunsold.com/

[RB]

That's a great image Mike and great processing Tony.
I'm downloading them atm but not sure when I'll have time to process.

I've also got some of my own which I haven't had a go at yet either.

Once again well done to you both.

[JohnH]

Mike,

I have this lens too -to get the best out of it use it in the middle of its range - that is 24-36 mm approx and stop down at least one stop. I did not respond earlier to you processing tips question but I will now - buy Images Plus is about the best advice I can give you. It automates the calibration process so you can use darks (and not in camera NR - more time collecting those photons), flats and bias frames. It handles stacking and aligning those large RAWs with ease, will even compensate for field rotation and scale changes, in short it makes processing fun! And all for the cost of a moderate ep, get it.

[Itchy]

Hi Mike

Thanks for posting these. They are great. The 18-55 lens is suprisingly good. There is a little aberation, but not too bad for these widefields. Johns advice look good. I'll have to try it myself.

Anyhow, here is my attempts at processing your images. There was a fair degree of skyglow, so after conversion, stacking and digital development in IP, I passed them through ABE. That helped a lot. It was then on to Photoshop CS2 to do the levels and curves adjustments and a little colour balancing. Then back to IP for some minor star size reduction. I'm fairly pleased with the results. The crus image shows up the emu very nicely.

Cheers

[RB]

Here's what I came up with Mike.
I adjusted each individual frame in Photoshop, making the histogram stretch as much as possible without clipping. I did each channel (RGB) individually and kept an eye on the colour balance of the image.
Once all the frames where done I used Registar to stack them all.

Back to PS and a crop then a final adjustment of the levels and curves to bring out a bit more detail.

I think the individual RAWs where really good judging by their histograms.

Well done.

The small jpg here does not do it justice as the large TIFF is much better but it's huge.

Hope you like it.

[iceman]

Wow, they're all great. Thanks guys.

I downloaded the trial version of IP to play with. RB, your version looks great! Sounds like a lot of work went into it though, I don't know if i'm that patient! :)

John, thanks for the advice re lens, i'll give that a go next time to cut down on the edge abberations.

Excellent work everyone and thanks for your help. I'll give it a go myself soon.

[[1ponders]]

Isn't it amazing how the same images can produce such different but still great results. :clap: guys

This thread has given me an idea Mike.

If the site has the room for it would it be possible to set up a download area of raw images that could be donated for beginner astrophotographers to download and play with, to learn the ropes with quality images.

We all know what our own first DSO images were like :rolleyes: :doh: And processing them didn't really make them that much better (well it didn't for my first ones :lol: ) So if the site had a library of donated Raws (and the Darks for them) in zip form for newbie astrophotographers to download and play with, the advantages over using poorer quality images would be enourmous. There could even be a series of shots processed by others (along with a brief processing description) for each zip to show what could be achieved.

Does it sound like a feasible idea?

[RB]

Hah :rofl: I look at all the hard work you put into your planet imaging and think the same thing.
I'm in awe everytime I see your joops/saturns etc. :lol:

[RB]

Here's your Crux Region image Mike.

I had the histogram nicely spread in the large tiff but when I reduced the image for the forum the histogram clipped.
Sorry, hope you like it.

:)

[RB]

Wasn't totally satisfied with the clipped histogram in the previous image so I tweeked it slighty and got this one out.
I think this one is better.

[iceman]

Wow :eyepop: Looks awesome Andrew! Love the carina area.

Thanks!

I'll have to try that myself soon, so I can make that mosaic!