12may Jupiter

[Lester]

Hi everyone,

Here is a shot of Jupiter with neximager captured at 5 fps, brightness=45% gamma=20% gain=20%.

I tried some at 10 fps and 15 fps but onion rings were very noticeable.

This shot is from 200 frames in Registax 3 and small amount of colour and contrast done in Picture Publisher.

Telescope was 2 degrees above ambient temperature.

[Dennis]

Hi Lester

You have good detail there, but on my LCD screen, the image looks a little dark? You have also captured a nice Galilean moon shadow going on as well that looks very nice and sharp too.

What exposure were you using, 1/25sec ?

Cheers

Dennis

[[1ponders]]

Nice Lester. There is good detail there but same for me as Dennis, very dark. The limbs look as though they have been clipped from your contrast adjustment. Can you post an unadjusted image to see what it looks like straight from registax?

[Lester]

Hi Dennis and Paul,

Shutter speed was 1/10 second.

Here is a brighter image only done in Registax 3.

Thanks for your comments. :thumbsup:

[Lester]

Hi everyone,

Same Jupiter processed in Picture Publisher, don't know if I improved it or not??

[[1ponders]]

Definately better Lester.

However you can see on both east/west limbs where the "darkness" is creeping into both the northern and southern equatorial belts and I'm sure you will find there is considerable east/west and polar limb extinction.

What capture program are you using Lester and do you remember what your gain, gamma, brightness and saturation settings were?

[Lester]

Hi Paul,

the settings I used are on the first entry in this thread.

Capture program = Amcap which came with Celestron Neximage.

East/west and polar extinction does that mean image is still too dark?

Thanks.

[Lester]

Hi Paul,

Saturation= 100%

[Robert_T]

Hi Lester, the picture publisher reprocess is a BIG improvement, brighter with more detail coming through.

It looks like you are under-exposing and need to push up your gain - more like 50%. If possible you could try a faster exposure than 1/10th second even if you need more gain and it appears grainier of the screen. Under-exposure contributes to the onion rings and I'm beginning to conclude that using too long an exposure (eg 1/10th instead of 1/20th) also contributes. At least that's been my experience.

I think a few have already suggested it, but you should download the 30 day trial of K3CCD tools (A google search would show you where) and try that as your capture program. It allows much more automation over filenames and has a lightmeter so you can ensure your capturing in the right range and a lot more ... it was well worth the ~$50 to keep it after 30 days.

cheers,

[matt]

Lester

Nice image. Paul is, however, quite right that the planet's suffering from a little "dimness".

You could probably do with bringing the brightness, gamma and gain up a touch during capture.

It's a delicate balancing act and you need to be careful you don't overexpose. Try gain around 40% and gamma 30-40% next time. I also work with brightness around 50%, but thses are just a guide.

I'm also using a 9.25, which is smaller aperture than yours, so with your extra light gathering ability you might not need to push it so hard?

Also, try adjusting gamma and brightness in Registax and post process. Gamma is good for brightening at the limb.

[[1ponders]]

Of course. I saw that. I ws just checking you did :P:doh: :doh: :doh: :o :P

Polar extinction; yes, meaning that you have missed initial data because some of your capture settings have been set too low. I thought it might have been because you had set the contrast/brightness too low or dark point too high with a histogram somewhere during processing, but it doesn't appear so as your original is very dark on the limbs as well.

Do you have K3CCDTools? If not download V1 and the free key and give that a try. I don't know Amcap at all, but K3 comes with a histogram to assist in judging your gamma, gain and brightness settings. Keeping it around 240 to 250 (and that is pretty bright) seems to work the best for me.You won't get any limb extinction then, I'll let yo know. :thumbsup:

[Lester]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your information and comments. :thumbsup:

Last time I imaged Jupiter the detail and colour was washed out; this time I went to the other extreme. :P

Will try again tonight. :whistle:

[Lester]

Thankyou Paul, :thumbsup:

Will try that program.

[asimov]

Looks like your going to have to find that sweet spot between the horizontal banding & images too dark.........correction. This was at 5 fps...do you still get the banding/lines at 5 fps ?

[asimov]

A quick one from me...I did really well at bringing out more grain & noise! :eyepop: :hi: :doh: :whistle:

[Lester]

G'day Asi,

I don't get horizontal lines at 5 fps. :) But I think its the settings that I have got to get a handle on, cause sometimes 10 fps is okay. :doh:

Originally I was producing images too bright to stop onion ring effect, but then the end result was a image that was washed out with not much colour or detail. :(

Then I produced too dark an image to acheive more contrast and colour, but Jupiter looked more like an Onion :lol: (10 and 15 fps were worse than 5 fps).

I have just copied K3CCD v1 and now got to wait for my wife to get home cause there is 12 extra icons on the desktop and none of them will open the program. :help:

Some times I just know enough to be dangerous.:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: ;)

[asimov]

LOL!....Yeah, let Celestine fix it...:)

[Lester]

Asi,

I like your reproduction best.:thumbsup:

Whats that saying of yours?? Cause I recon you can make anything out of a sows ear. ;) And I have got 100's of pigs you can choose from with 2 ears each. :rofl:

[Lester]

Hi Paul,

eventually got K3CCD version 1 downloaded and working from desktop icon.

But when I connect the neximage there is no response, screen stays black even when I point it at a light.

Does anyone else use this program with the neximage?

[matt]

Lester

Once you've got the neximage plugged in click on the video capture tab at the top left of the page and then scroll down to the bottom option and click on that.

That tells K3ccd to use the camera that's plugged in.

Hope that helps

[Lester]

Thanks Matt :thumbsup: