[iceman (Mike)]

I capture with 50% gamma.. it helps expose the image enough to get the darker limbs, helps avoid onion rings and scalloping at the edges of the dark belts.

At the time of capture, it usually looks too bright, but the gamma can be decreased during post processing to reveal the detail.

While processing my avi's, after I recombine the separately processed red, green and blue channels in Astra Image, the image still has the gamma applied.. before any other processing it has a really smooth, eyepiece-view quality to it.

I then reduce the gamma to 0.6 in AstraImage, which boosts the contrast and reveals more details.

I thought it's worth posting a before and after image, so you can see what i'm talking about. I recommend every capture with 50% gamma, and set your gain and shutter speed to keep the brightness meter between 200 and 230 where possible.

Hope it helps someone.