[Startrek (Martin)]

I captured 6 hrs ( 3 min dithered guided subs) on M16 last night with my 2600MC , L Extreme and 6” Newt under a descending 48% waxing moon ( used Gain 0 HDR ) Conditions were excellent guiding at around 0.60 total until it deteriorated in the early hours
Camera was cooled to -10C and I captured calibration frames as well
The above procedures I’ve been doing for 2 years now with this camera and had good results on a wide variety of objects at both my imaging sites

Stacked and Processed the data today and the stretched imaged is extremely noisy and the level of nebulosity is like I was using a DSLR with 60 sec subs

I did notice the cooling drop to - 8.3 C st one stage , it’s never ever done that in 2 years I’ve been using the camera

The stretched image is like I was using a DSLR really poor noisy data

Question
The camera is just over 2 years old ( out of warranty) should I perform a ZWO Firmware update ??
It’s as if the camera has lost its performance

Appreciate any advice

I know I’m imaging under Bortle 7/8 but I’ve never had such a noisy image and it’s not as if I’m short of data , there’s plenty of data to stack

I also changed settings in DSS , same outcomes

In addition, I did image the Helix last week and captured 6 hrs ( 3 min subs ) -10C with L Extreme , Cal frames and so on , similar situation, really noisy and stars were all saturated ( I used Gain 100 )

I think there’s definitely something wrong with my camera as it’s been performing well for 2 years at both sites , Bortle 7/8 and Bortle 3

Camera connects fine and operates correctly with my capture software APT

Next clear night I’ll be out testing my backside off trying all scenarios

I’m currently running the camera off the capture Laptop in my Study for 4 or 5 hours to check cooling status every hour

Cheers