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Thanks heaps Matt and Peter.
It's so unfortunate the SPC900NC settings are just on sliders without numeric values but the settings I used were:
Frame rate: 30 FPS
Shutter: 0% (longest)
Gain: 50%
Whitebalance: Manual until it looked OK
Brightness: 100%
All other settings on 50% (middle of the slider)
I saw the meter in K3CCDTools. It is on by default. I'll keep in mind the values you suggested.
What sort of shutter, gain, brightness settings are good?
I know the images are a bit feint but I found I could see more detail with the gain at about 50%.
I have used Registax for some full-disk images of the Moon with my D80 DSLR. It works well but I just did a quick stack in K3CCDTools to see what the results would be like. I didn't think the data was good enough quality for Registax but I will give it a go this afternoon. I have done no further processing but I'll have a go with the Registax wavelets this afternoon.
If I could motorise the focus a lot of my problems would go away. I just don't think the focus control is fine enough (even visually on planets) with the standard SCT focus mechanism though. The mirror shift is a significant problem with the small SPC900NC CCD as well.
I'm thinking that if I get a microfocuser first then tacking on a motor will seem much more practical. I'm keen to attempt to build something myself to motorise the focus.
What I'd love to know is:
1. Does an IR blocking filter make a big difference with focus for planets; and
2. Do you guys use Hartmann masks, software or another method to achieve focus?
Thanks heaps for the advice.
Have fun,
Doug
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