Some good feedback there for me to consider so thank you all
I have done bias and darks, I didn't do flats but I can see the effects of that in the image on stretching. I was comfortable with missing them for now (they're a project for another day
). I had about 2 hours worth of integration time and was adjusting in 16bit.
I've also spent a fair bit of effort on guiding and the polar alignment. So the stars are round, it's in focus and I'm quite happy with it for now. I guide off-axis because of the focal length.
I probably didn't mention that I am clipping the blacks and losing data which is probably half my battle. I also, now I've since done research, realise that the gain I had is quite low compared to what other people have been using for this camera. I had it set at 80, but I've seen lots of people using 200 to 400 gain. So that's definitely another area to look at when the clouds go away for another night as it should definitely give more data to play with.
I also do have a 10" reflector, and the brackets to mount it on the mount. My primary interest is not necessarily getting the wide field views, but in planetary nebula and galaxies (I am a physics, astrophysics graduate) so I am well aware of the challenge I have presented. But I have the tenacity to keep going. Plus, the planets aren't up in the mean time for me to play around with. Hence why I got this scope with the focal length (and in my budget
)
I'll post the image I did have shortly. I was able to make out the dust clouds in M83, but maybe I am expecting too much.