First images using my Explore Scientific 80mm and Canon 1000D. Bracketing the focus, keeping the sharpest images.
The thing that pleases me the most, is that there is no discernible chromatic aberration, that I can see - except when observing, and there is a slight yellow fringe around the perimeter of the moon. Stars however, show no false colour. Not sure how an experienced eye might view it.
Tried to stack and darken the first image to see more features, but I'm not sure about the result. The second was a passing shot - hey! there's the moon 'click.' These two are the only images that came anywhere near focus - I've discovered that it is none too easy by eye.
I used an open source program, GIMP. Layer upon layer using the Add then Multiply math functions to highlight then darken - I'm not sure its all that effective, but an improvement on the washed out original.
Hi Michael. Yes I checked that. GIMP has had 16 bit support since 2008 with the introduction v2.6 - I think that info is out of date. I cant vouch for its suitability overall because its not been designed with astrophotography in mind, so it's missing a lot of tools - pity. I've been trialling various programs recently, on and off, but just starting the final module of a uni course, I don't really have time to get into it. Come August I will be relatively free.
I've added another image - it's a single 10 minute exposure taken with my double arm drive. I'm sure that GIMP was used to process it, but it could have been imageJ.
A late response - in which I owe you an apology. It seems that versions of GIMP have support for 16 and 32 channel colour. The GEGL engine is supposed to provide 16 bit support, but it seems that development has lagged behind GIMP Movie and CINE Paint - it still converts 16 to 8 bit for processing - annoying.
You could always try RegiStax or AviStack. Even though they are normally used for AVI files you can still get it to process a series of indivual images.
I'm instead using PFStools in Linux to produce 16 bit TIFF and HDR files. So far the results are encouraging. I only need GIMP to tweak here and there.
The HDR tone-mapping utility is superb, I'm seeing dust lanes and individual stars in wide field that were previously smudged out.
EDIT: Added HDR image. 3 RAW files stacked, aligned, HDR'd and refocus - no exposure compensation - didn't try to fix the over exposed areas. Overall, the areas of light and shadow seem well defined.
For comparison -
Exposure compensated stack - Layered with 2 additional tone mapped images - 1 light and 1 dark, plus refocus
Exposure compensated stack - colour enhancement - unsharp mask. Overall I think this is the best one.
Hi Kal. I know how to set live view, but not using it for focus. Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a go.
Set live view on for the camera. Focus as best you can using the telescope focuser, then set to 10x zoom on liveview (using the button top right with the + inside a magnifying glass) and focus again. Your focus will be spot on
