My first go at the flame. Instead of putting up with Alnitak I decided to feature it front and centre. I realise that this is a poor image, but
hopefully I will improve. Wasn't well enough aligned for long subs, so
limited to 50x 13secs @ 3200. Lots of noise, which I imagine is due to
slightly warmer ambient temps. Have blurred it slightly trying to
reduce the noise, so end result very so so. I have posted the version
that is sharper, but noisy, and the blurred but less noisy one.
I wonder which one you imagers think is more acceptable, or should I
throw them both in the bin and start again?
raymo
nice work Raymo, i think i like the second probably just due to the noise in the first, maybe somewhere between the two?
i notice you've got half the horsehead in there at the top of the frame, if you get some capture of the HH in the centre you could stitch together a good pano!
I like the first despite the noise. Dithering, if you can get it going, will improve your results out of sight. Fewer dissapointments. Don't throw them away. They are good memories and candidates for reprocessing on a cloudy night... good work.
Had to rush to get the rig set up and had to plonk it down with the aid
of a cheap compass. 13 was the longest possible without trailing.
SWMBO is getting touchy about all the time I spend at the scope, let alone the time on the laptop afterwards. She says I'm obsessed.
raymo
Raymo. Image quality is related to total exposure time - you need many more subs to get a better appreciation of your work, which has great potential, btw.
More subs means more signal and more noise averaging. 1100D is a good AP DSLR for several tecnical reasons - pixel size, 14bit, blah, blah... It matters not, at this stage whether it is modded or not.
Live with the unmodded blues and work on image quality, rather than appearance - they are not the same.
Thanks for the advice. I've been film imaging for over 50 yrs, it's all
this new fangled digital stuff that I'm struggling with. I actually don't
have a problem with my unmodded camera; I'm happy to put up
with it's limitations. I never stepped into digital with the intention of
becoming top notch at it, what with the expense, and my slowly
deteriorating eyesight. Already I can't truly enjoy browsing super
pics, because I can't see stars as pinpoints.
raymo
I just reread my post Rowland, and realised how it sounds, and am in turn sorry if I offended you. It was in no way meant to be dismissive or
unappreciative. I am always happy to receive advice; most posters would
not be aware that I know my way around astro gear; it's just the
digital aspect, and the processing, that does my head in.
raymo
No problem raymo. Teach me not to be presumptuous. Anyway, nice to make your acquaintance. Digital did my head in as well. Took years to get a decent result. Still working on it.
