I took 40 x 2-min subs, went through them and hand-picked the best 25. Not sure why some were blurry and others razor-sharp; it wasn't windy, I didn't walk anywhere near the tripod, I had all cables / straps tied back... weird.
Anyway very happy with the data collection - the resolution is wonderful and the detail is great. However, I'm still not happy with the processing & editing. It's a lot better than my first attempt but it's got some VERY intense editing to make it look like this. As a photographer I know that the more you push the editing the less natural it looks, and this doesn't look natural to me.
I used 10 flats, 20 darks and 10 bias. Noise & vignetting levels are fine by me so I don't feel adding more would solve anything. I messed with the luminance curves in DSS to put RGB spikes all overlapping at the inflection point.
I'd like to put all RAW images (lights, flats, darks, bias) into a Dropbox folder and see what other people come up with; is that sort of thing done here?
looks good to me Chris, what don't you like about the photo?
re: sharp vs soft frames, its possible that you had focus drift over the night as temperature changed or perhaps some dew.
you can definitely put the files up in drop box, if I get time I might have a crack.
On the surface it is looking pretty good! Difficult to see a lot in a 200kb version though
What is causing those errors is more than like to be mechanical. The NEQ6 has a worm period of about 7.5 minutes, are the poorer subs randomly distributed or it is every 1/3 or 1/4?
You are always more than welcome to give out your data if you wish, Dropbox is good for that sort of thing.
I'd give them a look over but I currently have unstable Internet and no laptop
looks good to me Chris, what don't you like about the photo?
re: sharp vs soft frames, its possible that you had focus drift over the night as temperature changed or perhaps some dew.
you can definitely put the files up in drop box, if I get time I might have a crack.
Nah, the focus was perfect (I wasn't going to make that mistake twice in a row!). Some stars were elongated, or doubled like the mount had been very gently bumped. But I think Atmos has nailed it - it's almost exactly every 3rd/4th image.
As for what I don't like, well I dunno exactly. I'm fairly happy with it I guess. Maybe I'm comparing it to Ha images, or differently edited & filtered mono cameras, or vastly longer total exposures, but other shots I've seen don't look so... worked on, for want of a better term. But maybe it just looks that way to me because I know how far from the original TIF it is.
I'll put the necessary files in a Dropbox folder and will post the link here when they're all uploaded (will likely take a while, they're big files).
On the surface it is looking pretty good! Difficult to see a lot in a 200kb version though
What is causing those errors is more than like to be mechanical. The NEQ6 has a worm period of about 7.5 minutes, are the poorer subs randomly distributed or it is every 1/3 or 1/4?
You are always more than welcome to give out your data if you wish, Dropbox is good for that sort of thing.
I'd give them a look over but I currently have unstable Internet and no laptop
I think you just worked it out! Of the 40 shots I took, these are the ones I deleted:
4
8
11
12
16
20
21
23
27
30
31
35
So where does that leave me, is there anything that can be done about it?
It could be something as simple as a little bit of grit in the worm gear. Did you buy it new?
I would suggest a strip down and clean/regresse if it has been around for a while. I personally found it really good just to understand what was going under the hood of my EQ6
It could be something as simple as a little bit of grit in the worm gear. Did you buy it new?
I would suggest a strip down and clean/regresse if it has been around for a while. I personally found it really good just to understand what was going under the hood of my EQ6
I like taking stuff apart and learning about it, but I'd be slightly nervous with this thing! I bought it from Somnium (Aidan), who struck me as a guy who both knew about his gear and looked after it - but I believe it was sitting in storage for a while before I bought it, so it's possible.
Do you know of any good videos for guiding one through the process of stripping it down?
I like taking stuff apart and learning about it, but I'd be slightly nervous with this thing! I bought it from Somnium (Aidan), who struck me as a guy who both knew about his gear and looked after it - but I believe it was sitting in storage for a while before I bought it, so it's possible.
Do you know of any good videos for guiding one through the process of stripping it down?
i had considered greasing the gears before i sold it but never got around to it. seems like a good idea. you could also train the periodic error, i never did it on that mount so you could gain some tracking accuracy that way.
I believe therevis enough data there to improve the image. What did you do with the levels and curves post DSS. DSS alone is not much of a processing engine. Are you using Photoshop or something else?
I believe therevis enough data there to improve the image. What did you do with the levels and curves post DSS. DSS alone is not much of a processing engine. Are you using Photoshop or something else?
I just used Lightroom, which is the program I'm most familiar with for portrait photography; I'm okay in Photoshop but I generally avoid it whenever I can. Thinking that maybe I'll have to start using it again.
Just google astrobaby, or alternatively just enter "how to strip EQ6" and
you'll see several very good tutorials on how to overhaul and adjust the
various SW mounts. Many people never use the PEC routine on their
mounts [including me], don't think for a minute that Aidan would sell you
anything faulty.
raymo
You have a nice image there. I think you are expecting too much from
shortish subs with a small scope. Obviously your processing skills will
only improve with experience.
I would go through the PEC routine before considering stripping the mount;
it is probably absolutely fine.
raymo
Last edited by raymo; 03-05-2016 at 02:29 PM.
Reason: more text
You have a nice image there. I think you are expecting too much from
shortish subs with a small scope. Obviously your processing skills will
only improve with experience.
raymo
Thanks Ray.
It could be simply comparing this to shots with vastly superior setups, as you say... but I just think my editing isn't great. The post editing is done in Lightroom, which is vastly easier to use but a lot less powerful than Photoshop. I'm just being lazy and using the program with which I'm most familiar as a portrait photographer - since getting LR a few years ago I barely touch Photoshop anymore, except for stuff like cloning / stretching / warping etc.
However, before I start down that path I'd like to see someone who knows what they're doing have a crack with this data so I can see how much difference it makes.
I would go through the PEC routine before considering stripping the mount;
it is probably absolutely fine.
raymo
I'm certainly not accusing Aidan of selling me anything dodgy! But all mechanical devices need maintenance; as Aidan himself said, he was planning to service it but never got around to it. The dud frames every 7-8 minutes suggest that it could be of help, and I don't have a guider with which to program the PEC anyway. I'll strip it down, grease it up and learn a bit more about how it works, and perhaps when it's back together it will track a little more smoothly. It'll be a fun cloudy night project.
I'm certainly not accusing Aidan of selling me anything dodgy! But all mechanical devices need maintenance; as Aidan himself said, he was planning to service it but never got around to it. The dud frames every 7-8 minutes suggest that it could be of help, and I don't have a guider with which to program the PEC anyway. I'll strip it down, grease it up and learn a bit more about how it works, and perhaps when it's back together it will track a little more smoothly. It'll be a fun cloudy night project.
But when will you ever have a cloudy night ... Haha jk
As raymo mentioned, look at the Astro Baby website for full instructions on stripping and regreasing. It is very comprehensive and goes step by step.
The EQ6 that I bought off of here last year developed some tracking errors a few months after I bought it. Was it faulty? By no means, worked very nicely BUT it hasn't been regreased for about two years and had been sitting in storage for the 12 months prior.
As for working on a NEQ6, give yourself the better part of a day for it. Take it slowly and you should be fine
As raymo mentioned, look at the Astro Baby website for full instructions on stripping and regreasing. It is very comprehensive and goes step by step.
The EQ6 that I bought off of here last year developed some tracking errors a few months after I bought it. Was it faulty? By no means, worked very nicely BUT it hasn't been regreased for about two years and had been sitting in storage for the 12 months prior.
As for working on a NEQ6, give yourself the better part of a day for it. Take it slowly and you should be fine
Sounds like a good way to spend a rainy day to me. It's like a nerdy version of the guy across the road who works on his muscle cars on the weekend. I'll get the tools out, put on some old torn jeans, blast some Chisel at the neighbourhood and take a look under the hood of me fully sick equatorial mount maaaate.
