First cab off the rank is less than stellar, but it's given me a quick insight as to what I will be able to achieve with the apparatus.
I didn't bother too much with focus, polar alignment or guiding, darks or flats, so please excuse the quality of the images.
What I did want to see was what the two different cameras saw and captured. Their alignment was pretty good in relation to each other. The Canon was at prime focus on the C8 at f/6.3 and the Nikon was off to the side attached to the Nikkor 300ED prime lens at f/4.5. This combination resulted in pretty good comparison shots, with the Canon giving the higher mag and the Nikon giving the widefield.
This way, I can have two shots of the same objects, at the same time - each at full resolution and the narrowfield not just a crop of the widefield.
youve got a bit of gear there, looks very nice ( must take a while to set up). lots of ideas for shooting 2 at once .... you could overlay some Ha from the lens over the scope shot for a real deep effect. im sure you will experiment to see what you can do.
Very nice indeed! Hey I'm impressed with that prime focus shot via the C8.
I hadn't thought much about doing that, but once I get the hang of short focal length work I'll be trying that on my C9.25. Did you have to crop much to remove coma at the edges?
Very nice indeed! Hey I'm impressed with that prime focus shot via the C8.
I hadn't thought much about doing that, but once I get the hang of short focal length work I'll be trying that on my C9.25. Did you have to crop much to remove coma at the edges?
Thanks all for the kind comments. Long way to go, but I'm getting there!
Robert - there is no cropping at all in either of these images. They're all natural
Snowieskies - yes, I was running machine at f/6.3 with the Meade focal reducer. It does make quite a difference to exposure times.
OK, good work...but now what Chris?... How about improving the wide field images resolution by using the data from the longer focal length. Nothing like getting "crafty" with your data to make the most of it. The skies the limit when it comes to image processing (no pun intended).
OK, good work...but now what Chris?... How about improving the wide field images resolution by using the data from the longer focal length. Nothing like getting "crafty" with your data to make the most of it. The skies the limit when it comes to image processing (no pun intended).
Ohh Jase - how long have I been waiting for that invitation... I have only to figure out how to do it now. Any pointers? Please?
What are you using for image registration? You need a program that can perform data scaling. Data scaling, either up or down is required to match the resolution of the other image. A few programs can do this. You simply select the same stars in the different focal length images for the process to calculate the data needing to be manipulated. Personally, I use Registar to do the automate the task. Its takes much of the work out of image alignment/registration and is perfect for mosaics or hybrid imaging (multi resolution). Its best to scale down a high resolution image to a lower wide field image instead of the other way (for obviously aesthetic reasons), however you can go the other way for RGB if its of good quality. Try to plan your hybrid imaging so the higher resolution (longer focal length) image captures key features of interest. Then match it to the shorter focal length image so you can bring out the incredible FoV while still providing amazing detail in the key feature.
I was initially going to use this setup just to produce comparative images, but your idea is fantastic. I actually have Registar but have never used it. I really like the notion of a widefield shot enhanced with a high-resolution core coming from the longer f/l. I'll certainly be giving it a go. Thank you!
I have only to figure out how to do it now. Any pointers? Please? 
