Success at last (well sort of!)

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Finally managed something approximating a decent solar image
Taken at 12-30pm today with DMK41 and SMII 60.
Processed in Registax.
There appear to be a couple of dust bunnies. Not sure where they are coming from, the scope, blocking filter or the camera. May have to learn to do a Solar Ha flat field!
Now I need to learn to put it to colour.

Thanks to Paul Haese for answering a couple of my silly questions with this one.


Malcolm

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Hi Malcolm
You are well underway - it looks a little pale - I am unfamiliar with the tuning of the SM11 60 - you may just need to play some more. What were the settings on the DMK?
In another few sessions you will be a pro - are you looking to capture the Venus transit?

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

You're definitely getting there. A couple more sessions and you'll have it down pat.

[leon]

Fine effort indeed Malcolm, well done.

Leon

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Thanks Matt, JJJ and Leon.
Yes Matt I agree it is still a bit pale. I tried to set the tuning on the SMII visually figuring that would give a good result imaging. I think it may be slightly over exposed. I had the gain set at 700 and the exposure at 1/10000. I may just tweak the gain down a touch.
I am planning to use the setup on the Transit. I am travelling to Hawaii for the S&T trip (leaving Saturday week!!) so hoping to get some images. It is a bit of a learning curve. Biggest problem is that I cannot use any tracking as it would be too heavy, so I am relying on very shorts AVIs (5s) on my camera tripod. This was done on a qyuite windy day, so given all that I am pretty pleased with result!

Malcolm

[Poita (Peter)]

Has that image been run through Adobe smart sharpen?

I'm still considering upgrading to the DMK41 from the 21 to get wider views.

I like my Sun a little darker, but like on the attached image, I have trouble though getting the amount of contrast I'd like (as you can see), I'm yet to find a processing setup that works as well as I'd like. I've still got lots of learning to do!

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Thanks Peter
I assume the repro you have done is with sharpening? I had a go with auto sharpening in PSE7 but it wasn't as good a result. Am going to have a play in CS5 tonight hopefully.

The large chip on the 41 certainly makes life easier than trying to use a small chip.

As mentioned my main concern is some dust bunnies. Not sure where they are coming from.

Malcolm