Jupiter, May 5, Bris - DMK/ToUcam comparison.

[matt]

Well...here's my attempt at RGB imaging, and a comparison with an image captured around the same same with the ToUcam.

I've tried to make the image scale the same, to be fair to both cams. (That's for you, Mike).

In my opinion...the DMK wins hands-down...even with my limited experience of RGB capture and processing.

Might have been a little heavy-handed with the saturation with the DMK image It's difficult to get the colour balance right. I have a greater admiration for guys like Bird and Mike etc who do this much better than I

Suggestions/constructive criticism is welcome.

[iceman (Mike)]

Nicely done, Matt. A very nice image!

A great comparison too and really shows that the DMK is a step up from the ToUcam. Your processing looks pretty good to me. I had a quick play (hope that's ok).

Perhaps mine is a tad too yellow now, but I:
1) Re-aligned the colour channels (blue channel down 1px and left 1px)
2) Hue and Saturation adjustments
3) Colour balance
4) Curves

Now I don't want to see any more ToUcam images from you! You've got your DMK working very well.

[matt]

Originally Posted by iceman

Nicely done, Matt. A very nice image!

A great comparison too and really shows that the DMK is a step up from the ToUcam. Your processing looks pretty good to me. I had a quick play (hope that's ok).

Perhaps mine is a tad too yellow now, but I:
1) Re-aligned the colour channels (blue channel down 1px and left 1px)
2) Hue and Saturation adjustments
3) Colour balance
4) Curves

Now I don't want to see any more ToUcam images from you! You've got your DMK working very well.

Thanks Mike.

I made a small promise to myself earlier today that the DMK will be my first 'weapon' of choice from now on.

Although I can't promise I won't from time to time also pop the ToUcam in for a few 'quick and cheerfuls' at the end of a session.

It's just so much fun using a colour one-shot webcam!

BTW...I've been monitoring the 200/300mb jetstream maps and if the current pattern maintains it looks like we might be in for some very nice seeing toward the end of the week.

Fingers crossed we all get some 8-9/10 seeing. T'would make a nice change.

The images in this thread were taken under a thumping jet...so I'm keen to see what my scope is capable of under really nice Brissy skies

[Robert_T]

Hi Matt, definitely more detail on the DMK shot, but i do like the colour of the Toucam. I struggle with this aspect of DMK imaging the most as well. I wonder how much is due to the gain setting chosen for each colour channel... if I were using 900 for red I'd use 850 for green and prob around 900 again for red.

How about you and Mike?

[matt]

Originally Posted by Robert_T

Hi Matt, definitely more detail on the DMK shot, but i do like the colour of the Toucam. I struggle with this aspect of DMK imaging the most as well. I wonder how much is due to the gain setting chosen for each colour channel... if I were using 900 for red I'd use 850 for green and prob around 900 again for red.

How about you and Mike?

Hi Rob.

Yeah...as I've mentioned before, I too struggle with colour balance and rendition with the DMK. I am hopeful this is a temporary issue and will resolve itself as I become more adept with the camera and Photoshop/Astra Image processing.

I use the histogram to guide me for each channel and try and get it to the same point for each colour, tweaking the gain as I go.

Last night I needed around 810 for red, 780 for Green and well over 900 for Blue.

I then try to stack the same number of frames in Registax 4, in this case 400 each.

But I'm still very much the novice when it comes to colour balance, as you can see.

BTW - my partner, Rae, had a go at processing my RGB Tiffs to see if she might bring something new to them.

She tried a slightly different colour balance. Took some of the blue out and 'warmed' it a little.

[AlexN]

Very nice!! The detail is great! Keep up the good work and bust out some massive FL saturn shots!

[edwardsdj (Doug)]

Great to see a DMK image from Brisbane Matt

Such incredible detail.

The DMK is so much clearer than the ToUcam.

You're motivating me to get off my bum and have my first crack at Jupiter with the ToUcam from Brisbane myself. Hope that awesome seeing arrives later in the week.

[matt]

Thanks, Doug.

Yeah...make sure you get out amongst it.

It does appear the seeing should get progressively better through the week.

Cheers...and happy shootin'

[Matty P (Matt)]

Great images Matt, the DMK image wins hands down.

It is interesting to see a comparision of the ToUcam and DMK. Even though the DMK image is much better overall, I still like the look of the ToUcam image.

Great work.