A quick processing of Saturn tonight. Canon EOS 550D + 5x Powermate on a Sky-Watcher Goto Dobsonian. 1/60s, ISO 3200, 640x480 crop video mode, 60fps. Stacked in Registax and sharpening done in PS. Seeing was pretty good.
A very good image Tom! I think that you and I are one of the few people who are using DSLR cameras to image Saturn. I like that you were able to go up to ISO 3200 with your 550D; I experienced too much noise above ISO 1600 using the same camera. Rather than using the 640x480 crop video mode at 60 fps I used a screen capture program to record a portion of the DSLR's live view screen. I think that there are advantages to both techniques -- yours is better because you can capture 60 frames per second compared to my 22 fps; mine may offer an advantage in that I can crop the 640x480 live view screen by selecting a portion of that screen with the screen capture program. In case you didn't see my earlier thread from May 22 and I attached my Saturn image from that thread using a 550D at ISO 1600, a 2x barlow and an 8 inch Celestron SCT.
Looks good to me Tom, stars were not twinkling as much last night so thought it might be good but was doing deep space. DSLR video a bit noisy but showing detail of the storm and rings are strong.
Peter, I don't have any other experience than using the in-camera movie modes. Your image looks great, thanks for showing it. You are definitely right about choosing your framing being an advantage for screen capture!
Trevor - that's what I'm afraid of!
I have attached anther image from the same night, 45min later and processed more carefully....
One thing i've noticed is the colourisation on the rings near the planet. My images are quite saturated and I don't know if the colouring is due to imaging/processing or if it is actually there.
Hey Tom, your most recent re-processing of Saturn (the second image above) is just fantastic; it is the first DSLR image of Saturn I have seen that truly competes with images from some of the better webcams. The 550D may only have a 4.7 micron pixel size but with more experimentation in choosing the best ISO level, exposure setting, and choice of barlow lens, the results are definitely getting better.
I was wondering how you split the color channels; can that be done in Photoshop?
