Have added some more data now from 2 more sessions. 9 hours in total - 27 x 20 mins with a QHY8 OSC camera and an RC8 scope on an EQ6.
Last time I got some good advice from Marcus to watch out for stellar halos in the centre. I think I overdid my decon/sharpening. Hopefully better controlled this time (crops show centre of old and new images)
However, I found it hard to get a consistent colour balance and a satisfactory background with the new image. Any comments/tips appreciated.
Sorry I'm not 100% sure which is the old and which is the new ... So, the one on the left has better stars but you have over done the decon/sharpening a tad so the nebulosity, particularly in the helmet, is all spiderweby and unnatural from the processing filter/s used. The nebulosity in the one on the right looks more natural but perhaps a little ringing is visible around some stars.....sooooo, if you can get the neb in the right image combined with the stars in the left image...NIRVANA!
Very nice image. Very well done. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Adriano.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Sorry I'm not 100% sure which is the old and which is the new ...
LOL. The one on the left is new. (There's a date in the filename).
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
So, the one on the left has better stars but you have over done the decon/sharpening a tad so the nebulosity, particularly in the helmet, is all spiderweby and unnatural from the processing filter/s used. The nebulosity in the one on the right looks more natural but perhaps a little ringing is visible around some stars.....sooooo, if you can get the neb in the right image combined with the stars in the left image...NIRVANA!
Hmm. When I did that I dialled the decon back a bit so got rid of the stellar halos. But I went to 11 with the sharpening as I assumed the deeper data could take it. Have dialled it back a bit now (new crop below)
Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated. Hard to look dispassionately at something I've spent hours wrangling on screen!
You've got some really nice detail in there Paul, your latest (after not decoding so hard) is a lot nicer
I do agree, after looking at it for hours and hours it does start to become a bit of a blur
On that decon thing, what you need to watch for is that those tendrils in your image look like a string of beads when you zoom in, but when you look at the image you are comparing against, specifically the tendrils, it's a continuous line, no beads.
What's happening is that the Decon is effectively making stuff up based on the PSF so you have to go at it really really lightly and select your stars carefully. You don't need much Decon at all to take something that's a bit soft because of seeing or slightly off focus to a different level. Decon isn't an alternative to good seeing or focus but it does help.
So when you are completely fed up looking at the same image, think beads..if you didn't expect to see them, you shouldn't be seeing them.
Love Thors helmet by the way. Really complex and you have done a good job.
Yes, nicely put indeed Dave . So many images I see have essentially "fake" detail created after decon and wavelets. Both are very powerful filters but also potentially very damaging to data. The tell tail signs are very obvious, even when lightly applied
...I do notice however that there is less and less of it seen on IIS...hmmm?...the incessant (PIA) badgering is having some effect
... So, the one on the left has better stars but you have over done the decon/sharpening a tad so the nebulosity, particularly in the helmet, is all spiderweby and unnatural from the processing filter/s used. The nebulosity in the one on the right looks more natural but perhaps a little ringing is visible around some stars.....sooooo, if you can get the neb in the right image combined with the stars in the left image...NIRVANA! 
. So many images I see have essentially "fake" detail created after decon and wavelets. Both are very powerful filters but also potentially very damaging to data. The tell tail signs are very obvious, even when lightly applied 
