highlight 1 ARW in the file's list in DSS to see the preview:
it will look like a pre-school kid's playing with crayons. no wonder that DSS can't find stars.
that's because the official version of DSS has not yet included the Sony-Nex5 ARW definitions.
download the beta version from here
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DeepSkyStacker/ .
and replace the .exe file in your DSS program directory with the beta version.
Now, DSS will show a very dark preview of your ARW images.
Use the Recommended Settings button and make the recommended changes, if any.
Re your TIFF problems: you must have misconfigured some stacking setting.
DSS remembers the last used settings and uses them again unless you change them.
Which ones they are?
To get the default settings back: create a new user on your computer.
Log in as new user and run DSS. Take screenshots or notes of all the stacking tabs (which will now show the default settings) - and amend the settings in your original user account accordingly.
And read about DSS on their page. It is really useful to understand the options.
Good Luck!
I have Sony Nex-5N and since yesterday am using the beta version with ARW images.
The stacked result is very dark. Which is normal for RAW or ARW. TIFF are
much brighter.
So I move all 3 color curves to the right until the
beginning of the
steep rise of that black line lies within the body of the 3 color column. That makes the pic brighter and gives nice contrast, too.
Other than that, I only enhance Saturation to taste. No other processing settings make a useful difference - after I have moved the color curves to the described position.
That might be different for different imaging objects, though. I extensively tested it yesterday with a wide angle image collection of the Milky way, some darks and dark flats.
