I need to go to ToUcam School!!!

[asimov (John)]

Thats ok for your first go at mars!?? It ain't easy getting mars...gives me fits!

[asimov (John)]

Hey Ken, how are you capturing? A-focal or at prime focus?

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by asimov

Hey Ken, how are you capturing? A-focal or at prime focus?

HuH! What's the difference?

I stick the Toucam in the focuser with the 1.25" adaptor screwed on.

[davidpretorius]

great first effort you silly old bugga! stop putting yourself down!!!!!! this is your father speaking!!!!!

we all have these images to start with and they are as good in context as birds are!

This is the way it will work from now on....

You will post every mars pic.

Asi & I will argue over how to improve it for ages and in the meantime Bird will offer a simple answer to get you going in giant leaps!!

Asi and I will continue to argue and then belatedly agree with Bird!!!

To the picture, did you have histo stretch ticked at stacking time?? if not I would reduce the gain in the exposure section. I find that capturing at slightly darker than you think looks right on the screen, seems to give a good end result in registax.

Make sure each time you fire up the capture sftware, that the size is 640 x 400.

Do you have a barlow??.

At the optimise stage you can get a little extra size by ticking resample, but only go 1.5?

Woo hoo great stuff!
You have got more detail than my first one from memory!!!!

[davidpretorius]

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

HuH! What's the difference?

I stick the Toucam in the focuser with the 1.25" adaptor screwed on.

as you have it = prime focus
thru a lens = a focal

[Striker (Tony)]

Ken,

did you change the image size of mars to post it on the thread.

it is tiny...only 142 x 118...way way too small.

[ving (David)]

thats what i thought tony... i clicke on it and nothing happened

[asimov (John)]

That's all I wanted to know..Straight in the focuser with adapter is prime focus. To get double the size use a barlow lens.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by davidpretorius

1. This is the way it will work from now on....
You will post every mars pic.

2. To the picture, did you have histo stretch ticked at stacking time?? if not I would reduce the gain in the exposure section.
Make sure each time you fire up the capture sftware, that the size is 640 x 400.

3. Do you have a barlow??.

4. At the optimise stage you can get a little extra size by ticking resample, but only go 1.5?

Step 1. Dunno how.

Step 2. No speaka da funny language. ???

3. Yep, but the toucam won't fit in it. The little Long exposure switch is in the way. I had to angle-grind a section out of my 1.25" adaptor to get the toucam in.

4. Still no speaka this funny language. ???

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by Striker

Ken,

did you change the image size of mars to post it on the thread.

it is tiny...only 142 x 118...way way too small.

Nope. That's the size it captured in.

[ving (David)]

if you go to: Options > Video Format > Select frame size you can change the size of the video resolution i believe

[rumples riot]

Ken things to check.

Your first image looks like the focus is out. So check and recheck focus until your satisfied it is good. Take all the time you need, don't rush this part.

Next; settings change from night to night. You want the image to look bright but not too bright. This is controlled by gain, exposure or gamma. What I like to do is lower my exposure to somewhere around 1/50 and then adjust the gain to brighten the image. Don't be afraid of the gain. You need to have gain to get the fine details. Now in your scope the settings for exposure will be different. You have a fast scope so you may have to go much lower at say somewhere around 1/100 or 1/250.

Also I would get K3CCDtools demo version. The controls are easy to handle and better than the phillips software.

Try to keep brightness at 50% and then don't touch it again. I like to leave saturation near 100% Gamma just a little over 5%.

I have found that experimentation can often lead to break throughs. So try a little experimentation. If you really get stuck go to the default settings and start again.

[davidpretorius]

Originally Posted by ballaratdragons

3. Yep, but the toucam won't fit in it. The little Long exposure switch is in the way. I had to angle-grind a section out of my 1.25" adaptor to get the toucam in.

i cut the switch off, but left enough so that i could still flick it from side to side. and she has been fine.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by rumples riot

Ken things to check.

Your first image looks like the focus is out. So check and recheck focus until your satisfied it is good. Take all the time you need, don't rush this part.

Next; settings change from night to night. You want the image to look bright but not too bright. This is controlled by gain, exposure or gamma. What I like to do is lower my exposure to somewhere around 1/50 and then adjust the gain to brighten the image. Don't be afraid of the gain. You need to have gain to get the fine details. Now in your scope the settings for exposure will be different. You have a fast scope so you may have to go much lower at say somewhere around 1/100 or 1/250.

Also I would get K3CCDtools demo version. The controls are easy to handle and better than the phillips software.

This is the way it will work from now on....


Try to keep brightness at 50% and then don't touch it again. I like to leave saturation near 100% Gamma just a little over 5%.

I have found that experimentation can often lead to break throughs. So try a little experimentation. If you really get stuck go to the default settings and start again.

Paul, that is about the exact settings I had it on. Wierd huh! Davo P recommended those settings a month or so ago and I have been sticking with them.

Also, that was in focus. The best that could be acheived. Not the scope either coz I dropped an EP in and the scope was fine. Collimation was spot on. Looks as if I will have to go back to factory settings and start again.

Davo, bit scary cutting the switch off

Originally Posted by Davo

You will post every mars pic.

I only just got this one when re-reading it. I thought you meant 'post it' to you. Yes, I can post all my Mars pics in here.