First go using planetary cam

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Here are some quick pics using the svbony305 inspired by Kev using my 10” newt and 3x Barlow.
Was pretty easy going compared to using the 60D canon DSLR. Much lighter and faster frame rates make for an improvement when it comes to imaging the planets.

Was a bit of mad trial and error using sharpcap to hit the mark but in amongst a rush of cloud and fog here are the results-
Saturn - 3000 frames of 20,000
Jupiter and companion Calisto- 1000 frames of 5000

Cheers.
Anthony

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Looks like you made a good choice with the 305 Anthony. Those came out a treat and rival, if not exceed, the best you've probably done with the Canon 60d. You must be very happy to know your first go with the camera puts you in the box seat to shoot Jupiter at opposition this season and beyond Well done!

[Retrograde (Pete)]

Pretty decent results there Anthony for a first go.

I'm sure once you get used to it & using Sharpcap then your images will only improve.
As you may already be aware: in Sharpcap Make the 'Region of Interest' box as small as possible to boost the frame rate (you can drag the ROI box around with your mouse to keep the planet centered even if it's drifting a bit).

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Originally Posted by Mickoid

Looks like you made a good choice with the 305 Anthony. Those came out a treat and rival, if not exceed, the best you've probably done with the Canon 60d. You must be very happy to know your first go with the camera puts you in the box seat to shoot Jupiter at opposition this season and beyond Well done!

Thanks Mick for the encouragement-
Here’s a repro with a different approach to frame selection during pipp and auto stack - heaps more frames selected and quality weighted.

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Originally Posted by Retrograde

Pretty decent results there Anthony for a first go.

I'm sure once you get used to it & using Sharpcap then your images will only improve.
As you may already be aware: in Sharpcap Make the 'Region of Interest' box as small as possible to boost the frame rate (you can drag the ROI box around with your mouse to keep the planet centered even if it's drifting a bit).

Pete- thanks for advice-may try dragging that ROI to help centre the object next time:for sure thumbsup:

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Very nice images,well done. Can only get better from here. In SharpCap are you capturing in RAW8 or in RGB24. Using RAW8 will give you a faster frame rate though not sure what the camera is capable of but the video file will need to be debayered in PIPP or Autostakkert and you can use PIPP to centre the object in each frame when processing the video file before transferring to Autostakkert and/or Registax.

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Thanks Jeff,
I did end up using 8 bit and captured using SER file.
Not sure if this differs from avi in terms of quality. I must check to see if I debayered in pipp though.

Appreciate the tips.
A

[Tulloch (Andrew)]

There's no difference between ser and avi format, they are just containers for the original frames. Debayer in AS!3, not PIPP as AS!3 does it much better. Do not use Registax for stacking, it's far inferior to AS!3.

There's really no need to use PIPP if you have a tracking mount, PIPP is really good for centring when the planet is near the edge of the frame, and excellent for removing "half planets" when it moves off the sensor, but AS!3 does it really well when the planet is in or near the centre of the frame.

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Gee Andrew, by this rational I’ll change my workflow. It would save heaps of time avoiding Pipp and as you say tracking is pretty good even at the smallest of crop sizes I can say. The only thing I’d miss is the option for quality weighting in pipp although not really sold on what impact it actually has on the end result.
Thanks everyone for your help on this.

Anthony

[Tulloch (Andrew)]

AS!3 does the quality weighting by default when it stacks, I normally stack the best 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of the frames and see which one looks best. Smaller stacks are better as they contain better frames, but cannot take the same amount of sharpening without increasing the noise. Larger stacks can handle more sharpening but may contain lower quality frames.

It's a bit of a balancing act, but AS!3 is more than capable of sorting and stacking the best frames without having to go through PIPP first.

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Andrew,
I tried what you suggested about going straight to AS!3 and bypassing PiPP and I was pleased to find 1/the time was slashed in processing significantly allowing more time to concentrate on Registax
2/ I believe the final image stacked more accurately as you pointed out. A smoother result.

It was a good test to do and I'll play it out this way moving forward.
Look out now to better seeing conditions for a sharper image.
Cheers
Anthony

[ahmed_haider (Ahmed)]

Just the improvement from first saturn pic to the last one is pretty awesome. Best of luck with the seeing conditions!
And am I correct in assuming you're doing all of this on a homemade 10 inch mirror? That's amazing!

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Thanks Ahmed- yes it was a massive improvement but as mentioned it was tinkering with the sharpcap settings as much as the better seeing conditions. The other thing was the frames selection in processsing- some handy tips taken on board from the gurus was very helpful as well.
As for the hand ground mirror- I cannot take credit for that as it was made by a very clever man who knows more than I’ll ever know in this field. It was built primarily for visual use but I’ve since butchered it to shape up as an imaging rig. Far too heavy really but I’ve persisted this far with it. One day I’ll take the advice given and go for an easier to manage scope!

Cheers
A