Astrophotography Software

[csastro25]

Hi all

Just wondering what is everyone goto astrophotography processing software that they use? There are several out there, and many of them are great..

I personally use sometime APT astro photography tool V4.50 http://astrophotography.app

It has been very good to me, just want to know what others opinion and what you guys use.. I stumble upon another one from SKY at Night(uk magazine) which was talking about SIRIL.. It looks great and wonder if anyone has use it or is using it..

Would love to here what everyone has to say, and will post more about SIRIL in another post..

Thanks everyone

Claude

[Cyberman (Rob)]

Claude, I use ASTAP for stacking and Siril and Gimp for processing. All free. See my 3rd process attempt in thread Carina Neb below for example. Rob

[muletopia (Chris)]

Claude,
I have used Siril with good results but I found it finicky to use,but good results.
I used Nebulosity for some time, again tricky to get good results.
My favorite is AstroPixelProcessor,not free but has default processing or cook your own,I use default. APP is easy to, specify bayer pattern for a OSC camera. It needs lights,darks flats and dark flats. Then the default processor can be started.
A few times I touch up in Nebulosity. My Running Man in beginners atophotography is purely an automatic APP process.
I use NINA to acquire my lights, free and powerful.
Just Some thoughts.
Chris

[csastro25]

Hi Rob,

Yeah thanks for the tips, and what you use. Yeah i have sen your image.. Looks great. I dont have any software at the moment just using photoshop and lightroom for the process.. But will be looking at some software..

thanks again.
claude

[csastro25]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the advice and what you use.. Yeah having an idea of what to use but there are so many options in what to use Are most software compatible with the computers we use? i have an macbook pro and its limited on the IOS updates on software like i can not use siril for some reason..
I guess i keep looking and maybe try some of the ones you use, or certainly research into them. Thanks again

claude

[Leo.G (Leo)]

I absolutely adore Sequator for wide filed Milky Way images, free and so easy to use.
I'm not sure whether it's available for Mac but on my Windows PC it works well for starry skies especially when there's landscape objects in the field of view and you can filter the rotation of land based objects out.
I think with Sequator simplicity is the key. I also like the later versions of Autostakkert for simplicity.
Processing after Sequator usually goes to photoshopp and lightroom for me because I haven't tried other software and already had a base knowledge of using them. I tired Siril but didn't quite understand it but I have heard good things about it once you've learn it which I may actually get to doing one day if I ever get a mount and camera out again.
Poor health and poor weather has been my curse for some time. I still live in hope.
I'd love to play with Orion and an Astro-trac I recently acquired and we're getting some nice views later at night but every evening had been overcast and I haven't bothered setting up my gear with so much cloud.
I was thinking of using my Nikon D810 and maybe an 85mm f1.4 (or 80-200 f2.8ED) but my Nikon D810 has just developed a major fault so it may be the lens direct on my ISO178 sensor Player one Neptune colour if I have the Nikon to 42mm adapter, I'm not sure if I have the correct adapter or if it's the 42mm to Nikon in reverse to fit 42mm lenses on my Nikon. I'll have to check, I have so many adapters.


Personally, I think it;s a matter of trying different software to see what you click with and what you understand without to much complexity for a start.
I have no real issues with complexity but when I do not understand what the features do and end up with a big mess I get frustrated somewhat.


I've not had any success with some of the rotator software but that's probably more because I'm too stupid to figure it out. Understanding complexity with migraine headaches when you can barely think of your own name is no fun I assure you.

[Ramius (Bill)]

Still pretty new to this and do OSC only but I have found Siril great for stacking and primary processing. Stacking using scipts is dead easy. Processing requires more learning but isn't too bad with some good Youtube tutorials. Works well for both OSC broad and narrowband.

I combine Siril with Graxpert which is excellent for Background Extraction and noise reduction and AstroSharp is definitely also worth a try. Both are very straight forward to use.

I use Gimp for final processing. It is powerful but requires effort to learn but if you have Photoshop....

That said i am thinking of taking the plunge with a PixInsight trial (primarily a Siril substitute) to see if I think its as good as everone else says and worth the not insignificant cost.

[Startrek (Martin)]

I’m giving Startools and ASTAP a plug

ASTAP is open source freeware and stacks OSC and Mono data sets on any system platform. It’s right up there with Pixinsight

https://www.hnsky.org/astap.htm

Startools is post processing software which uses a signal evolution tracking engine to process your data ( not traditional processing with levels , curves and a miriad of settings and assumptions)
One off low cost, intuitive and suitable for both beginners and advanced imagers

https://www.startools.org/

Cheers
Martin

[csastro25]

Thanks for the advice on what you use will take it on board.. Just trying to find something thats practical and somewhat easy to use..

thanks again

claude