My first Toucam Jupiter

[middy]

Here is my first attempt at Jupiter using astro_south's Toucam. I know it is very, very ordinary and not worth posting, but I figured if I had to suffer looking at it then so should you.

The seeing was atrocious. Jupiter was wobbling all over like a jelly on a plate in a magnitude 8 earthquake.

I tried splitting the images into individual R,G,B channels, processing separately in Registax and re-combining them at the end.

The image looks very washed out with not much colour. I think I overexposed it even though the gain was set to its lowest setting.

I think I will file it in the "better luck next time" file.

[matt]

Hmmm. I don't know how you could have over-exposed the image with the gain at its lowest setting?

That would have given you a black screen

Are you sure the gain slider was all the way to the left? It looks like you cranked it all the way to the right, which is max setting.

Make sure your brightness slider is about in the middle, exposure (shutter) at 1/25 or 1/33, gain about 50-60% and saturation maxed.

Leave the gamma slider almost all the way to the left.

That should get you a better result

[middy]

Originally Posted by matt

Hmmm. I don't know how you could have over-exposed the image with the gain at its lowest setting?

That would have given you a black screen

I remember thinking it was strange at the time, because I had imaged Saturn a couple of weeks ago and it was almost black with the lowest gain. The gain slider was definitely all the way to the left.

I just fired up k3ccd to see what settings I had. I noticed the Gamma was all the way to the right, but the rest were as you suggested (except for saturation). Maybe the Gamma slider was the problem.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Nice try for a 1st. At least with it being so bright you can see the Moons

[Dennis]

Hi Andrew

That's a mighty fine effort and a fair result - I'd be happy with that one for my 1st ToUcam Jupiter on a dob!

Here is a screen print of typical settings I used during the 2006 apparition. Haven’t had much success in 2007 (yet!) with the weather and timing!

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

top effort middy

[middy]

Will try those settings next time. Thanks Dennis.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Was wondering how you were going with the ToUcam. I can't offer advice on my settings as I have long forgotten what I used. I am keen for some sort of observing this weekend if it is clear, so I will let you know if I do get the scope setup. Looking forward to seeing the improvement over the coming weeks

[Rigel003 (Graeme)]

Great first effort!
Dennis's screen shots of settings in V-Record are a great guide. Many people put the gamma scale all the way to the left for focusing purposes and then back off a bit for the actual capture. Otherwise you can get excessive limb darkening and the "onion skin" effect. You can always adjust gamma in post processing.

[bluescope]

Here's an adjusted version .... hope you don't mind. Just duplicated the layer and overlayed it to bring out detail in Photoshop5.5.
Doesn't solve your problem but maybe you can keep the image now !

[ving (David)]

it does look over exposed middy but good try

have you tried playing with the contrast and brightness in photoshop?

[middy]

Originally Posted by astro_south

I am keen for some sort of observing this weekend if it is clear, so I will let you know if I do get the scope setup.

Sounds like a plan!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ahhh ...Gooood...another convert to the dark site

Go for it Andrew. Post everything you get. The more images you post, the more feedback you get and the better your shots become.

Hey Andrew (D), why not come up to Ron's this weekend and bring middy with you. Could be a bit of planetary imaging going on up there. I know if it's fine I'll be out there obtaining my christening Jupiter for the season.

[middy]

Originally Posted by bluescope

Here's an adjusted version .... hope you don't mind. Just duplicated the layer and overlayed it to bring out detail in Photoshop5.5.
Doesn't solve your problem but maybe you can keep the image now !

Thanks for trying Steve. It does look a bit better. There is only so much you can do when you start with rubbish. "You can't polish a turd" as they say.

[middy]

Originally Posted by ving

it does look over exposed middy but good try

have you tried playing with the contrast and brightness in photoshop?

No, I don't think I'll waste too much time on this one. I don't have enough "polish".

[bluescope]

A wobbly turd at that !

Originally Posted by middy

Thanks for trying Steve. It does look a bit better. There is only so much you can do when you start with rubbish. "You can't polish a turd" as they say.