It covers the reasons for choosing a monochrome camera, the hardware and software you need for monochrome RGB imaging, and most importantly, how to recombine your monochrome images back into a colour image. There's also a tutorial for LRGB combinations, tips for focusing and more.
My thanks go to Anthony Wesley (bird), arguably Australia's best planetary imager, for his review and contributions to the article.
You can read the article on the IceInSpace Articles page, or by clicking on the link below:
I hope beginner and intermediate level planetary imagers get something from the article and help you to make that next leap forward to produce better images.
This will help a lot of people thinking of taking the next step up to mono (RGB) imaging, and help those with a little more experience get the most out of their images/imaging.
It's interesting to see how you do your processing in PS. You use the software a little differently to me. That's the beauty of all these apps...there's always a number of different ways to get the job done.
Again, thanks for taking the time to put this together.
Arghh – you’ve just obliterated the last tenuous excuse I ever had for not taking the next step into RGB with my DMK, with your terrific, well illustrated, easy to follow yet very comprehensive article Mike. I guess the only question I have left is…..how on earth do you find the time to do all this stuff?
Congratulations on your article. After reading it following came to my mind based on an approach made by Edward Roach from USA
You describe the Pros ans Cons of each camera type in this case Monochrome and one shot color
¿ Why not get for example one DMK 21... and one DBK 21.. instead of a filterwheel ? Shoot the same object one time in BW and then in Color and combine those images ?
The cost of a BW and a Color camera is less then a BW with a filter wheel The focus point of both cameras is 100% parfocal. They really come well adjusted from TIS.
The Pro is you do not have to fiddle around with registering the 3 RGB AVI's.
Thankyou for taking time and writing this article Mike. I am just about to venture into RGB imaging and this really cleared a lot of things up on what I need to do and get. There is a wealth of information there that is easy to read and understand.
¿ Why not get for example one DMK 21... and one DBK 21.. instead of a filterwheel ? Shoot the same object one time in BW and then in Color and combine those images ?
You could conceivably capture more usable frames using this technique, and your individual colour channels will not be rotated against each other. I'd be curious to see some images taken in this way. As Mike mentions, some channels will be less sharp if your optics are not truly apochromatic.
The disadvantage would be the scenario where you want to capture a specific detail that is visible mainly in one colour channel, and you want to capture it at full resolution. Without filters, this would not be possible.
You could conceivably capture more usable frames using this technique, and your individual colour channels will not be rotated against each other. I'd be curious to see some images taken in this way. As Mike mentions, some channels will be less sharp if your optics are not truly apochromatic.
The disadvantage would be the scenario where you want to capture a specific detail that is visible mainly in one colour channel, and you want to capture it at full resolution. Without filters, this would not be possible.
I agree and as always there are always compromises one has to make ...
I have just read the article "RGB planetary Imaging" and the"planetary Imaging and image processing" which are both exactly what I wanted to learn about as I'm about to embark..
One question tho, which TBH I may have overlooked, when using individual RGB filters( in my case the Baader RGB set (without IR blocking) ) should you include the IR filter in line with the filters or shoot without ? I'm using a QHY5 mono
If your filters are not IR blocking (and I'm surprised at that) then yes my suggestion would be to put an IR in line in the nose piece. IR will make you image look a bit fuzzy. You may loose that extra crispness when it's needed on those rarely excellent nights.
Paul's right - if your filters don't include IR blocking then you should.
But the Astronomik's (and most good brand ones) already have IR blocking built in.
I started out with a set of baaders, but I could never get the colour balance right and the red channel was too dim compared to the others. I upgraded to the Astronomik's after about 2 weeks
yeah , I'm thinking of selling 'em already , haven't even got out of the box yet. I'm sure the shop would take them back in Part-ex but they've nothing I want
Karlo