Camera Labs

Hi,
I have been trying to get some decent pics of moon and starts. These are stack of 7 to 10 images (moon, Orion and Canis Major)... Finally after processing in DSS.. You can see some obstruction in the third pic its nothing but a telecommunications tower!

However, I know that I need to improve a lot.. can you plz suggest on how to post process the images (stacking, improving the sharpness etc.,)








regards,

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Phani Kumar

60mm Refractor,
150mm Newtanion Reflector,
18-55 mm Kit Lens, 55-250mm, M42 MC Helios 77M-4 50mm F1.8
Canon 400D.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phani_astronomy/

Hi Phani, good work - before we can critique and make suggestions though, you need to tell us exactly what equipment you used and what settings...

Sure Gordon. The equipment I used was the Canon 400D with the KIT Lens, the cam mounted on my Tripod.

For Moon:
Its a stack of 7 or 8 pics (the exact number I forgot because I captured 45 images of moon but only stacked 7/8 of them)

The Camera's Kit lens was removed and I attached my 400D to my 6"Newtonian Telescope (Prime Focus method). This wont allow me to choose the AV mode as it would give me F0.0. So the TV mode was selected here.

Shutter Speed TV: 1/50
ISO:1600
White Balance: Auto
Image Quality: Fine


For the two constellations Orion and Canis Major:

The Orion is a stack of 7 images and 6 dark frames. The Canis Major constellation is a stack of 9 images and 8 dark frames.
(I know that the number of images are much smaller for stacking and there are no flat, dark flat, and off set files added for stacking but am still to learn how to create those)


AV: F5.6
Shutter Speed: 13 sec
ISO:1600
Focal Length: 55mm
Image Quality: RAW
White Balance: Tungsten
AF: Manual


Please let me know if you require any further information.

_________________
Phani Kumar

60mm Refractor,
150mm Newtanion Reflector,
18-55 mm Kit Lens, 55-250mm, M42 MC Helios 77M-4 50mm F1.8
Canon 400D.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phani_astronomy/

The moon shot has some very noticeable chromatic aberration which really should be fixed. This is easily done with the help of any half-decent image editor. You haven't mentioned what software you use.

Ben
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When in doubt..... Press the shutter.

yes Cam-I-Am, you are correct the Chromatic aberration is clearly visible.

I just stacked the moon photos using "Registrax". After that there is no further post processing. I see that many people stack the photos in registrax and further process it in Photoshop.

However, I don't know how to use photoshop or any such software to modify my pics.

_________________
Phani Kumar

60mm Refractor,
150mm Newtanion Reflector,
18-55 mm Kit Lens, 55-250mm, M42 MC Helios 77M-4 50mm F1.8
Canon 400D.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phani_astronomy/

I don't think you really need to stack images for shots of the Moon - I never have anyway! I also find you ashould be able to take shots at a lower ISO of the moon - certainly 400 ISO should be sufficient to get a decent shutter speed to avoid motion, maybe even less.

Remember to use a cable release or the self timer though to avoid shaking the camera...

Gordon, when this moon shot was taken, the eyepiece projection method was used. The mount for my telescope is not very sturdy and the overall light that came out from the eyepiece was too low. Hence I thought that 1600 should do in this case.

However, this particular moon's phase doesnt require 1600ISO. Also, I found that many people have used the staking method to take Moon images! So, I also tried ...

Yes, I do have a IR remote for my camera that I use when i take pics. Its very handy and useful.

This time I will try not to stack and take only one pic using RAW, will see how that would turnup.....

Here is another pic of the moon, this one is (69 stack!):
ISO 200
TV: 1/50
Image Quality: Fine
White Balance: Auto
Cam fixed to telescope (prime focus)
IR remote to take the pics..

_________________
Phani Kumar

60mm Refractor,
150mm Newtanion Reflector,
18-55 mm Kit Lens, 55-250mm, M42 MC Helios 77M-4 50mm F1.8
Canon 400D.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phani_astronomy/

That looks much better, although I still wonder why you're stacking photos for the moon at prime focus... are the individual frames not sharp enough?

Gordon, when you first asked me in an earlier post on why I stacked the Moon pics, I went back to see if the pics I took were sharp or just enough to be presented. They were still OK if the Sharpness was to be increased in DPP or any such software.

The only reason why I am trying to stack is to find out if I would get better quality compared to a single photo just like the other people are able to achieve high def. pics..!

Here is one of the links, Plz do see the second one which is a stack of 41 pics and 4th and 8th pic which are Mosaic and Stacked as per the author.

http://www.davesastro.co.uk/moon/wholemoons.html




will wait for your comments

_________________
Phani Kumar

60mm Refractor,
150mm Newtanion Reflector,
18-55 mm Kit Lens, 55-250mm, M42 MC Helios 77M-4 50mm F1.8
Canon 400D.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phani_astronomy/

Hi Phani,

Thanks for an interesting thread. I've never thought to try stacking images of the Moon before but it's a proven technique for planetary work so I guess it's equally applicable to the Moon despite the difference in brightness.

Any chance of posting a couple of 100% crops side by side, with one being a portion of the final result and the other being the same portion of the best of the original shots that went into the stack? That way we could easily see the benefits.

While I was looking for some more information on the subject I came across an interesting piece of software called PixInsight which can apparently work some pretty serious magic using either the Richardson-Lucy or Van Cittert deconvolution algorithms. Am I right in believing that RegiStax offers similar functionality?

There's an interesting article extolling the virtues of lunar photography using a webcam as the capture device and stacking and mosaicking the output. I wonder how these new HD video capable DSLRs would perform? .

Update: Rather than drag this thread off into the mysteries of image processing I've created the partner thread Lucky Imaging, Astrophotography and HD video enabled DSLRs.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

I just spent a while looking at the linked moon pictures. Now I don't know how the different equipment compares, but the best images on the linked site have more detail and less noise than my current attempts. Stacking will certainly reduce noise, more than only using a low ISO will provide. I think I'll have to give it a try next time the sky is clear.

The useful detail will be finally determined by the scope. For example, I have determined I am diffraction limited on my 4 inch so I don't know if I can get much better than I have already without going up in size.

For an example of a "single frame" output without stacking, I have one here. It is two stitched exposures to get the full size moon and is not stacking. I don't tend to turn the contrast up to better preserve edge detail at the cost of the main surface detail.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Very nice photos ... but don’t forget he’s equipment page:
http://www.davesastro.co.uk/equipment/scopes.html
Quite a complete collection I think

wow, there's been lot of things going on, on this topic and I am late to attend.. there were some internet probs and huh!

I liked this discussion and I have learned some... I will again do some photography this week end.

However, I would also like to inform you guys that yesterday (Dec 01, 2008)
Moon, Jupiter and Venus were very close just 2 degrees apart.. I tried to capture that and will post it asap....

by the way popo, you have posted some really nice pic of the moon.

Bob, Thanks for creating a new partner thread. Bob, Registrax is one of the most used softwares by one and all. One of the main reasons is that it seems to be very powerful software available, also its free!

However, I will also check out the PixInsight you mentioned! I will post my next in the newly created " Lucky Imaging, Astrophotography and HD video enabled DSLRs".

_________________
Phani Kumar

60mm Refractor,
150mm Newtanion Reflector,
18-55 mm Kit Lens, 55-250mm, M42 MC Helios 77M-4 50mm F1.8
Canon 400D.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/phani_astronomy/