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timthelder
July 8th, 2008, 06:02 AM
Soon to be sub-titled, Tim's Jupiter thread...lol.

I thought I would post a few images at different fps, and stack sizes for a comparison for those using registax...I actually took a few notes as I was processing these, maybe some will find it helpful.

These are with the DMK21au04as cam, using the 235mm SCT.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p283/tmthylockhart/Jupiter_07-06-08_2.jpg

The final stacksize for processing on this image is 1,865 frames, taken , @ 60fps.

The alignment procedure started with 3,229 frames. With the quality filter in registax set to default,which is 80%. As you can see it only kept a liitle over half of the frames for processing.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p283/tmthylockhart/Jupiter_07-06-08_2-crop.jpg

This is a crop of the above image. If you look closely at the center of the image you can see where I placed my alignment point/box.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p283/tmthylockhart/Jupiter_07-06-08_4.jpg

Moving right along, this image and the following images are after adding a 2.5x powermate to the imaging train. The seeing on 6.7.08, was about an 8, I hated to waste the opportunity to get in a little closer....Starting stacksize about 3,200 frames, after aligning, 2,609 left for processing.

When placing the alignment point, I try and use the smallest alignment box possible, this seems to give the best results. When using a larger alignment box, such as one larger enoughto encompass the whole planet, when I try to sharpen the image using wavelets, I get these concentric circles, which are undesireable and have been unable to process out of the image.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p283/tmthylockhart/Jupiter_07-06-08_5.jpg
A.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p283/tmthylockhart/Jupiter_07-06-08_55.jpg
B.

These are the same images processed using a different alignment point. In image 'A', I used a point in one of the bands, In image 'B', I used the shadow that Io was casting for the alignment point. If you examine the two images you can see the image is sharpest, closest to the point of alignment. Image 'A' was a stack of 1,912 frames, image 'B' a stack of only 837 frames.

21102111

The image on the left is a stack of 391 frames, on the right, 1,580 frames, using the same alignment point as above.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p283/tmthylockhart/Jupiter_07-06-08_8.jpg

This is a stack of 3,034 frames, @ 15fps, out of a possible 3,429 frames. When choosing an alignment point in registax, it seems to like it to be an area of contrast or detail. You can use the frame quality box to to monitor the quality of the alignment point you choose within the image. This is displayed in the automatic drop down box, to the right of your displayed image. Try and choose an alignment point with the highest # frame quality. Make sure your quality estimator is set to 80%, if you don't get many aligned frames to work with, and you really want the image, lower the percent. If you get a substantial amount of images, you can try raisng the quality percent to drop out some of the lower quality frames. Remember to start all over with the processing if you choose to do this.

After the stacking the wavlets are at a ratio of 1:1 to 6:1. I like to think of it as fine to coarse sharpening. The better the quality of the image, the more you can effectively use the wavlets. After you are satisfied with your wavlet processing, click the 'do all' icon, then re-align with processed. This will better stack the images. After the re-aligning process, you can click the'do all' icon, then save the image, or you can move on to the 'final' stage of processing. I do any final processing to the image in photoshop possibly to adjust the brightness/contrast, or smartsharpen if needed.

I hope this helps, cheers!

Radar
July 8th, 2008, 12:06 PM
Awesome stuff mate. I'll be using that later tonight if it's clear.

Incidentally, you are getting good with that camera of yours. The detail on Jupiter is very well captured.

Ray

timthelder
July 9th, 2008, 10:19 AM
Incidentally, you are getting good with that camera of yours.


Why thanks Ray, I enjoy using this cam...after figuring out a few of the in's and out's of the capture and processing procedure, I've grown rather attached to it.

It doesn't do alot of good to give the cam settings as these are based on the seeing conditions, brightness of the object, or where the cam is pointed at the object, for example if you're imaging the Moon.

BUT, there are some basic settings in Registax, that should achieve good results in giving you a good image, if your focus is spot on.

Usually, after one gets a few of the basic's figured out, using any program, one will start to experiment with the other features within the program and then start to learn a few processing tricks. This is where I'm at, at the moment. As I learn I will happily share what I have figured out, so everyone can have a little fun. :biggrin:

Ain't, (Kentucky slang) astrophotography GREAT!

Tenacious Del
July 10th, 2008, 03:41 AM
nice work tim! :bow::bow::bow:

Tony Leece
July 10th, 2008, 08:07 PM
Excellent images Tim and an equaliy excellent write-up:bow:
Still struggling with registax myself:duh:
All the best Tony...........

little legs
July 12th, 2008, 02:22 AM
Brilliant images Tim :bow: and a great write up, will be using that on my next clear night :wink:

CanisMajorTom
July 23rd, 2008, 12:42 AM
some great images there mate. :bow::bow::bow: