HELP NEWBIE

[orion222]

I am in the startup of using StarTools and hope I can overcome the learning process.

On my first test case of processing of a relatively poor image, I am running into the inability to fix gradient, nite glow etc. with the Wipe tool.

Can anyone look at my test M67 and see if they can overcome the issues? Let me know if you can succeed.

Thanks,

Test Data: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x8f37kg95bgamkb/Test67.FTS

munich2oslo@yahoo.com
Stephen

[Cheman]

Stephen
for some reason I could not get your file
Che

[orion222]

I tried to download it with a test email and from post, but maybe I have a password set in cookies....hmmmm let me see. Thanks for try.

[Cheman]

Worked this time
Che

[Cheman]

Stephen
I'm not having much luck with processing this. Is this the raw stack or has it been modified already? All info you can give would be helpful. Perhaps Grand Master Ivo will chime in.
Che

[orion222]

It is the result of DSS stacking 38x 5 sec lights and 10 darks.

no process applied. Just saved the result from DSS to a FITs format.

[admin]

Hi Stephen,

Something is definitely amiss with the data - it appears stretched, color balanced and there is some very odd banding (quantization?) visible.

Are you sure you stacked RAW/CR2 files not JPEG files? Can you make sure that you stack with color channel alignment etc. all set to 'no'. How does it look without the dark frames? Does it look the same?

[orion222]

Hi,
I have changed some DSS settings and believe its a neutral as possible. They are only raws (36 or so) no dark.
here is the updated link. Sorry for the time gap.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/frlv9qf43visu ... 7%20-2.FTS

[admin]

Hi Stephen,

I don't know what to tell you! The same issues persist; there is artificially introduced quantization present. E.g. the problem is that the gradient is not a gradient; they're distinct 'strata' of values. The colors are still pre-color balanced.

It's almost as if you've stacked JPEGs (which are stretched, color balanced and have only 256 values of dynamic range) from the camera, not RAW files.

What sort of camera have you got? Can you post one of the RAW files for us?

Below you can clearly see what I mean by strata of different values - clear circles of even values are detectable. Wipe does not consider these a gradient (because they're not - they're 'steps' as opposed to a 'slope').

Test M67 -2.jpg (435.51 KiB) Viewed 7819 times

[orion222]

Sorry for the delay.

I have added a raw file/info file.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/t1frqo81mqbo ... f03EJx1K0a

I am using Orion ST80/400mm imaging scope tied to a Canon 20d camera.
no guiding.
I run through DSS with no additional modification.

I have brute force the following images using DSS and paint.net before but am trying to upgrade my processing capability thus Startools.

See other images which are not very good. http://www.astrobin.com/users/orion222/ All same Hw/Sw.

You advice is greatly appreciated.