Posts Made By: ANJAL SHARMA

Guy,

The reason most recommend using low framerates of 5-10 fps is that the framerate should not exceed the exposure time. For example, if you're shooting at an exposure time of 0.2 seconds, then regardless of the transfer speed, you can only get 5 real frames per second. If you set the frame rate to 20 fps for this exposure time, you'll get frame duplication.

If you have the light for it, sure you can adjust your exposure time to a faster value and capture at faster frame rates, but when you're dealing with planetary targets typically most people shoot at really long f-ratios (I shoot at anywhere from f/30 to f/48), and this limits the available light.

Also, I too have had the dreaded ".avi failed to decompress" message in Registax for videos exceeding 1 gig in size. Download Virtualdub, and use it to split your large video into multiple files, each less than 1 gig segments. Process each of these individually and then you can stack the resulting frames from each segment into a single image again in Registax. This has worked for me in the past.

Anjal.

Very nice indeed.

Hi Paul,

Very nice images. To my eyes, it almost looks like the image through the 5" TOA130 is sharper, and a bit more detailed than the image through the Mewlon250. Perhaps this is from a combination of seeing/cooldown/collimation? Can you try to get both images at the same dimensions to compare the images better? I'd suggest resampling the image taken through the Mewlon down to the same size as that for the TOA and then doing a side-by-side comparison. Maybe you could post the results if you do that? Thanks.

Anjal.

Very nice, Jared. Try to go back and throw in some H-alpha data (add it to the Red channel or you can combine red and h-alpha and use it for luminosity). You'll be astonished at the result. Also, you could try your hand at LAB processing to increase color saturation a bit, without hurting highlight detail. Try this tutorial:

http://blog.epicedits.com/2007/12/20/photoshop-technique-lab-saturation-adjustments/

What guide camera are you using?

Here's another view of the newly powdercoated ED80.

Scratch that. I found inexpensive ones that Scopestuff sells, here:

http://scopestuff.com/ss_azcp.htm

I've ordered one for the Orion ED80. I'll comment on the quality when I have it.

The replacement metal dustcap for the ED80 came in. The box says "Astrozap Dust Cap for ED80". It is an aluminum dust cap with a 1 inch lip. The metal is a bit thin, but should work well and the best part is that it is powdercoated an attractive jet black. There is a felt liner which goes all around the inside of the the cap and allows th dust cap to securely hold on to the dewshield of the ED80 wihout marring the finish. For the price, it is a good buy. I'm happy with it and it does round out the new look of my ED80.

Nice!!

OUTSTANDING!!