SharpCap Forums

Hi

I saved my live stacks as they appeared on the screen and then used PI to enhance the color and reduce the noise further. They were not bad but I know that is not really the correct way to do it. So, I have two questions:

1. If I want to stack in SC, what is the best format to save the stack in order to use it in PI? I am using an ASI OSC camera (294MC, 385MC).

2. If I prefer to save individual frames in SC and then stack in PI, what is the best format to save the frames?

Thanks,
Bruce

Hi,

The answer to question one depends on what you want to do in pixinsight. If all you want to do is tweak the image that you see on screen in SharpCap then you should save the stack from life stacking as a 16-bit stack includes the adjustments like colour balance and stretch from the live stacking panel. If you want to redo the stretching and colour balancing completely in pixinsight then you should save the stack as a 32 bit raw stack, which just saves the raw data from the stack with no stretch or colour balance (dark and flat correction if enabled is applied to each individual frame before stacking so is included in the raw stack data).

As for question two, your best bet would be RAW16 in fits format.

Cheers, Robin

Oops, incorrect information in the first part of the answer.

Save as 16-bit does not include the stretch and colour balance adjustments. The save with adjustments options further down the list does include those manipulations.the 16-bit is simply the raw data in the stack rescaled into the 16-bit range.

Sorry about that, Robin

Thanks much, Robin.

Option 1 is first choice but will try both. You probably are aware, but if not, the combination of SC+PI seems to be very popular. I think this combo is especially helpful in areas like mine where I have to deal with LP (Bortle 5) and often below average transparency with average seeing (not too different than in the UK).

Bruce

Hi Robin

One more questions so I am clear. When I want to export the stack to use in PI, I choose the "save with adjustment" option. Should it be as a .png or ,fit or ,tiff file?

Bruce

Hi,

I think I would use the fit format personally as it has the most additional information saved in the file which can be useful later. The actual data save should be the same in all three formats.

Cheers, Robin

Good to know. I've been using .PNG Thanks much, Robin.

Bruce