QHY 183C

[jhwind]

I am a novice. I have a Celestron CPC1100. I am trying to take photos of Jupiter. Can anyone provide me with the proper settings for my QHY 183C. (Gain, gamma, offset, brightness, contrast, exposure). I have played with most without much success. I need a starting point. So far I suck at this.

[admin]

Hi,

We have a tutorial on capturing Jupiter images – it's not for that specific camera, but a lot of the same techniques will apply.


viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1156



Cheers, Robin

[jhwind]

Thank you. I'll give it a try. Up to this point I have failed miserably making me question why the heck did I get into this. So any help I can get is greatly appreciated

[turfpit]

You could start of with the moon - it is big and bright. Have a look in the Gallery Forum and at my lunar docs in the Tutorial Forum.

So far I suck at this.

This is my history with M42 viewtopic.php?f=16&t=596.

Dave

[jhwind]

Went out last night. Tried again to get a shot of Jupiter. Set camera as close as I could to the recommended settings ( my camera is color vs the mono in the article). Still continue to see a grey to white image of Jupiter, no definition. Very frustrating. If anyone has all the settings to start, Help!. Would love to see the bands of Jupiter and not just a grey blob.

[turfpit]

Set camera as close as I could to the recommended settings

You will never get 'recommended settings' at best there can only be guidelines as there is a vast combination of cameras/telescopes and 'seeing conditions'.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=211 contains some guidelines using a ZWO ASI120MC colour camera. These basic principles can be applied to your camera, there will need to be some translation of the camera settings terminology across manufacturers.

The main steps I use for Jupiter are:

• set gain to 60%

• display log histogram

• adjust exposure until right hand side of histogram is around 80%

• capture SER file

Jupiter-Capture.PNG (17.6 KiB) Viewed 2947 times

This was the result (Celestron C8 SCT used for capture) after processing with AutoStakkert and Registax:

Jupiter.PNG (157.69 KiB) Viewed 2947 times

In order to help you, please post back the following:

• Using your scope/camera, focus on a land based object which, if possible is at least 1/2 mile away. Post back a screenshot of SharpCap at this point.

• Post the camera settings file you used last night for the Jupiter capture. If you have no settings file then list the settings you used for Output Format, Capture Area, Colour Space, USB Traffic, Speed, Offset, Gain

Depending on where you are located, Jupiter could be a difficult target at the moment. For me at 53°N, Jupiter only gets to 15° elevation and by that time it has gone light in the East.

I am hoping to have a go at the Jupiter/Saturn Sunday morning. I can use a QHY5LII-C - these controls should be a reasonable map to your camera. I will post back my results. I will have a look on my disks to see if I can find any QYH5LII-C planetary captures.

BTW, I have an Altair 183C (must be the same sensor as your camera). I would never use my 183C for lunar/planetary work as the camera is more suited to wide field deep sky imaging.

Dave

[oopfan]

Nice shot of Jupiter, Dave! You are the master.

Brian

[turfpit]

Not really Brian. This guy http://damianpeach.com/jup19.htm is the master, especially now he is using the 1m Chilescope.

Dave

[jhwind]

Last night produced useable results. Tried the moon imaging. Then from there went Jupiter and tweaked the settings, mostly exposure, gain, gamma, and brightness. Will work on these a bit more.

I thank each of you for your help. Below is my unprocessed image.

[turfpit]

looks like it is starting to happen now. Registax next for some Wavelets. In Registax, the RGB Balance function will remove the green caste (to do with the sensor) in your image with one click.

The Universe does not give up its secrets easily.

Dave