HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

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turfpit
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HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#1

Post by turfpit »

The attached document is in response to post viewtopic.php?f=19&t=228. The document describes how to use the program PIPP to debayer RAW images so that they display their colour.

I hope people find this document useful - all comments welcome.

[Note: the attached PDF document has been compressed. If text in an image is unclear, then use the zoom or magnify facility in your PDF reader to see the text clearly.]

Dave
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turfpit
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#2

Post by turfpit »

For convenience, this is the abstract for the document included in the above post.

Abstract:
When capturing data using a raw colour space, such as RAW8 or RAW16, SharpCap (and other image capture programs) will display colour on the screen but saved files will appear to be monochrome and may display a grid pattern. Additional software is required to generate the colours – a process known as debayering. This document describes how to use the program PIPP, https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/ , to debayer single or multiple images.


Dave
Neaptide
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#3

Post by Neaptide »

Thank you so much!!! This is exactly what I was looking for. I have been pulling my hair out trying to get DSS to stack my raw8 files. At least now I know I wasn't doing it wrong.
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turfpit
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#4

Post by turfpit »

Thanks for the kind words. There will be more of these type of documents coming along as my knowledge advances.

Dave
Stephen Ng
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#5

Post by Stephen Ng »

I accidentally click the RAW16 colour space when using the mono camera. Is it possible to convert the RAW16 format back to mono?
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admin
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#6

Post by admin »

Hi,

no need to worry too much - the files you have saved from SharpCap will have the mono camera data in them (and it' will not have been modified before saving). At most there will be a flag in the capture file indicating that the data is RAW colour data which you may need to override when processing - ie tell your processing application to ignore the flag and not debayer the file.

Out of interest, what camera gave you the option of RAW16 for a mono camera? That shouldn't really happen and I'd like to fix that bug if possible.

thanks,

Robin
Stephen Ng
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#7

Post by Stephen Ng »

Actually, I've asked a professional service to remove the Bayer array of a camera and hence I got a mono version of the camera. I didn't realise the colour space was "RAW16" while capturing. When I post-processed the lunar data, no matter I use PIPP or AutoStakkert (i.e. without debayer and force it to mono), chessboard still found in the images.

Today, I go through your manual again and repeat the setup process step by step. I found that the colour space option is limited to "Colour" mode only and no "Mono" options can be selected.

Now, I used the PIPP to debayer the data normally and then convert it back to Monochrome version in the "Processing Options" such that AutoStakkert can stack it nicely and no more chessboard found in the images. I don't know any drawback on these actions. Is there any suggestions on this issue?

Thanks
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#8

Post by admin »

Ah, OK, so the camera will identify itself as colour but is really mono because you have removed the bayer matrix - fixing the issue with PIPP is probably the best approach to processing and shouldn't loose any quality - you can tell PIPP to ignore the bayer pattern flag. In SharpCap you can try turning the 'Debayer Preview' option to 'Off' which will show the preview image in pure mono, but I think will still save the default RAW pattern flat to saved files.

cheers,

Robin
Stephen Ng
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#9

Post by Stephen Ng »

Is there any option to by pass the default colour space choices?
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Re: HOWTO Debayer Captured Images

#10

Post by admin »

Hi,

currently there's no option for that - I think an extra choice in the 'debayer preview' control would be the right approach - just got to think of concise and clear wording to explain what it does.

cheers,

Robin
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