How Do I Convert FITS to TIFF?

[poolemarkw]

Hello Everyone,

The "Save as 16-Bit Stack" option in Live Stacking creates a .FITS file, but Photoshop can't open this file type. How are you converting the .FITS files to .TIFF for Photoshop post-processing on a Windows PC?

Thanks,

Mark

[admin]

Hi Mark,

PIPP (Planetary Imaging Pre Processor) is a good tool for this sort of quick conversion - in spite of the name it will happily handle deep sky image conversion too.

cheers,

Robin

[Menno555]

Hi Mark

To add to Robin's suggestion, there is also the free program SiriL that can do this conversion (and more).
PIPP is a very well proven program and has a basic and logical but older interface.
SiriL is a new(er) program with a "slicker" interface.

Menno

[poolemarkw]

Thanks Robin and Menno. I have previously used PIPP but it no longer works. If you look at the attached image you can see a vertical line about 20% from the left side. That strip is an artifact of the stacking process and should be on the very left side of the image. For some reason PIPP is cutting off 20% of the right side of the image and placing it on the left side of the image. I first noticed this a couple of weeks ago. Neither Fits Liberator or the ZWO ASIFITSVIEW tool have this problem. I just found that ASIFITSVIEW correctly converts the .FITS file to .TIFF but can only do one image at a time.

Since many of us immediately convert the Live-Stacked 16-bit .FITS files to .tiff for processing, how about making that an option in a future release of SharpCap?

Thanks,

Mark

[admin]

Hi,

that shift across is odd - what version of PIPP are you using and what software to open the TIFF? Does the view of the FITS look ok in PIPP?

I have PIPP 2.5.9, which seems to be the latest, and I just did a quick check on a 16 bit FITS saved from live stacking, then opening the TIFF in affinity photo and all is fine for me. It sounds like either PIPP has gone crazy or remembered some weird settings from a previous run or something?

Anyway, I will make a note of the idea of saving live stacking to TIFF - I have a bigger 'make configuring save formats easier' task planned that it will fit into.

cheers,

Robin

[poolemarkw]

Hi Robin,

I'm running version 2.5.9 just like you. When the issue first appeared I removed my PIPP installation and downloaded the latest version and it still occurs. It occurs immediately after selecting the file from my hard drive and the "Output Frame" window opens.

1) Start PIPP
2) File - Add Source Files
3) Navigate to the .fits file, select it and then click "Open".
4) The Output Frame window opens and the file is already messed up. This is before any conversion is even attempted.

Mark

[admin]

Hi Mark,

can you share one of the problem FITS files - be interesting to see if they cause problems for me here. If they work here then it is surely some PIPP setting weirdness. If they break here then some bug in either PIPP or SharpCap.

cheers,

Robin

[poolemarkw]

I get an error when I try to upload the .fits file. It's 152 megabytes.

Mark

[admin]

Hi,

yeah, the limit here on the forums is 1Mb - mainly to keep the amount of data I have to backup under control

You will need to upload to somewhere like Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox and share a link. Also probably zip the file first

cheers,

Robin

[poolemarkw]

Ok, give this a try. It's my first attempt to share a google drive file so I hope it works.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ap0znJ ... sp=sharing

Mark