In what format are the live stacked images saved?

Discussion of using SharpCap for Deep Sky Imaging
Post Reply
User avatar
pastorgalactico
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:49 pm
Location: España
Contact:

In what format are the live stacked images saved?

#1

Post by pastorgalactico »

Hello;
I am testing with live stacking and although I have selected color space (RAW 16) and Output format in (FITS) then in the folder created when I perform a live stacking Processed the image comes out in (PNG) format
Is this normal?
Can it be configured to come out processed in (TIFF) format?
Is the (PNG) format the most appropriate to then improve the image with Photoshop for example?
Those are my doubts.
Regards.

This is how it is configured.

Image

And this is how the image comes out processed in (PNG) format

Image
J.Tapioles (Pastorgalactico)
Obs.Orion Cod.MPC R50
TL 16" F4.5 Giordano.Picgoto ESP32go V5
Refr 120mm F5
Ocul. Explorer 82º.
Barl. X2-X3- X5 Explorer
Planetario informático Guia 9.1
Player One Uranus C .
Cor. coma HR explorer.
Redu. focal 0.67 Braña.
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 17565
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
Contact:

Re: In what format are the live stacked images saved?

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

when you are live stacking and you use the option to 'Save with Adjustments' or 'Save exactly as seen' then the image will always be saved as PNG. These options are designed to save the image with processing applied by SharpCap to be viewed (possibly with a little tweaking in Photoshop or similar), so saving as PNG ensures good compatibility and the ability to view the images without needing other software.

TIFF files don't really have any advantages in this situation (both PNG and TIFF are lossless file formats and can support 16 bit images if required). The downside of TIFF is that by default it is uncompressed, so the files are larger. TIFF does have optional compression, but some image viewing software doesn't support reading compressed TIFFs, so that cannot be turned on by default.

If you save the stack as a 16 bit or 32 bit stack, it will save in FITS - those options save the stack without the stretch/colour adjust/refinement used for display in SharpCap and are designed for use when you want to do further significant processing.

cheers,

Robin
User avatar
pastorgalactico
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2021 2:49 pm
Location: España
Contact:

Re: In what format are the live stacked images saved?

#3

Post by pastorgalactico »

Ok, thanks.
I'm just going to use them to try to improve them with Photoshop.
So I'd rather they come out as PNG.
Regards.
J.Tapioles (Pastorgalactico)
Obs.Orion Cod.MPC R50
TL 16" F4.5 Giordano.Picgoto ESP32go V5
Refr 120mm F5
Ocul. Explorer 82º.
Barl. X2-X3- X5 Explorer
Planetario informático Guia 9.1
Player One Uranus C .
Cor. coma HR explorer.
Redu. focal 0.67 Braña.
Post Reply