Is there a step by step guide?

[GSuskin]

I've just started getting back into planetary imaging. I tried it years ago with a Nikon DSLR, and now I have a ASI533MCPro. (I didn't want to commit to a planetary camera just yet). I got this image this week using a 6" SCT, 2x barlow and shooting about 1,200 frames at 20fps. It was then run through Pipp, Autostakert and Registax. This was my first time ever using Sharpcap for planetary imaging as I've only used it for polar alignment for years. Is there a good step by step guide on using it for planets? I'm trying to figure out gain, exposure settings, the histogram and how to properly use ROI.
Thanks so much for any advice!

Greg

[admin]

Hi Greg,

nice image - good to hear that SharpCap has helped you get back into planetary imaging

There is a step-by-step guide written by Dave (@turfpit) here : viewtopic.php?t=1156

You also might want to check out the live planetary stacking feature, which is new in SharpCap 4.1 : viewtopic.php?t=7189 - this lets you do all the processing in SharpCap live while observing.

cheers,

Robin

[turfpit]

Greg

You are on the right track with PIPP, Autostakkert and Registax (or waveSharp).

General planetary/lunar capture settings are SER, 8-bit (RAW8), smallest capture area, high gain.

To improve images you need to image faster than 20fps. To increase fps you need to drop the exposure, there are 2 ways to do this:

• increase the gain

• reduce the capture area

Guidelines for gain are Mars 60%, Jupiter 70%, Saturn 80%. With a Barlow these are likely to need increasing but a lot depends on atmospheric conditions. There are no definitive answers but the histogram is your friend. With a log histogram aim for something like this:

histogram.JPG

This histogram is showing around 75% saturation with the luminance (white) histogram.

When you post with settings questions, include the capture settings file.

In the top right of the SharpCap window is the 'Search' function. A search for +Jupiter +histogram will turn up relevant topics.

See viewtopic.php?t=7344 for WinJUPOS information and some useful links.

Dave

[GSuskin]

Hi Greg,

nice image - good to hear that SharpCap has helped you get back into planetary imaging

There is a step-by-step guide written by Dave (@turfpit) here : viewtopic.php?t=1156

You also might want to check out the live planetary stacking feature, which is new in SharpCap 4.1 : viewtopic.php?t=7189 - this lets you do all the processing in SharpCap live while observing.

cheers,

Robin

Thanks so much! Robin you've created an incredible program in Sharpcap. PA with it is a dream. Never had any issues.

[GSuskin]

Greg

You are on the right track with PIPP, Autostakkert and Registax (or waveSharp).

General planetary/lunar capture settings are SER, 8-bit (RAW8), smallest capture area, high gain.

To improve images you need to image faster than 20fps. To increase fps you need to drop the exposure, there are 2 ways to do this:

• increase the gain

• reduce the capture area

Guidelines for gain are Mars 60%, Jupiter 70%, Saturn 80%. With a Barlow these are likely to need increasing but a lot depends on atmospheric conditions. There are no definitive answers but the histogram is your friend. With a log histogram aim for something like this:


histogram.JPG


This histogram is showing around 75% saturation with the luminance (white) histogram.

When you post with settings questions, include the capture settings file.

In the top right of the SharpCap window is the 'Search' function. A search for +Jupiter +histogram will turn up relevant topics.

See viewtopic.php?t=7344 for WinJUPOS information and some useful links.

Dave

Thanks so much for the advice Dave. Appreciate it. I plan to hit Saturn tomorrow so I'll give this a try.