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Astroimage processing

How to turn a good image into a great one. Ask a question, learn about software, or share your techinques and tips for processing astrophotography.
For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help
Last post 06-22-2008 12:02 PM by SirZeusor. 7 replies.
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  • 06-15-2008 02:09 AM

    • kooolbeenz
    • Joined on 12-28-2007
    • Mineral Point, WI
    • Posts 42

    For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

    Registax is driving me absolutely nuts!  I have followed a few different tutorials and am finding the aligning step to be the killer.  I am using 9 or so TIFF frames of the moon shot with a digital camera. . .no scope. . .and the images are pretty well defined.  Now if I have understood correctly, I choose one frame and select my alignment size box size and apply it to one frame.  Then, hit the alignment button.  This is where the wheels come off the wagon.  Only one or two frames align.  Even when I put my quality selector at a lower rate. I have tried all manner of attempts and have always ended up this way.  Anyone that has had a similar problem and found a way to correct it, please help.  Thank you on advance. . .I'm losing my mind with this program. 

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  • 06-15-2008 10:53 AM In reply to

    • CFB
    • Joined on 11-04-2007
    • Sterling, VA
    • Posts 113

    Re: For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

    What are you trying to align?  Are you using a single or multiple alignment points?

    Planets usually use single big one, the moon usually requires several small alignment boxes. 

    CFB

     

  • 06-15-2008 11:03 AM In reply to

    • kooolbeenz
    • Joined on 12-28-2007
    • Mineral Point, WI
    • Posts 42

    Re: For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

     Oh, I'm processing moon shots. I've tried both the large alignment box and several small ones.  When I use the small ones, my image turns out fragmented and incomplete when I stack them

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    Nexstar 4
    Coolpix 8700
    A quiet hill top to view the heavens
  • 06-15-2008 06:40 PM In reply to

    • CFB
    • Joined on 11-04-2007
    • Sterling, VA
    • Posts 113

    Re: For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

    When you use multipoint alignment, try to find features that are in every image and has high contrast.  For example, a very clear peak or a bright reflection near the terminator.  Be sure that all the features selected are in the box.  It sounds like the alignment features you are selecting are not constant in the images.

    CFB

  • 06-15-2008 06:48 PM In reply to

    Re: For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

     If you're taking your photos with a fixed tripod or other type mount that isn't actually tracking the moon and using a regular digital camera, each of your images is in a different spot in the frame. It's probably too much displacement for Registax to handle.

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  • 06-15-2008 10:28 PM In reply to

    • kooolbeenz
    • Joined on 12-28-2007
    • Mineral Point, WI
    • Posts 42

    Re: For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

     Thanks jonm, that made the image align a little better.  I still need a bit of work on getting the image tighter but you were definitely right. thanks for the help man.

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    Nexstar 4
    Coolpix 8700
    A quiet hill top to view the heavens
  • 06-16-2008 01:01 AM In reply to

    • kooolbeenz
    • Joined on 12-28-2007
    • Mineral Point, WI
    • Posts 42

    Re: For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

     Well, I've been trying to "manually" align the images on registax.  Am I correct in assuming that it means that I can place the images where they need to be rather than have the program do it?  Any tips on this?  I have been playing around with this thing all day and have not made any progress. 

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    Nexstar 4
    Coolpix 8700
    A quiet hill top to view the heavens
  • 06-22-2008 12:02 PM In reply to

    Re: For the love of all that is holy!!! Please help

    put your camera in video mode, like take a movie of the moon drifting from one side of your lense to the other

    30 seconds or so

     then , get a program called bink and smack  off the internet for free to convert the video files to AVI, if your camera dosent spit that format already.

    use the multi-point on the lowest setting,( 32 or something) and let regi-stax determine which is best ( auto)

    set your quality to around 70 or 80% to weed out the air flux

    optimize,  and stack

    heres an example of what my crap point and shoot can do ($150.00 camera pointed at my 25mm eyepiece , or afocal method) with this method

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