Posts Made By: Larry Durst

Greg,
That image had me staring at it way too long! Truly spectacular. That camera and lens combo plus your processing skills have made some real magic. I would have thought you would have spent hours more to get that.
Larry

Greg,
That is a great rendition. The FOV really makes for a great composition, and the color looks superb. Gotta' ask since I'm so hung up on this subject now: how did you combine the Ha?
Larry

Dietmar,
An interesting discussion that has been pressing on my mind lately. I remember when purchasing my first CCD camera (and still only one) Terry Platt actually suggested I get the monochrome (MX716) due to my mag. 4-4.5 skies. Even Alan Chen had to agree agree at the time . So my assumption has been that in poorer skies is where the mono makes the difference. But your images speak loudly indeed. I also assumed that making a synthetic luminance from an OSC was basically equivalent to one-third of signal as a mono shot for the same duration--my assumption even now when I make a synthetic out of my RGB. But in my rush to shoot both luminance and RGB in one evening I always feel I'm shorting myself of decent RGB signal and that my color suffers for it. So I've been thinking that maybe a one-shot would be the way to go for me.
But you mention that you feel the OSC needs lengthy time to really be the equivalent of RGB and you're now getting 6 hours or so. Unfortunately for me, with having to set up, align, etc. I really don't get that much time on an image. So, given the inability to get more than a couple of hours in, do you still give the edge of OSC?
BTW, on using both cameras, Bud Guinn's latest images using both really do show the benefit.
Regards, and thanks for sharing these observations,
Larry

Phil,
Really nice, and love that FOV. Makes for a great composition with nice differences between the two subjects. Those highlights really give it great depth.
Larry

Jason,
You don't see that one often, nor do I recall seeing it with such color and detail. But you should have saved it for Halloween; there is something downright eerie about it . Actually, that contrast in the highlights are really something--good color, too.
Question: what causes those dashed spikes?
Larry

Gilles,
Certainly an amazing image, and also a great lesson (to me at least ) on the need for really gathering the photons over several hours to get such rich detail and contrast.
Regards,
Larry

Henry,
That couldn't have been timed it better. You do both objects great justice.
Larry

I'll echo what many have said in that, if your interest is solar system, a web-cam, nosepiece adapter and some inexpensive or free software such as K3CCDTools and Registax is all you need. You will probably want a barlow with your scopes to get a longer focal length (quite the opposite from most DSO's). The mount is much, much less critical. And you can have some really nice shots with not too much time at the scope or in processing. It will also give you a chance to see if imaging is for you.
Have fun,
Larry

Rob,
Totally subjective, but I do like the revised version better. I think this might be due to the curves as much as color, but it seems to have more contrast between the colors, with nice distinction between the blue tones. Also seems like you've gotten back some red in the middle. The contrast almost has a narrowband feel to it. Great image either way, but I'll vote for the revision
Larry

Eric,
Incredibly well-deserved honor. Congratulations. And now for the question on processing: when you say you also shot 6 minutes each RGB for star color, how do you add that in the processing?
Thanks,
Larry