Official StarTools support forum

Hi, I had been using 1.4.x without any real issues. I then discovered I had at some time downloaded 1.5.369MR2, and decided to give it a try. It looks good, but for some reason when I import the exact same M42.tiff I had processed in 1.4.x, it comes in black and white/grayscale. Source image: DSLR s...

Ah, I thought I had to fix the flaws before doing the gradient as I thought the dust would throw things off. Thank you for the quick reply and help! Makes sense now.

Happy New Year to you too.

Paul

Hi, I am trying to fix some dust specks on my shot. In order to see the dust specks I have to either autodev or digital develop with a high enough setting. I go in and mask the spots, but in order to fix them I have to turn off tracking, but once I do that I can't seem to go back to restretch things...

Sorry for the delay. Thank you for the reply. I've now tested my rig with "dithering" enabled and the results are really quite nice. Unfortunately, until the parts arrive for my serial shutter control I'm stuck with 30s exposures. Parts are due Monday, so I'm anxiously waiting. The weird artifact is...

Hello, I've been trying to improve my result of M81 and M82. I'm using DSS for stacking, an 80mm ExploreScientific triplet APO and a Nikon D5100, ISO400, 2,4, and 5 minutes exposures, flats, bias, and darks. I've tried various Star Tools approaches and some of what I'm seeing is getting interesting,...

Just working the images, trying to get a feel for things. I think this is a bit better, though I think it's a bit overprocessed. Still would like to redo the companions. Would like to get more blue in the outer regions but I guess that will come with experience.

Thanks very much for the notes and the processing. I decided to go back and stack more of my data - many images shot over several nights. The camera was not always at the same angle so there were significant stacking artifacts that I decided not to remove (as it would have messed up the scale). Anyw...

From a white zone I think a CLS-CCD filter would help you, although I don't know if there is such a thing for Nikon, most probably there is. Dust haze might be a possibility too for your data. I'm using StarTools only for a few months so I'm learning too, I watched all the tutorials, I read the for...

Mind? On the contrary, I am extremely pleased that you would process the data. I'm trying to image from a "white" zone and have been experimenting with differing ISO's and exposure times. I'm using my wife's Nikon D5100 and it generally does a good job. You mentioned humidity - maybe, but I think it...

Oh I know it's temporary. ;) For stacking, I used the "Intersect" mode to help eliminate artifacts caused by frame misalignment. But ST still warns about potential stacking artifacts, so I cropped off the edges. The color effects were after this was done. There was a dust spot or two on the sensor w...