I was leaning toward auto-dev based on Ivo's recommendation in the Modules documentation...
"AutoDev has a lot of smarts behind it - some heavy analysis is going on of the ROI so that it can
find the optimum histogram transformation curve. Develop, in comparison, is rather 'dumb' and
mimics photographic film development, which doesn't actually take into account what is in the
image."
I tried yet again, and got a decent result. Auto-dev did a much better job when I gave it an ROI focused on the galaxy core and some of the adjacent dust lanes. I was even able to mostly correct the bad coma caused by my f/5 Newt.
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- M31-ST-Try2.jpg (101.72 KiB) Viewed 8521 times
Workflow...
File loaded [C:\Users\Matt\Pictures\Astro\M31\Autosave006.fts].
---
--- Auto Develop
Parameter [Ignore Fine Detail <] set to [Off]
Parameter [Outside ROI Influence] set to [15 %]
--- Lens
Parameter [UNKNOWN] set to [On]
Parameter [Curvature Red] set to [148.09 %]
Parameter [Curvature Blue] set to [148.09 %]
Parameter [Center X] set to [212 pixels]
Parameter [Center Y] set to [-141 pixels]
Parameter [Red Shift X] set to [0.0 pixels]
Parameter [Red Shift Y] set to [0.0 pixels]
Parameter [Blue Shift X] set to [0.0 pixels]
Parameter [Blue Shift Y] set to [0.0 pixels]
Parameter [Curvature Linked] set to [148.09 %]
--- Bin
Parameter [Scale] set to [(scale/noise reduction 50.00%)/(400.00%)/(+2.00 bits)]
--- Crop
Parameter [X1] set to [5 pixels]
Parameter [Y1] set to [0 pixels]
Parameter [X2] set to [832 pixels (-0)]
Parameter [Y2] set to [537 pixels (-5)]
--- Wipe
Parameter [Mode] set to [Correct Color & Brightness]
Parameter [UNKNOWN] set to [Yes]
Parameter [Precision] set to [256 x 256 pixels]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [3 pixels]
Parameter [Drop Off Point] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Corner Aggressiveness] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Aggressiveness] set to [75 %]
--- Auto Develop
Parameter [Ignore Fine Detail <] set to [Off]
Parameter [Outside ROI Influence] set to [15 %]
--- Deconvolution
Parameter [Image Type] set to [Deep Space]
Parameter [Mask Behavior] set to [De-ring Mask Gaps, Hide Result]
Parameter [Radius] set to [2.5 pixels]
Parameter [Iterations] set to [6]
Parameter [Regularization] set to [1.40 (smoother, less detail)]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [8.0 pixels]
--- Wavelet Sharpen
Parameter [Intelligent Enhance] set to [Yes]
Parameter [Scale 1] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 2] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 3] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 4] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 5] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [8.0 pixels]
Parameter [Amount] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Small Detail Bias] set to [75 %]
--- Contrast
Parameter [Expose Dark Areas] set to [No]
Parameter [Compensate Gamma] set to [Yes]
Parameter [Precision] set to [256 x 256 pixels]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] set to [3 pixels]
Parameter [Aggressiveness] set to [75 %]
Parameter [Dark Anomaly Headroom] set to [15 %]
--- Wavelet Sharpen
Parameter [Intelligent Enhance] set to [Yes]
Parameter [Scale 1] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 2] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 3] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 4] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Scale 5] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [8.0 pixels]
Parameter [Amount] set to [100 %]
Parameter [Small Detail Bias] set to [85 %]
Undo.
--- Color
Parameter [Cap Green] set to [To Yellow]
Parameter [Bias Slider Mode] set to [Sliders Reduce Color Bias]
Parameter [Style] set to [Artistic, Detail Aware]
Parameter [LRGB Method Emulation] set to [Straight CIELab Luminance Retention]
Parameter [Dark Saturation] set to [2.00]
Parameter [Bright Saturation] set to [Full]
Parameter [Saturation Amount] set to [239 %]
Parameter [Blue Bias Reduce] set to [1.23]
Parameter [Green Bias Reduce] set to [1.13]
Parameter [Red Bias Reduce] set to [1.70]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
--- Wavelet De-Noise
Parameter [Scale 1] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 2] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 3] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 4] set to [90 %]
Parameter [Scale 5] set to [0 %]
Parameter [Mask Fuzz] set to [1.0 pixels]
Parameter [Scale Correlation] set to [3]
Parameter [Color Detail Loss] set to [12 %]
Parameter [Brightness Detail Loss] set to [12 %]
Parameter [Grain Size] set to [5.0 pixels]
Parameter [Read Noise Compensation] set to [Off]
Parameter [Smoothness] set to [65 %]
File saved [C:\Users\Matt\Pictures\Astro\M31\M31-ST-Try2.jpg].