using ST on a unfiltered camera
using ST on a unfiltered camera
Hi , I did a search and could not find this subject so here is a question. I had my Sony A6000 converted by Lifepixel to full spectrum. I also live in a Bortle 5 area of South Carolina. This morning the skies were clear at 3am /no moon and Andromeda was nicely positioned so I removed my L enhance filter and took about 90 exposures at iso 1600 and 60 seconds. I am using a WO Z61. The question is what is the best way to get accurate color in ST. I have been using version 8. Would I just open my stacked file or use some version of compose? With my L enhance installed I have been doing the HOO that is recommended. Since the camera is 24MB I have been binning to 25% . I appreciate any suggestions.
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Mike in Rancho
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:05 pm
- Location: Alta Loma, CA
Re: using ST on a unfiltered camera
Unfiltered meaning also no UV-IR cut? Hmm that might be trouble to balance...
If you've taken any daytime/terrestrial photos with your full spectrum camera, I'm sure you know what you are picking up. It could also be a bear to focus. All sorts of extra UV and IR getting captured.
I took the stock filter out of my Nikon, so it's bare sensor full spectrum. I have an L'eNhance also, and that has UV-IR cut built into it. For when I am not using bicolor, I got a SVBony UV-IR cut. Seems to be doing the job fine, though there are undoubtedly higher end and perhaps better makers of such things.
With UV-IR cut, meaning everything from about 400 to 700-ish nm passed through, ST's color and star sampling should work fine. Without one, I don't know if it's salvageable with any kind of manual balancing, perhaps while looking at a reference image. Sounds hard to me though.
Maybe somebody who might have tried that will chime in with what they did.
If you've taken any daytime/terrestrial photos with your full spectrum camera, I'm sure you know what you are picking up. It could also be a bear to focus. All sorts of extra UV and IR getting captured.
I took the stock filter out of my Nikon, so it's bare sensor full spectrum. I have an L'eNhance also, and that has UV-IR cut built into it. For when I am not using bicolor, I got a SVBony UV-IR cut. Seems to be doing the job fine, though there are undoubtedly higher end and perhaps better makers of such things.
With UV-IR cut, meaning everything from about 400 to 700-ish nm passed through, ST's color and star sampling should work fine. Without one, I don't know if it's salvageable with any kind of manual balancing, perhaps while looking at a reference image. Sounds hard to me though.
Maybe somebody who might have tried that will chime in with what they did.
Re: using ST on a unfiltered camera
As Mike indeed alludes to, color balancing any sort of dataset that is not presentative of the visual spectrum, will never yield visual spectrum coloring, in the same way that trying to color balance a light pollution-filtered stack will never yield correct results.
If you wish to use your camera to record visual spectrum data, use an IR/UV blocking filter (aka "luminance filter"). Alternatively, use some sort of duo/tri/quadband filter narrowband filter like the Optolong L-Extreme filters to avail of the increased sensitivity, particularly in the H-alpha band.
You should be able to make some lovely bi-colors with the latter.
If you wish to use your camera to record visual spectrum data, use an IR/UV blocking filter (aka "luminance filter"). Alternatively, use some sort of duo/tri/quadband filter narrowband filter like the Optolong L-Extreme filters to avail of the increased sensitivity, particularly in the H-alpha band.
You should be able to make some lovely bi-colors with the latter.
Ivo Jager
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast