Nikon D5300 colored concentric rings and StarTools

[celeron787]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this.
I'm looking to get a modded Nikon D5300 for astrophotography to replace my existing unmodded Sony A6000. I came upon some discussion about colored concentric rings produced by the Nikon dslr.

It seems to be removable by PixInsight, I was wondering whether have anyone encountered this and whether StarTools is able to deal with it as well.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/7461 ... ry10751860
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/5568 ... g-related/
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/6193 ... ked-image/

Thank in advance!!

[bobharmony]

Hi - I recently purchased a used modded D5300 and had it out for its first trial. In my initial processing I noted the concentric color rings that you have read about. They were quite apparent in the "Wipe" module Color screen. I used DSS for stacking with the recommended settings that do not adjust the color balance in any way.

My initial process used underexposed flats. I increased the exposure time and eventually found a exposure length for the flats that eliminated the problem. Keep in mind that my testing was NOT scientific, and that I have only one night of shooting with the camera. I do have several years under my belt with a Canon 60D, so am not a newbie to AstroPhotography, only to the camera. Of course YMMV, but this has been my very limited experience.

My short answer is that I dealt with the issue outside of StarTools, fixing it in the calibration and stacking process. I also found that using dark fkats for calibration worked better for me than bias frames.

Bob

[readerp]

Great news!

Sharkmelley at CNhas solved the problem of colored concentric rings when using the D5300 or other NIkons.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/7461 ... ry10867894

Actually the problem is due to Nikon's lossy compression used for the raw NEF files.

Mark, has come up with a PI script, and also a stand alone windows program to correct the errors in the raw NEF files and eliminate the problem for almost any Nikon DSLR using lossy compression.

If you use lossless compression or uncompressed on your Nikon (some models don't offer this option), you should not have any issues with the colored rings.

Cheers
Pete

[happy-kat]

Great to see a fix for users who already own a Nikon and are stuck with the camera.

[caitsith01]

Just to chime in, I use an un-modded D5300 and I have never experienced this problem.