From: "Tim" <tjp314@pacbell.net>
Date: May 22, 2005 11:28:17 AM MDT
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: First real videos
Hi Neale:
I got some more decent videos last night. Mostly, I'm fiddling with the best setting for
exposure, number of frames/movie, and I'm still just beginning to explor the stacking and
averaging options in Astro IIDC to figure out which works best for me.
I've used Registax extensively with my ToUcam and various scopes (8" f/6 Springfiled
Newt., 12.5" f/23 Cass, 6" f/10 Jaegers refractor, Orange C8, and now the C9.25), and
have become pretty comfortable with it.
Alan: Your step by step of how to best use KIS is going to be great. Problem I had was
figuring out the first thing to do. All my results were just a blur, so it must have been
stacking without aligning. So, I'll try your suggestions out.
This morning, I downloaded Quicktime Pro so that I could export avi's and process with
Registax in Virtual PC 6. I've just started processing one of the videos, and it seems to be
working (though I'm having to use an old version of Registax because version 3 is giving
me an "access violation" message with the video I chose). Converting from the .mov to the
.avi file takes pretty long (several minutes), so it would be better if I didn't have to do that.
On my PC, I was able to acquire a 2 minute - 1200 frame avi of Jupiter and process it in
registax fast enough (5 or 10 minutes at most) to be able to throw away the .5gb file and
acquire another video - thus keeping hardisk space usage to a reasonable level.
-Tim.
--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, "neale_monks" <nmonks@b...> wrote:
Tim,
My article at Cloudy Nights (which I am fairly certain you've
seen...) does at least outline
the options. Keith's Image Stacker is powerful, but very difficult to
use (in my opinion) in
part thanks to a bizarre interface. Astro Stack is impressive, but
again doesn't work like a
"normal" Mac app, and the sequence of steps required is a bit
strange. I have a great
fondness for Lynkeos, which works quickly and easily, and while less
powerful that the
others is at least simple to use. Sadly, I think Registax probably is
the best processing app
out there, but on my PowerBook at least running it on Virtual PC 6
poses no problems at
all. You don't mention Lynkeos, and I suggest that of them all, it's
the nicest choice for
just getting your feet wet.
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1044
Although aimed at absolute beginners, the webcam imaging chapter in
my book is pretty
detailed, and you may want to take a look at a copy. As far as I can
tell, I'm the first person
to write a book explaining step by step what to do, and perhaps
equally importantly, why.
At least, that was my aim; I'll let others decide if I managed to do
that well!
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/books/books.html#astro
It isn't clear in your question whether or not you mean you have no
idea what to do now,
or rather know what to do, just can't do it with Keith's Image
Stacker. If the latter, I
apologise for going over "Astronomy 101" stuff here! I do have a
basic knowledge of KIS,
and am happy to post that here if needs be.
Cheers,
Neale