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Bruce Donzanti: I agree with Bruce 100%... Prior to using NINA, I was not using plate solving nor autofocusing. NINA made those things a snap for me which allowed me to thinking about what I wanted to accomplish as opposed to thinking about whether or not I would ever find my target. |
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andrea tasselli:Dale Penkala: I thought and hoped the times when people are burried with their "weapons" were long gone ... |
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I am new to this world (got my Telescope in mid-February, 2022) but two things have made for a super introduction to this world. 1. Starizona. Dean introduced me to telescopes and the HyperStar. I know how blessed I was to have his guidance. 2. Rodeo, New Mexico. I came here because I heard about the dark skies...and what a blessing that is. There is a third thing, and that is learning PixInsight. which appears to be a lifetime project... But I am stunned by the beautiful images, the stars around us, and the realization of how puny we are in the universe around us. Oh, and I should thank AstroBin, what a wealth of knowledge.... For those curious about my name, I have been on the road with my two English Setters in an Airstream since 2013... |
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Considering you have a quite complete setup, the one thing that made the biggest difference was a permanent setup. Lots of time saved on set up and tear down. It need not be a shed or dome. A Telegizmo cover is all you need so you just have to take the cover on and off. |
10.26
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Voyager and dark skies! voyager just works, no more headaches with software glitches etc, pin sharp autofocus, plate solving, runs all night, knows to pause when cloudy & restart when it clears again, amazing & reliable. oh, and Bortle 2-3 skies are a joy  |
9.48
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Better camera sensors - twice. Going from KAF-8300 to ICX694 to IMX 571 took my images from noisy crap to what they are now: less noisy crap.  |
1.43
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My top 3 so far: Dithering SGP - allows me to image all night, getting more frames Autofocus.. |
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There you have it, pretty much everything makes a huge difference….. Actually, I think what makes the biggest difference is an uncommon amount of stubbornness and a pledge to fight Murphy at every turn….  Cheers, Scott |
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| An Autoguider, for sure. Going from unguided 30 second subs to 4-5 minutes made a huge difference in my images. |
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A went from a dual motor dob driver to an equatorial set-up, so...EVERYTHING!! But seriously, Modding my 6D Using L-Enhance filter Tuning the EQ6R Autofocus NINA I've gone from throwing away 10-20% of my subs pre-auto focus and NINA to pretty much just 1-2%. Truly amazing that I'm finally in the 21st century (well, barely-I'm still using 1980's glass, haha!) |
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My knowledge...gear has not changed but the results! :-) |
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| SIRIL! |
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It is a very personal journey, we all have different environments, and different equipment, as well as focussing on different targets. My suggestions are more general, not focussed on HW and SW. 1. Integration time, Integration Time, Integration Time 2. Processing Skills need to be practiced over and over--the adage is it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient in anything. This is an understatement for astrophotography. If you haven't redone each image processing at least 3 times before posting it, either you are the best or you did not get the best out of your image. And there are wonderful tutorials on-line, with great tips for improvement, whatever your software choice. Some of the most amazing images I have seen were totally processed in Photoshop after stacking, you can find out on line how to make that work to make exceptional images. Just as you can in PixInsight or I use Startools. All can do what you want if you know how. 3. Compare your images to others that have a Selection for Top Pick, Top Pick, or IOTD, not to mention an APOD, or Hubble image.--if you can't see any problems to fix either you are the best or you will not progress any further. Understand where you have problems, then find out how to fix them. 4. Once you have identified your issues, figure out where they arise: in imaging, registering, stacking, processing? This can be difficult, but if you don't know where your problem is no HW/SW fix will solve it. 5. We often look to blame SW and HW we have, looking for a quick fix. But unless you fully understand the capabilities of what you have and where it lets you down, more expensive, capable SW and HW, longer focal length, longer exposures, smaller pixels, etc. will likely make it worse. 6. Finally I would not equate easy of use, convenience with taking good images. If you don't understand what the issues you have are, then convenience will just lock all your problems in a black box that will prevent you from progressing. Live with the struggles so you understand them, only automate or make it convenient when you are sure you understand what you are automating, and so you know when it is going wrong. Because it will. Hope this helps--I'm learning the hard way, and still know I have a long way to go. Rick |
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Focus motor Guiding inside control via miniPC |
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| I discovered magic really does exist, and it is... plate solving ✨ |
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| Pixinsight |
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For me I own a portable setup ok. Canon 80D - SWSA - Canon 135mm f2 I have always suffered from walking noise even if I go bortle 1 skies. So i did this thing aka manual dithering and man... my life changed. Also earlier this year Starnet v2 came out, I can proudly say its the best thing ever, I reprocessed my old data and everything popped so nicely. |
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I posted my first astro image on Instagram exactly 1 year ago, and it's been a wonderful journey of learning, discovery, patience and expense ever since. The biggest influence to my imaging has been practice - practice learning and using the equipment, practice understanding and using software (PI and APP), practice trying different image development techniques. Apparently practice makes perfect; I live in hope 😊 |
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| The autoguider made things much easier for me as well as remote access from my study, especially in winter. And never stop trying and enjoying astrophotography! |
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With the assumption that you already have enough gear to take images, these were the biggest impact for me:
I started with an autoguider from the beginning, so I didn't rank that, but if you don't have one (either OAG or guidescope), I would put it probably ahead of the motorized focuser. |
2.62
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| First, my mount. Then, my mount. Lastly, my mount. |
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I am relatively new over the past 2 years, though a longtime photographer with extensive Lightroom and Photoshop experience. Sadly, that experience really doesn't help very much with astrophotography! Sorry, I can't come up with one or two most important "thing(s)", because I have found the answer to this question is iterative that depends on where you are at in the learning process. I agree with all that has been written, and my biggest leaps occurred sequentially at the following points in roughly this order of discovery: 1. Invest in good GEM mount and good refractor OTA- up until that point any usable image was a happy accident 2. Addition of auto-guiding with Phd2, but really learn the software using the PhD2 Guiding Assist and also PEC control training (in Green Swamp Server for me) to improve quality of guiding 2. Learn the fundamentals of stacking and image processing- started out in APP and Photoshop, graduated to PI 3. Trial different imaging software - i used APT and NINA extensively, settled on NINA for many reasons, but overall easier and more useful interface 4. Modify DSLR, but more importantly, learn to take great calibration frames to limit the artifacts 5. Learn how to use plate solving and ditched the handset entirely - control everything from a dedicated laptop computer 6. Add Electronic autofocus - perhaps the single biggest change in terms of quality of data capture - not quite set it and forget it, but significantly better quality data 7. Learn how to set up/frame/select a proper target and a proper sequence now that I had the ability to capture reliable data-NINA made this easy 8. Learn how to use the software to take advantage of entire clear night - especially meridian flips 8. Invest in learning Pixinsight - probably the single most important step in terms of improving image quality/post-processing. I now do all stacking/calibration/processing within PI and it is an amazing tool. Learning curve steep but the trial period long enough to convince me that it is a far better approach to image processing than Ps alone; more logical and based on math/science. I still use Photoshop, but only as an afterthought or in selective clean up 9. Invest in online learning resources - too many to mention all, but the most impactful for me started with Trevor Jones from Atstrobackyard who really sparked the passion, then a flurry of study from Adam Block, Patriot Astro, James Lamb, Cuiv the Lazy Geek, Amy Asto, Michael Auton from AstronomyGuides and many others - fantastic resources for a lifetime of learning, for sure. Seemingly every day, it is something new. Today, it was learning to recover my dedicated AP laptop!! 10. Patience and planning - selective targeting. 11. Upgrading the game with cable management/power source/powerbox - really cleaned up the layout. 12. Change over to Green Swamp Server - just a lot more intuitive and love the support. 13. I still use Photoshop and in particular, plug ins from Astronomy Tools Actions Set by Noel Carboni and Annie's Astro Actions by Annie Morris to clean up the final PI image within Photoshop. Nothing gets rid of banding artifact better than Noel's tools. 14. Learning when to stop processing - space is not black, and space is not waxy What's Next for me? -Studying next steps with regards to camera - I clearly need a dedicated and cooled AP camera rather than a modified DSLR. Really debating whether to commit to mono with filters or go with OSC cooled camera in my Bortles Class 7 skies. I know the images are better with the former option, but still mulling it over -Replace cables where I can with the shortest functional length (that does not get bound up in the equipment) but that that also have FTDI chipsets (FT232R) that will automatically download the correct driver when inserted into the USB port and obviate some of the issues with converting to Windows 11 and Prolific Driver issues -Commit to learn Advance Sequencer in NINA - the Simple Sequencer is highly functional, but starting to feel the limits -Bigger OTA - I am shooting with an Esprit 100 refractor right now but all of the images that pique my level of interest are from 8" or more - might have to take my old ETX200 off of the fork mount! Enjoy and learn from the mistakes - it is a fun hobby and half of that fun is in the figuring it out - Cheers, Rob Foster |
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First, my mount. Then, my mount. Lastly, my mount. second that !!! |
1.43
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| A really great mount. It really does make all the difference! |
