I am trying out ASTAP for stacking my Canon raw files. The views of the images are very odd though. I have the Convert OSC images to colour is ticked and the Bayer matrix set to RGGB. If I load a RAW (CR2) file into the Images stab and then double click the display has a grid pattern as shown in the attached image (Image 1).
If I choose Tools->DeMosaic Bayer Matrix I get Image2. If I repeat Tools->DeMosaic I get Image 3 which is more like I was expecting when I double clicked the image in the first place.
If it click Tools->Activate/deactivate auto de-mosaic before double clicking the CR2 file I get Image 4. I have to click Tools->DeMosaic Bayer Matrix again to get an image like Image3.
Further more, if I resize the ASTAP window while it is showing Image1, Image2 or Image4 weird things happen. See image 5.
I am trying ASTAP on Windows 10 64bit with a 4K monitor (3840x2160) running at 250%.
Am I doing something wrong or is this normal behavior.
I took a daylight photograph of a white surface and by experimentation I worked out that the "correct" bayer pattern for your sofware is BGGR (which is the reverse the general concenus on the Canon EOS 600D bayer pattern of RGGB),
Files for the whole session, (L)ights, (D)arks, (F)lats and (DF)dark flats are on my onedrive in a shared folder here:
The reason I have posted the whole dataset is that it will not stack if the darks (taken from a dark libray I have) are included. Even when it does stack (with the darks left out) it doesn't do a very good job. See the attachment.
The images were all taken with an astro modified Canon EOS 600D with dithering between each light exposure.
I have left the resulting file in the folder also.
Finally, ASTAP will not solve this image for some reason. I have tried several of the light frames and they will not solve. I have solved other targets from the camera and telescope. The pixel size is 4.29um and the focal length 1200mm. Field of view height is 0.6.
The problem is caused by the conversion by Libraw to PPM and then to FITs. There are dark areas around the image. This is also causing a shift so change in the debayer pattern.
Using a trick to use DCRAW instead of Libraw gives clean converted FITS images and stacking works much better. Attached the result after some clean up.
My earlier reply was sent from my phone before looking at your stacked image up close. Firstly, I must say, if that is just from stacking with no post processing I am very impressed none of the bright stars look blown out.
The colour balance is incorrect though, the blues should be red so I am wondering whether the bayer pattern should be RGGB after all.
I noticed the black area before and just thought it was the viewer that was not working correctly.
Would this also explain why ASTAP could not solve the images?
Also, did you include the darks in your stack? It would not include any images if I included the dark files in the stack.
I write software for a living myself so I appreciate how difficult it is to fit in private projects with work and home commitments so I am impressed by what you have done so far.
I hope it is something that can be fixed.
Kind regards,
Phil
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I swapped the Red and Blue channels around in your stacked image and the colours now show correct so I think that confirms that RGGB is the correct pattern.
Sorry for all the messages Han, but another thing I noticed is that when I load darks it gives them a termperature of 999 and for the images it doesn't read the temperature at all. Are you aware that the camera sensor temperature is in the EXIF data in CR2 files?
There is a thread on the SGL forums explaining how to get it with a utility called ExifTool.
Please tell me if you need an other version then Windows.
Please delete all FITS files first and try again
I'm aware if the EXIF data. I'm using Libraw for conversion and this data is unfortunally not exported. (Would be nice if it was) The black areas are sensor parts not used for imaging. I have no tools to removed them but you can easilly remove them in the ASTAP viewer with the popup menu. The program has now no problem with these areas. The flat was causing the problem. The near black values gave a huge gain by the flat resulting in very noisy and white border areas. This should be fixed.
Tell me if it works for you.
Clear skies, Han
Last edit: han.k 2020-05-07
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Would it be possible to allow the user to assign the temperature, perhaps via a multi-select context menu, When using APT (as I do) the temperature can be put into the filename (as I do) it would be relatively easy for me to select a group of records in your GUI and assign a temperature to them. If you could then push this back to the "fits" copy you have made it would be there the next time the fits file was used. For example my dark library.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
The darks and flats where used. I think an other bug prevented you of using them correctly". The last version should work.
The option "Auto levels and colour smooth" in tab "Stack method"does the trick for nice colours. Furthermore I have used the "Equalise background tool" to flatten the background and used the "Background colour removal" both from tab "Pixel math1"
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I forgot to mention, image 0007, 0007 and 0010 don't belong in the series. Remove them since they can work as reference image and then it will not stack.
Last edit: han.k 2020-05-07
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The option "Auto levels and colour smooth" in tab "Stack method"does the trick for nice colours. Furthermore I have used the "Equalise background tool" to flatten the background and used the "Background colour removal" both from tab "Pixel math1"
Would this "stretch" the final result. Some post processing applications work better with linear data. StarTools for example. They emphasis that you should keep the data as unmodified (beyond alignment stacking as possible.
I have just restacked the test files I sent you and the stack looks way better, Go to do it again now with GBRG,
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
No stretching. The "Auto levels and colour smooth" set the black level for R,G,B equal and the white level. So star will become average white and background is gray. Furthermore more important it fixes the colour of saturated stars.
In general OSC image will be better if people exposure shorter. Too long exposures result in saturated white stars.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Thanks. I have created a folder for each of the bayer patterns and put a copy of the data files in each. I am going to stack each folder set using the appropiate pattern and compare the results. I am stll not convinced about the bayer pattern choice. I am uncertain why you would use a different pattern to everyone else.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I have finally convinced myself that the correct pattern is GBRG. I bow to you greater knowledge. The images now stack great. It sill cannot plate solve though. I have the G17 library loaded and the FOV height set to 0.6. The little calculator on the Pixel Math 2 page give a sensor area of 1.09° x 0.72°.
RA = 07 36 51.4 (7.614278)
Dec = 00 36 09 (0.602500)
The results are:
14:52:20 Creating monochromatic x 2 binning image for solving/star alignment.
14:52:21 240 stars selected and 186 tetrahedrons selected in the image. 197 database stars required for the square search field of 0.6°. Search window at 100% based on the number of tetrahedrons. Step size at 100% of image height
14:52:21 Using star database G17
14:52:35 No solution found! :(
[IGNORE THIS IT SOLVES FINE] The coordinates for NGC 2403 shown in the summary from Wikipedia when you google NGC 2403 are incorrect. They are missing the 65 degrees.
Last edit: Phil Crompton 2020-05-07
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Hi there,
I am trying out ASTAP for stacking my Canon raw files. The views of the images are very odd though. I have the Convert OSC images to colour is ticked and the Bayer matrix set to RGGB. If I load a RAW (CR2) file into the Images stab and then double click the display has a grid pattern as shown in the attached image (Image 1).
If I choose Tools->DeMosaic Bayer Matrix I get Image2. If I repeat Tools->DeMosaic I get Image 3 which is more like I was expecting when I double clicked the image in the first place.
If it click Tools->Activate/deactivate auto de-mosaic before double clicking the CR2 file I get Image 4. I have to click Tools->DeMosaic Bayer Matrix again to get an image like Image3.
Further more, if I resize the ASTAP window while it is showing Image1, Image2 or Image4 weird things happen. See image 5.
I am trying ASTAP on Windows 10 64bit with a 4K monitor (3840x2160) running at 250%.
Am I doing something wrong or is this normal behavior.
Kind regards,
Phil
Hello Phil,
Sorry for the long delay in responding.
Can you try one of the other De-Bayer patterns. The RGGB doesn't seem to work for your camera There are only four possibilities.
Cheers, Han
Last edit: han.k 2020-05-06
If it doesn't work, can you give me a RAW file for testing. Upload it to e.g. to https://uploadfiles.io/ en give me the link.
Han
Hi Han,
I took a daylight photograph of a white surface and by experimentation I worked out that the "correct" bayer pattern for your sofware is BGGR (which is the reverse the general concenus on the Canon EOS 600D bayer pattern of RGGB),
Files for the whole session, (L)ights, (D)arks, (F)lats and (DF)dark flats are on my onedrive in a shared folder here:
https://unitysoftware-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/phil_unitysoftware_co_uk/EqXhS7qEXF5MgDgsu5q5J8kB72JKrHkNW6KGU6pvMvaLaw?e=xa8poR
The reason I have posted the whole dataset is that it will not stack if the darks (taken from a dark libray I have) are included. Even when it does stack (with the darks left out) it doesn't do a very good job. See the attachment.
The images were all taken with an astro modified Canon EOS 600D with dithering between each light exposure.
I have left the resulting file in the folder also.
Finally, ASTAP will not solve this image for some reason. I have tried several of the light frames and they will not solve. I have solved other targets from the camera and telescope. The pixel size is 4.29um and the focal length 1200mm. Field of view height is 0.6.
The target was NGC2403 07h 36m 51.4s / 00°36'09"
Hello Phil,
I have the files and will have a look tonight or tomorrow. First I have to fix an other non-related problem with CR2 files
Han
The problem is caused by the conversion by Libraw to PPM and then to FITs. There are dark areas around the image. This is also causing a shift so change in the debayer pattern.
Using a trick to use DCRAW instead of Libraw gives clean converted FITS images and stacking works much better. Attached the result after some clean up.
I have to investigate how I can fix that for you
Han
Last edit: han.k 2020-05-07
Hi Han,
That looks much cleaner.
Sent from my Huawei Mobile
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [astap-program:discussion] Image view issues
From: "han.k"
To: "[astap-program:discussion] "
CC:
The problem is caused by the conversion by Libraw to PPM and then to FITs. There are dark areas around the image.
Using a trick to use DCRAW instead of Libraw gives a clean images and stacking works much better. Attached the result after some clean up.
I have to investigate how I can fix that for you
Han
Attachments:
Image view issueshttps://sourceforge.net/p/astap-program/discussion/general/thread/1debfb0cf3/?limit=25#e104
Sent from sourceforge.net because you indicated interest in https://sourceforge.net/p/astap-program/discussion/general/
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Hello again Han,
My earlier reply was sent from my phone before looking at your stacked image up close. Firstly, I must say, if that is just from stacking with no post processing I am very impressed none of the bright stars look blown out.
The colour balance is incorrect though, the blues should be red so I am wondering whether the bayer pattern should be RGGB after all.
I noticed the black area before and just thought it was the viewer that was not working correctly.
Would this also explain why ASTAP could not solve the images?
Also, did you include the darks in your stack? It would not include any images if I included the dark files in the stack.
I write software for a living myself so I appreciate how difficult it is to fit in private projects with work and home commitments so I am impressed by what you have done so far.
I hope it is something that can be fixed.
Kind regards,
Phil
I swapped the Red and Blue channels around in your stacked image and the colours now show correct so I think that confirms that RGGB is the correct pattern.
Sorry for all the messages Han, but another thing I noticed is that when I load darks it gives them a termperature of 999 and for the images it doesn't read the temperature at all. Are you aware that the camera sensor temperature is in the EXIF data in CR2 files?
There is a thread on the SGL forums explaining how to get it with a utility called ExifTool.
https://exiftool.org/
The EXIF tag is "Camera Temperature"
Hello Phil,
The problem is fixed in ASTAP version 0.9.360, only available from:
http://www.hnsky.org/astap_setup.exe
Please tell me if you need an other version then Windows.
Please delete all FITS files first and try again
I'm aware if the EXIF data. I'm using Libraw for conversion and this data is unfortunally not exported. (Would be nice if it was) The black areas are sensor parts not used for imaging. I have no tools to removed them but you can easilly remove them in the ASTAP viewer with the popup menu. The program has now no problem with these areas. The flat was causing the problem. The near black values gave a huge gain by the flat resulting in very noisy and white border areas. This should be fixed.
Tell me if it works for you.
Clear skies, Han
Last edit: han.k 2020-05-07
Would it be possible to allow the user to assign the temperature, perhaps via a multi-select context menu, When using APT (as I do) the temperature can be put into the filename (as I do) it would be relatively easy for me to select a group of records in your GUI and assign a temperature to them. If you could then push this back to the "fits" copy you have made it would be there the next time the fits file was used. For example my dark library.
The black areas also causing a shift in the debayer pattern. Use GRBG for debayering
Yes the colours seems inverted. Probably GBRG is the one to use.
Definitely not GBRG. Just get a completely green washout. Trying RGGB to see how that goes.
Last edit: Phil Crompton 2020-05-07
The darks and flats where used. I think an other bug prevented you of using them correctly". The last version should work.
The option "Auto levels and colour smooth" in tab "Stack method"does the trick for nice colours. Furthermore I have used the "Equalise background tool" to flatten the background and used the "Background colour removal" both from tab "Pixel math1"
I forgot to mention, image 0007, 0007 and 0010 don't belong in the series. Remove them since they can work as reference image and then it will not stack.
Last edit: han.k 2020-05-07
Well spotted. Must have been test shots while I was framing up.
Would this "stretch" the final result. Some post processing applications work better with linear data. StarTools for example. They emphasis that you should keep the data as unmodified (beyond alignment stacking as possible.
I have just restacked the test files I sent you and the stack looks way better, Go to do it again now with GBRG,
No stretching. The "Auto levels and colour smooth" set the black level for R,G,B equal and the white level. So star will become average white and background is gray. Furthermore more important it fixes the colour of saturated stars.
In general OSC image will be better if people exposure shorter. Too long exposures result in saturated white stars.
I have upload the raw stack at:
https://ufile.io/pvrilj2s
I'm not so happy about the blue stars. I will have a look again but shorter exposures will help.
Thanks. I have created a folder for each of the bayer patterns and put a copy of the data files in each. I am going to stack each folder set using the appropiate pattern and compare the results. I am stll not convinced about the bayer pattern choice. I am uncertain why you would use a different pattern to everyone else.
What bayer pattern did you use with this? I have just loaded it into StarTools, cropped and AutoDev and the colours look correct.
I have finally convinced myself that the correct pattern is GBRG. I bow to you greater knowledge. The images now stack great. It sill cannot plate solve though. I have the G17 library loaded and the FOV height set to 0.6. The little calculator on the Pixel Math 2 page give a sensor area of 1.09° x 0.72°.
RA = 07 36 51.4 (7.614278)
Dec = 00 36 09 (0.602500)
The results are:
14:52:20 Creating monochromatic x 2 binning image for solving/star alignment.
14:52:21 240 stars selected and 186 tetrahedrons selected in the image. 197 database stars required for the square search field of 0.6°. Search window at 100% based on the number of tetrahedrons. Step size at 100% of image height
14:52:21 Using star database G17
14:52:35 No solution found! :(
[IGNORE THIS IT SOLVES FINE] The coordinates for NGC 2403 shown in the summary from Wikipedia when you google NGC 2403 are incorrect. They are missing the 65 degrees.
Last edit: Phil Crompton 2020-05-07
Thanks for all your help today. I am really impressed with ASTAP (which I hadn't heard of until I recently configured PointCraft in APT).
I'm going to tell my astro friends that there is another alternative to DSS and Sequator that does much more.