SolarChat!

rbenton

Forgive me if this topic has already been addressed, but I haven't been able to find it on my own here. I would appreciate it if anyone could point me to a thorough tutorial on how to make, and implement 'flat frames' when imaging full discs in Ha. If it helps, I have a Lunt LS100 w/DSII. I use Fire...

rbenton

I loved Mark Townley's aurora photos, but more remarkable, I was in Borgarnes, Iceland - just a few kilometers north of him. My family chose to meet in Iceland for the week of Christmas. I was up late every night hoping for aurora action without any luck until Christmas night. Then on the 26th it wa...

rbenton

Sensational image, Bruce!

rbenton

Fantastic work! Would you share your method of image capture, and of the image processing? I love how the final image looks. Great work.

Randall Benton

rbenton

I hope this is the right forum for this question. I currently use ImPPG to sharpen stacked Ha images. It appears to only handle monochrome images. Does anyone know of a similar app that can handle color images?

Thanks,

Randall Benton
www.randallbenton.com

rbenton

I have admired his work for several years but I think his method is unique to him. It appears to be a computer process he has developed but (so far at least) not shared openly with the general public. Perhaps still a work in progress. In any event, his results are absolutely stunning. I dare say, &q...

rbenton

If you are looking for a high transmission Polarizing filter, B+W makes a very good one that you can see here: https://www.schneideroptics.com/ecommerce/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?CID=2205&IID=10366 I used one on a double stacked Lunt LS100 to get rid of ghost images. Worked beautifully for that, wi...

rbenton

I was at Griffith Observatory a few months ago. They had a wonderful exhibit about the sun with several images displayed. One was of sunspots in WL and the info claimed it was as detailed as possible. These (and several others like it on this forum) are FAR superior than the Griffith examples. Simpl...

rbenton

I was at Griffith Observatory a few months ago. They had a wonderful exhibit about the sun with several images displayed. One was of sunspots in WL and the info claimed it was as detailed as possible. These (and several others like it on this forum) are FAR superior than the Griffith examples. Simpl...

rbenton

Beautiful images! I love how sharp and detailed they are. Can you share what equipment you used, and how you shot these?

Randall Benton

rbenton

I am actually encouraged to hear that others struggled in the tense moments as I did. Here is what I was endeavoring to do: Use an Ha telescope to get images of the partial phases Use a long telephoto lens to get bracketed exposures of totality. I have a special application on a laptop to control th...

rbenton

A solar eclipse is an indescribable experience. This was my fifth, and since it was close enough to drive to, I took ALL the gear I could fit into the Jeep. I knew I was trying too hard, and I expected something to fail. I didn't capture everything I was hoping for, but I am satisfied with a good bi...

rbenton

I shot an eclipse in Kenya in 1980. I hired a driver to take me from Nairobi to Voi the morning of the eclipse. There was just a two-lane road and as far as I could see to the horizon was bumper-to-bumper traffic. The driver moved into the opposite lane and drove full speed in the wrong lane to arri...

rbenton

I have grossly overloaded myself. Lunt LS100 DS w/ZWO 1600 for partials, Nikon D810 w/600mm +1.4x for totality, another D810 for a multiple exposure image, a Nikon 1 J5 w/ 300mm for a time lapse video and two GoPro cameras for wide angle video. Plus a dram of Laphroaig and a Padron 1926 "80 yea...

rbenton

Alexandra and Robert are both correct. I have seen four total eclipses, and (because of the incredible nature of your eyes) the scene never seems as dark as a photographic record suggests. I tell people it gets about as dark as twilight – just dark enough to see some of the brighter stars. The horiz...

rbenton

I am headed to Mitchell, Oregon. I saw my first total solar eclipse in February 1979 just 70 miles north or Mitchell in Maryhill, Washington. This will be my fifth total eclipse, having also seen them in Voi, Kenya 1980; Hula, Papua New Guinea 1984; and Todos Santos, Mexico in 1991. I am so excited,...

rbenton

Wow!

Randall Benton

rbenton

Beautiful images David! Could you describe what a 'plastic bag flat' is? How does this help your images? Thank you.

Randall Benton

rbenton

I am trying to image the sun in WL using a standard DSLR and Nikon 600mm telephoto lens. I have experimented with a Baader ASTF white light solar filter, but (naturally) the results are not up to the quality of others I see on this forum. I have read that when using the Baader filter, adding their S...

rbenton

Beautiful! A truly special moment. Thanks for sharing this.

Randall Benton

rbenton

Thank you very much GreatAttractor! I followed your instructions and now all is well. I changed the name of the file: imppg.ini to: imppg.ini.bak and that did the trick. Thanks again for the help!

Randall Benton

rbenton

I have been using imppg, but suddenly I can no longer call up the tone curves tool. I un-installed it and re-installed the latest version but still no curves tool. When I click on its icon, there is a subtle 'blink' but then, nothing. Has anyone else had this issue? Any ideas how to correct it? Than...

rbenton

I defer to Stu's advice about transporting the hardware, but AA batteries are all the same the world over. Just buy them when (and wherever) you arrive. BTW, where are you planning to go?

rbenton

Thank you all for the suggestions. Mark, the allen bolt under the pressure tuner cap is tight. (likewise on the DSII). I wish I knew how Lunt was able to produce an acceptably sharp image with my scope, while I cannot. I am using a ZWO1600 which uses a relatively large sensor, but I cannot imagine t...

rbenton

Sorry, I meant to include Lunt's sample image, so here it is. They said it was a single image, not stacked. it is not as obvious in this image, but I do see the softness along the limb at the bottom of the frame. My image from today was processed with AS!2 AP set to 140 (if I remember correctly) usi...

rbenton

I keep seeing other posters' FD images that are sharp and detailed from center to edge. I have been struggling with my Lunt LS100 for nearly a year and have never made a FD image with sharp detail around the solar limb. I have tried "clocking" the camera/blocking filter/etalon with no impr...

rbenton

I have a similar issue with my LS100. Did the disassembly/reassembly help with your scope? How much disassembly is necessary? (I don't want to get so deep that I can't reassemble it)

Thanks for your advice.

Randall Benton

rbenton

This looks great. What sort of focuser is required to take advantage of this feature?

Randall Benton

rbenton

I want to piggyback a small camera onto my Lunt LS100. Does anyone know where I can get the proper clamshell ring that would accommodate such a rig? JMI makes some but I don't know if they are the right size. Thanks for any suggestions.

Randall Benton

rbenton

Nice work Pedro. I assumed I was the only underwater photographer on the SolarChat forum. Of course it is usually unwise to assume anything. If you are interested, you can see some of my U/W work at: www.randallbenton.com

Beautiful work, and congratulations on the exhibit!

Randall Benton

rbenton

Simply gorgeous images Lou. I love the way you process your images, and these are really spectacular. For me, this is the level to strive for. Nice work.

Randall Benton

rbenton

This item has sold.

rbenton

I still have this camera for sale, but I have dropped the price to $1,800.00 US.

rbenton

Images are similar when single stacked also, but the affect is less obvious. I use Autostakkert to stack the images. The good people at Lunt made the same suggestion as ERoel did, so I'll try that this weekend. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Randall Benton

rbenton

I just got my DS LS100 back from Lunt for service, and my original problem persists. I sent them a detailed description of the issue, with sample images. The invoice from the techs at Lunt said: "Sent in due to possible leak in system. Tested, resealed cavity, retested, cleaned. OK to return to...

rbenton

I have decided to reduce the price for this great camera. So, for anyone looking for a great deal on a superb camera, I will sell it for $2,200.

rbenton

I am selling my 6mp PGR Grasshopper3. (GS3-U3-60QS6M-C) I bought it in May 2016 and used it about a dozen times, so it is still just like new. I think it may have been a bit too much camera for me as I am new to this hobby. I plan to replace it with a more modest model. I paid $2,800.00 USD, and I w...

rbenton

Thanks for the tutorial! In Photoshop there are always 1,000 ways to skin a cat. I have tinkered with countless ways to color my discs, but I think I will adopt this one.

Randall Benton
www.randallbenton.com

rbenton

Christian Viladrich, what does your passive heat dissipation look like?

Randall Benton

rbenton

I am using a 6mp PGR Grasshopper3 and it often will overheat and shut down. I live in norther California and the temperatures can get into the high 90s. Of course this camera was probably not designed to work in the direct sunlight during the California summer heat. I contacted Point Grey, but they ...

rbenton

I have a LS100 w/DSII and a 6mp PGR Grasshopper3. I thought that after a little practice I could make nice FD images like others on this forum. However, I cannot get the FD entirely 'on-band.' So my questions are: Do others have this same 'sweet spot' issue with this configuration? Am I simply not t...

rbenton

Although not a sharp as rxdeath's video, this is my first attempt at the ISS transit on Wednesday, June 22, 2016. Thanks to rxdeath, and to CalSky for their predictions.

Randall Benton

https://vimeo.com/172062313

rbenton

VirtualDub worked perfectly. Thanks for the advice cshahar

rbenton

Beautifully done sir! I should post mine, too, even though yours is much better.

Randall Benton

rbenton

I accidentally recorded an .avi for far too long and it is 23gb. Way too big for AS!2 to handle. Is there a way to trim it to just the first 500 frames so I can process it?

Randall Benton

rbenton

Still learning how all this works. I thought I would experiment in PS with an inverted image. I like what it does for filaments, and the brighter limb makes it easier to mate with a separate exposure of proms. This full disc image is a composite of surface+proms exposures. My exposure of the proms h...

rbenton

Thanks to all for the encouragement. I have watched many of Mark Townley's tutorials and at first applied them all to my images. I now realize that each serves a purpose, but applying them all was just torturing the reality out of my efforts. I am till striving for the delicate details i see in the ...

rbenton

I have tried this about six times now, and after getting some great advice from forum members, I see some improvement. I am still disappointed with the results compared to others on this forum, however. Specifically, using cameras with lower resolution than the one I am using, others seem to be gett...

rbenton

Thanks for the advise OTangen. I will try this today. Can you describe how to rotate the ERF in the focuser? It sounds like you have the B3400 which is what I have as well. I removed the focuser, but I don't see how to rotate the ERF within it. Anyway thank you very much for the suggestions. Randall...

rbenton

I have added a DSII to my Lunt LS100 and I am quite confused about the tuning. The instructions are not too specific so I feel like I am just blindly twisting the tuners until it looks good. There must be a better method than this. Even so, my best efforts result in a full disc which is not entirely...

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