Daystar Quark Dial Settings - test

[Altocumulus]

I may have missed out on this, but the images show my Quark at the settings. Positive 5 is full clockwise.

I captured 1000 frames in Sharpcap, using Seeing Monitor. No flats. No change to any settings during the process - Question, should I have adjusted exposure?

Batch processed in AS3 -100 frames. Imppg for a quick stretch of histogram only.

[StarHugger]

Likely the atmosphere or the Suns altitude has changed in test so the answer is Yes...

You want to maintain the exposure level in test the setting itself is benign, looks to me though from these partial results the +3 setting is looking tuned imho...

[Gordon]

I have found that I bounce between 1 - 2 and 3 on mine, it depends on the temp outside at the time I'm capturing. Also, I have found that Quarks seem to have different adjustment thresholds from one to another, so doing what you have done is the easy way to find out.

[Solsearcher]

Good test Geoff , I downloaded the set so I could blow them up for a better look . In my opinion I would say that +5 was your best setting , this produced the most even lighting and good contrast across the field . The other settings show the left side of the image over exposed and indicates the etalon is not tuned correctly .
Personally I have never used flats in my processing and find they are not necessary if I have tuned my etalons correctly . Your +5 setting produces the most even view to your camera and should only require exposure adjustment to go from surface to highlighting proms .
I did have a Quark for a few years so I have had experience with them , they will produce a nice even view but I found my other solar imaging options more "user friendly" than my Quark so I eventually sold it .

[Altocumulus]

I might have another morning to give another go at testing. Perhaps alter the exposure during each setting for some uniformity.

If +5 is good, maybe +6 would be better! There's an increased tendency for the image to begin to blow out as the dial turns anticlockwise with either one or two horizontal bands as well as a left/right split.

Until now, without this extra information, I have been imaging on position 0.

[Altocumulus]

Tuesday morning looked promising, but there were pockets of cirrus drifting around, so I opted to look at the odd settings with a re-run of the above.

Constant gain & as much as possible exposure. - Daystar Quark & ApolloM-Max Starwave 102mm f11.

AS3 stacked - no further processing.

One flat used for all, clingfilm. Images show 'raw' stack then 'raw' stack with flat added.

As time and cloud threatened, this lot are positive turning starting at 0 (my positive at least )
For each image I added its own flat, either de-focusing or - last two - plastic bag.

Focus was getting more difficult as the morning warmed (though 5 C cooler than Monday! ). Also last two images my focuser decided to slip on the shaft....

[Altocumulus]

Further processed, imppg & AF2 - 5 then 4 in order, with their respective inverts....

[Gordon]

Geoff,
It appears you are correct in using the +5 setting, it appears your "zone" is +3 to +5.

[Altocumulus]

Thanks Gordon. It goes a long way to explaining why my previous images were wishy-washy, and why I struggled to get any real contrast from them despite hitting them hard.

But now, after one blue day and one blue morning, Wednesday is starting cloudy with stuff spreading in from the North Sea. :sighs: