TheSkySearchers

Still working on my M110 contest with only eight more to go. I imaged M98 earlier this week but all the Lum subs were ruined (clouds moved in) and there were only 20x60 sec RGB subs available. So I decided to run a little experiment. I knew the ASI2600mm had very little inherent noise, so I processed the set of RGB subs once with dark calibration frames and once without. The results indeed show the low noise in the ASI2600. Details are on my blog at: Darks vs No Darks

Thanks for sharing your test results. Seeing the results is always better than just hearing someone's opinion, at least it is for me. Have fun with your nice new camera.

Steve

Have you tried dithering between subs taking only flats and dark flats , no darks and compare to an image with darks taken, I just acquired a zwo533mc and will be trying this route .

Regards Dave

UkDave wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 7:29 am Have you tried dithering between subs taking only flats and dark flats , no darks and compare to an image with darks taken, I just acquired a zwo533mc and will be trying this route .

Regards Dave

Interesting idea. I might try and do that.

Good to see that someone else is experimenting with no darks. I did all my spring snapshots this way. Sure is quicker and with less unexpected results.

Steve,

P.S. I ditched flats too, but that has more to do with your specific optical thru-put that a camera noise issue.

I dithered with a Dslr which help , regards flats they’re a must IMO .

sdbodin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 6:19 pm Good to see that someone else is experimenting with no darks. I did all my spring snapshots this way. Sure is quicker and with less unexpected results.

Steve,

P.S. I ditched flats too, but that has more to do with your specific optical thru-put that a camera noise issue.

Flats are a must in my situation as my optical path produces a fairly substantial vignetting. And, those dust motes on your filters will get you every time. The one time I didn't take flats on a wide field nebula was the time I spend hours removing the dust donut manually with graphic editing tools.

XCalRocketMan wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:06 am

Flats are a must in my situation as my optical path produces a fairly substantial vignetting. And, those dust motes on your filters will get you every time. The one time I didn't take flats on a wide field nebula was the time I spend hours removing the dust donut manually with graphic editing tools.

Yes, vignetting was what I was getting at. That brings up the problem of too big a chip for your scope, all that 'megapixel, full frame hype' that the newbie falls for:

Flats won't fix this!!! Dust motes are a problem for anyone who is imaging in the 'outback' while on a trip etc.. Luckily I have little dust problems being sheltered and, maybe, too anal about cleanliness.

Good thread, much to discuss on this subject,
Steve

I always use some Dark frames to remove my ASI294 amp glow.


Regards

Graeme