Couldn’t agree more! Once you start traveling regular to dark skies it becomes a lifestyle as well. I’ve seen many people find this hobby in their 60/70s and put out some great work. Excited to see your progress.

Sometimes we have to learn the hard way to fully trust it anyways. I’ve been telling this to people for months and months before they finally take the advice and then they see how much better it is when they double the integration time and finally vow to never short change it again so at least you know for sure from experience what the benefit is.

Yeah, sometimes it’s the kid in a candy store fact where you just want to image everything. That’s why I say discipline and not effort because it doesn’t take any less effort to image multiple targets it just takes discipline to stick with one, when there are so many others out there. But from all the people I’ve worked with when they do finally make the decision to prioritize less targets with more time. Their overall satisfaction does go up. Sometimes it’s just literally even one more night on the difference between good and great. If you truly can’t get the additional time then pulling back how far are you push the data is the next best option as you mentioned

That’s good to hear, it’s definitely possible to get good at the Saavi pretty quickly. My first image wasn’t too bad. I did a lot of research before hand and went to a Bortle 1 dark site. If you put the effort in, you can get pretty good results quickly, especially with how good the equipment and software has gotten over the last couple years.

I’m a member of one of the Texas Astro clubs and they’ve got some talented people in there. I don’t post in there currently because I’m not imaging in Texas right now, but I do like to see what people come up with!

Yeah, clouds are definitely tough. At least you don’t have a ton of light pollution to deal with. if you want to set up some time to go through the software, you can shoot me an email otherwise there is a fair amount of good stuff online including this page for Pixinsight or Photoshop. I know neither program is free, but I would highly recommend investing in it as processing is the major skill involved in the hobby. Once you get good at collecting data, it becomes pretty much auto pilot and the real skilled development and hard work is in the image processing as well as I mentioned in the video having the discipline to wait till you get enough data. Since you are under darker skies, you do get more signal per unit of time than somebody who is in a light polluted city, which is nice. But it still takes a couple nights worth of data to start getting some nice images. Often times if it’s a partly cloudy forecast, I will set my stuff up and have it run even if most of the night is bad data if the clouds part even for an hour or two it’s better than nothing so you could try that because often times the forecast is incorrect, and when it says it’s going to be mostly cloudy, there will be patches of clear skies. One thing you can set up your DSLR with a wide Lens and do a Timelapse during the night and see if it does in fact clear up at times. I do that for video content but it’s cool to see how much clear skies you can get even when the forecast says otherwise

@@darkrangersinc Thank you for your response. It's been like monsoon season here in central Texas this Spring. Looks like there may be a short break tonight. Yay!

Yeah, I think for me with any image the absolute bare minimum for a first draft is 6 hours. I won’t stack less than that. Typical integration time for a final image 15 to 25 hours. That’s monochrome in most cases under Bortle 5 skies. If somebody is under better conditions, obviously they could probably knock that down a little bit. The ironic thing is the only time I’ve ever done one hour or two hour images for the channel when I was testing a certain product like a filter and comparing it versus one or two other filters.

Yeah, I get it. There’s a lot of challenges with the hobby and some of the ones that are in your control are easier to live with then some like having bad weather. I know I don’t have it as bad as some. I think the longest I’ve ever gone because of weather is probably 10 or 12 days and that’s pretty rare. My only caution with BlurX to everybody is just to remember that if your stars are blurry, that also means you’re nebula detail is blurry and well that tool can recognize a star and make it round again. It doesn’t know what the nebula structure is supposed to look like so you’re going to have potentially sharpened stars but the other data could be softer than you would hope for. It sounds like you have the right mentality though and for the most part are doing what you can to get the best possible and that’s all you can do

Glad to hear you are making progress. I think this is a great hobby to get into at any age and your takeaways sound very solid to me. I personally know for a fact not get the results I do without Photoshop. And if I tried to replicate in PI, it would add a lot of time to each processing session.

Appreciated!

Yeah, I’m just not a fan. I know that makes me unpopular to some people. I saw Dillon O’Donnell just put out a video kind of echoing the sentiment. I think they’re OK for the casual astronomer or young person. I actually had no problem with them until they started being compared to using an actual rig and that’s when I started to not like them. I had people reaching out to me to upgrade their equipment because they couldn’t get the results. They thought they would and so essentially it was just a waste of $500 because you can’t upgrade them. I think they will get to a point where it’s worthwhile the Celestron one looks the best thus far, but until it comes with an equatorial amount and the ability to upgrade the components, I will still push anybody who is really interested into the hobby into getting even a budget rig set up, which is not very hard to put together

That’s pretty brutal to be honest. I probably couldn’t do the hobby if I could only image eight nights a year it would drive me crazy. I would get cranky if I could only image eight nights in a month which happened in January. But if I did decide to live somewhere with that much clouds, I still would standby the same principles and just learn to deal with it. Or travel more lol 😬

That’s actually a good point processing is also so much easier with good data and you don’t need as much technology. When I have good data after I do the color combination and a decent stretch it’s looking pretty good to go. Just some little tweaks in Photoshop to find it and some of my images literally 10 or 15 minutes of editing time total!

Ha thanks, I’m just new to the video stuff I don’t shoot in LOG or anything like that I do shoot with a nice Mirrorless and have some decent lights but nothing too crazy like some KZfaqrs in other genres. Luckily no one expects much from Astrophotography YTers because we don’t make any money from it 😂

@@darkrangersinc True dat! lol. Good lights and good sound are plenty. IMO, Log might make sense in some cases but just ends up taking lots of space.

@@erewhon42 I’m sure I could do the color grading, but I haven’t gotten a monitor yet. I was looking at the ninja and then the new one came out and almost doubled the price. You know how it is when the model comes out you can possibly get the old one, so a $400 investments to probably closer to 1000 by the time you get all the accessories and SSD. Normally I wouldn’t get it but for my camera it unlocks 10 bit color if I get an external monitor so that kind of makes it worth it. Then I’m looking at Sure SM7DB the new one that has a built-in preamp. But I need to kind of get out of the bread with the channel expenses before I can justify spending more lol .

@@darkrangersinc Yeah, it gets expensive quickly. I didn't buy it, but one camera I've thought about buying supports 6k, but only on an external recorder. So yeah that starts adding up quickly. It's too bad more cameras don't support direct SSD recording. Maybe the next gen will. Your current audio is pretty good, but yeah, that SM7DB looks nice. Have you seen the Lewitt Ray? That one looks really intriguing. But yeah... just another sunk cost. 🙂

Happy to pick a target with a few Dark Ranger community members and go traditional rig vs Vespera boys for a little contest 😉😉

Thanks for the comment, the video series I was mentioning not wanting to sit through is the one you’re talking about I was actually being nice on the total number of hours because I was thinking of one of the more introductory classes. I think it’s not a bad thing to invest in for sure. There’s a lot of good information but I’m somebody that likes to just get either one on one or in a small group and be able to get the answers to the questions that I need and save myself 30-40 extra hours. I think a lot of people would be better off getting a baseline knowledge and then when they start to run into roadblock start working with somebody, you could take the money that you spend on the class and get several hours on one time and then I also save a ton of time as well, which is also saving money in my example of time being a replacement for money. I have actually spoken to him and I did give him the feedback for his KZfaq stuff at least to shorten it down and he did seem to immediately put it into place. It was several months ago and most of his videos have been between 10 and 20 minutes since then. It’s actually really hard to make episodes shorter vs longer. Longer is much easier . I think I said that in the past. Regarding our group, it’s a private Facebook group meeting. Nothing will be shared outside of it and I actually have it so you can’t share something externally. You can create an anonymous profile and just join that group and you don’t have to use your real name. Several people have alias and no profile pic. They literally just created a profile to join the group. If you read the rules, one of them is to keep anything that said both by me and other members within the group, and if I found somebody not following it, they would no longer be a part of it. It’s a pretty private group. You don’t have to worry about stuff leaking out that you’re posting in there. So maybe something to consider.

@@darkrangersinc Ryan, thanks so much for the very thoughtful reply! I also appreciate the information on the user group and will strongly consider it. Additionally if I get to the point once I am done with my "education" (I consider $215 for the entirety of PI fundamentals to be a steal compared to the price of most things in the AP trade) if I run into any road blocks I will also consider some one-on-one time. I will say though that I have found in my career as an engineer, which is largely using computer programs to solve problems, taking the time to understand how everything under the hood works at a fundamental level when using a new software has carried me much farther than getting the help to "push that button to do X" has. I think some things like NINA are straightforward and simple enough that getting that kind of assistance is definitely what you need but something as complicated as Pixinsight deserves the time investment.

Yeah, I was saying that to a friend last night who was letting me know he just saw the video. My first comment was I think several people probably know some of these but just need that occasional reminder and someone to “light the fire” i’ll probably only stick to a couple videos for the entire year like this where it’s more of a philosophical approach video. The first one I did was at the end of 2023 and now this one at the one year anniversary of the channel. I think it’s more common sense for people that have done other hobbies or pursuits at a pretty high level. Some people who maybe didn’t do athletics or pursue music or the art in high school may have never really pushed themselves out of their comfort zone. But for most of us, I think it’s so good reminder of what’s important.

I was going to mention this, but I decided to leave it out because I think sometimes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s a bad thing but people that are never happy with their work usually tend to improve pretty fast. I’m the same way. I think it’s good to appreciate parts of each image but also see areas of opportunity. I left it out because sometimes I think it can drive people a little crazy lol. On the flipside it’s not something people usually learn you can either have the trait or you don’t so if I did leave it in, I would be speaking to the people that are going to be that way no matter what 😂

Thanks, great name for a YT channel. Would also make a good name for an astrophotography bad or podcast.

@@darkrangersinc Thanks brother!! YT channel in the future maybe. In the mean time I'm enjoying the shit out of yours. Great content and production value, strong work!!

It truly is a huge game changer. It opens up so many more possibilities. It also has grade tools that it’s coming out with all the time like the “remove tool” which is like the clone stamp only you don’t need to tell it where to pull the data to replace it uses its “content aware“ technology and literally makes the spot disappear like it was never there. It works on some pretty big structures.

I was skeptical and then jumped in, watched Ryan's tutorial and did a few sessions and the difference is HUGE - now I'm pretty good at PS and would not bother to do those edits in PI

I know I subscribed to it on one of my two KZfaq channels because I see it show up and tune in from time to time. I’ve wanted to do a live episode, but I see it looks like it’s really hard to get a lot of concurrent viewers at the same time, but I suppose people can always watch it after the fact. Astro backyard goes live. I think he peaks around 1000 total viewers. Thanks for all your contributions to the community as well !

@@darkrangersinc If you'd ever like to do an interview on the podcast, let me know! I'm working to interview some of my favorite AP KZfaq Personalities, and i'd love to have you on one day! Don't judge the youtube channel view count, the vast majority of our listeners come from Spotify and Apple podcasts. I just started adding the shows to youtube on a regular basis 2 or 3 weeks ago. Thanks again!

Do you know if the coma corrector is rated for that large of a sensor? I wonder if it’s not a matter of backspace and just that it’s not able to correct that far out on the sensor. if you look at a diagram refractor with a reducer size increases more and more the further away from the center of the sensor you go. I’m not a big fan of Newtonians. They promise low cost aperture, but by the time you do all the necessary upgrades and buy the accessories they end up being almost as much as a refractor. The ones Staeizona makes that’s a .75 does a Pretty good job even with apsc.

Another wonderfully positive comment as always 😉. Maybe KZfaq won’t delete this one again lol.

Dude - if you did a few phone consultations with Ryan, you'd spare yourself all the frustrating - he's literally solved dozens of my annoying issues and explained literally everything to me - he's like "astro doctor" for any issue - not kidding!

That’s actually a really good question knowing when to stop. Something that I find myself pulling my one-on-one people back from going to far much more often than pulling them back. Our tendency is to overdo it. So if you’re at that point where you’re kind of an intermediate, you know how to sharpen and you know how to add color effectively, it’s likely your gut instinct is going to be too over-process a bit. Especially when you think about nebula targets, how sharp is really going to be in real life? No very it’s it’s going to be fairly cloud like I would imagine. Typically the Sii forms a lot of the sharper details and structure. Ha has the most volume and Oiii tends to be more centralized in larger gas targets. My goal is to take what comes in camera and just give it a little oomph. Because I know with atmospheric dispersion, even a very subtle amount of guiding and perfection, etc it’s going to be a little softer than it is in real life. But when it comes to the saturation slider go more than 3 or 4 in Photoshop, and usually the most I’ll take vibrance is 10. So I’m not really adding that much if I have good signal, there’s plenty of color right off the bat. In terms of sharpening with clarity, which is probably most often used sharpening tool in Photoshop I never go more than about 10 or 15. Sometimes when I’m doing Topaz Denoise at the very end before I add the stars back I’ll give it 10-20 for Denoise and 10-15 for sharpening. So overall, as a rule, I would probably say 20% increase or less with the combination of the tools that you’re using what comes in camera. I think 15% is probably a good for saturation and sharpening increase. But some taste more realistic although the trend more processed, I think I’ve let it influence me and I might be doing a little bit of a pullback on my own here shortly.

@@darkrangersinc Thank you so much for the detailed answer. Appreciate it . Clear skyes, Christian 😃

Kind of a niche hobby takes a while to get big in Astrophotography. Almost every channel with 10k in this genre is a few years old or more.

I 100% agree I’m not a fan of the subscriptions. It’s like death from 1000 cuts lol. “It’s only 9.99” but when you have 15 subscriptions every month it adds up! I look at it this way it probably saves me a half hour per edit at least and allows me to get better results than I would be able to otherwise. So if it saves me, let’s say two hours a month on four images. Two hours of my time is definitely worth more than 9.99$. I actually locked in a deal for 29.99 and get every app they sell. So that actually feels like a better deal. I use Adobe express which has access to their AI services for the thumbnails, and After Effects if I want to do those 3D style edits. I’ve also used illustrator to help friends do stuff for their businesses on the side with photography and creating brochures etc. one of those jobs has paid for the subscription for the next several years so I try to make it “work for me” in return and actually make some money back from the subscription. In general, I would rather just buy one and cry once lol. Rip off the Band-Aid and be done with it. That’s why I tell people not to get super cheap. Just save up and wait longer so you don’t have to buy it again like I have had in the past not because I bought cheap stuff but because I didn’t buy the stuff.

That’s actually a really good question. I use APP mostly for stacking and some of the early steps. But it’s star calibration is actually been really good on galaxies in bringing out some of the blues and other colors that are often hiding. I know he’s working on it, but currently there is no real noise reduction. I think you could get some pretty good results using APP and Photoshop. You can do all of the things that you would need to do in PI in APP and just get Topaz Denoise for Photoshop. I think it’s better than. NoiseXterminator and pretty well priced. Unfortunately, Photoshop is only subscription based, but it also makes it so it’s not as big of an upfront investment. It was usually over $300 before the subscription.

@@darkrangersincThanks for the info, much appreciated. I'll probably end with all of them at some point! Clear skies

Sooo I've figured out APP. I'm starting to be proud of my results given my experience level. Re-watching this and Photoshop must be purchased in the next few days 🎉 Congrats on 5k. I see 100k ++ coming your way. Thanks again for your efforts. Clear skies

Ahahahaha I know you thought about me when you said “been saying they’re gonna get photoshop for months now” 🤣

Another great video!

@@KaidenBainAstro GET IT KAIDEN lol - don't make me buy it for you for your birthday :-)

You were definitely one of them lol

Obviously, budget is always a key concern and you have to make decisions that make the most sense for where you’re at. Unfortunately this and every hobby are getting more and more expensive to have even decent equipment. All you can do is the best with what you’ve got and a lot of times with some extra effort, quality gear can still put out good results. I’ve seen people do great work with Siril. The software comment was aimed at a lot of people that can’t afford it, but choosing not to because I don’t want to take the time to learn it. so the point was rather than trying to struggle in one program just put in the effort to learn make life easier in the long run

Can you get a scope cover like a telegizmo 365 and just them leave it out like I do have 3 rigs out there full time I can get all 3 running in like 15 minutes and only check polar alignment every so often they don’t really shift much.

@@darkrangersinc that's exactly the plan. I'm going to use a motorbike cover and spray it with heavy duty tent waterproofing (which I highly recommend btw). Do you have any issues with damp and dew? Thanks for taking the time to respond btw.

@@tompage8674 the Telegizmo covers are totally bombproof and don’t need any kind of spray. They also have a nice straw string on the bottom and they’re kind of pre-formed the type of scope that you can choose from in their lineup. Unfortunately, they don’t sell them at Agena and I don’t have any partnership with them so I’ve just had to get them through other sources but I don’t have any issues leaving my scope out under any condition with them. I feel totally confident it was scary at first of course, but then after it rained for the first time or snow for the first time, he realize it’s fine.

That’s a big reason I don’t like the idea of selling “easy astrophotography”. There are really only a couple companies doing it and let’s just say I wouldn’t go to them for their quality of product. We want what we cannot have or do. The moment something because easy it’s no longer as desirable. It’s the reason some who posts an A.I. nebula image is immediately downgraded in the eyes of most because they know no effort went into it.