Any word on when Pix may be able to calibrate/debayer/stack etc etc DSLR images..??
Not from me
I think that DSS reads from the metadata the exposure time... so, at the end it is just a matter of simply rescaling.
The theory behind darks/light matching is quite simple. If the temperature is the same, then it is a linear function of the exposure time. Just to play it safe, take the darks with the longest exposure time you need to match the lights, and then scale down (divide the pixel values). More clever algorithms takes into account some nonlinearity due to temperature, etc., and performs a statistical analysis of the images to give the best scale factor that is possible. BTW, I'm talking about master darks, that have the master bias subtracted. Now, given that you have perfectly calibrated images, it doesn't matter at all the exposure time. Again, it is a linear function, so if the program reads the exposure time, may scale them automatically. There too are some algorithms that perform statistical adjustments... For example, in "our" ImageIntegration process. Also you may disable those adjustments, and manually set a weighting factor, that takes into account the different exposure times.
Another option, for very different times is HDRCombination. Here you don't want just to "average" the result, but get the best of the images to create a larger dynamic range.
My choise, with DSS would be to calibrate each set of exposure times individually. Then, come to PI with those raw (calibrated) images, and integrate them there (let DSS do the registration and integration of each set). Of course, you'll need first to check if you don't need to register them first
. If so, StarAligment or DynamicAligment.
Anyway, all of this is not secret... image calibration is pretty straightforward (at least, forgetting non linearities from temperature variations), and there is nothing more complex that +,-,* and / operations
Don't have to apologize! This is this forum for, discussion about image processing.
About other forums... Currently I'm only posting here. The reason: Time is limited
and I had not been doing active astrophotography for more than a year. I read some other forums, from time to time, but cannot follow or participate there actively (Cloudynights and FotografiaAstronomica, for example). I know that Juan very rarely reads other forums, and do not post anywhere but here, mainly as "business policy". Also this behavior yields a better general mood, and less preoccupations
PS: We are always glad to hear comments/suggestions/critics, etc. So, don't worry and just post here anything
We are working with PI not for the money, but because this is the thing we like the most.
