No RGB Data with Nikon RAW Files during Batch Processing or Image Integration

[crose01]

Hi Georg

I've replicated what you have shown me and it works okay however I have do a BatchFormatConversion and the respective output files are grey. There's an example in the PixInsight Folder in DropBox along with a screenshot of my RAW settings.

Regards

Chris

[georg.viehoever]

In BatchFormatConversion, you have a field called "Input format hints". The default setting there is "raw cfa". According to http://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=3118.msg21348#msg21348 , this means that it reads your raw image as monochrome. What you probably need is just "raw" or "raw vng" or something like that.

Georg

[papaf]

I think the solution is pretty simple. I took a look at your fit file, and it's regular. It's black and wait allright, because it's still bayered.
You just have to debayer it.
If you open a RAW file, no matter what format, and you just save it as fit, it will not get debayered. So naturally the resulting fit file will be b/w.
The color information is still there, though. What I did is simply debayer your fit file, and I obtained a correctly colored image.

EDIT: just a guess: are you using BatchFormatConversion or BatchDebayer? BatchDebayer is the correct tool if your images are already calibrated, because it also converts them to color (debayer). BatchFormatConversion just change the format, but the images will still be bayered, so b/w until you have calibrated your images and then converted them to color later.

BTW, if you could tell us what you're trying to do on the whole, it would help. Those kind of tools are nearly always not needed. There's probably a better way to do what you're trying to do using other tools.

[crose01]

I have sixty seven * thirty second light frames (plus darks, flats and bias) that I took with a NIKOPN D80 at the FP of my Celestron C8. These are my first attempt
at DS Imaging and were taken two weeks ago. I have a register copy of Nebulosity and on the whole I'm pleased with it. However I'm doing a trial
of PI and I'm very impressed by it's capabilities and its steep learning curve.

I'm aware of the nuances with older type NIKON (Mode 3) and the automatic Nikon De bayering. I seem to have a lot of noise (probably amp glow) in my light frames which takes some getting rid of without affecting the object I'm imaging. I will be getting an ATIK 314L+ on Saturday so this in itself shouldn't be an issue however I have some big lenses for the Nikon and plan on doing some wide field imaging. I've been watching Jason Brown's videos on M33 on YouTube to get some ideas.

You are correct in that I am using BatchConversion to load up this set of files. takes around six hours to do all the processing.


Regards

Chris

[crose01]

In BatchFormatConversion, you have a field called "Input format hints". The default setting there is "raw cfa". According to http://pixinsight.com/forum/index.php?topic=3118.msg21348#msg21348 , this means that it reads your raw image as monochrome. What you probably need is just "raw" or "raw vng" or something like that.

Georg

Hi Georg

That did it I was able to see the colour by using just 'raw' as the Input Hint.

Regards

Chris

[papaf]

You should really use BatchPreProcessing then. It can read the NEF files directly and does all the preprocessing in one pass.

[georg.viehoever]

...That did it I was able to see the colour by using just 'raw' as the Input Hint....

8)

[crose01]

Thanks for your help Georg I owe you a beer when I'm next in the Netherlands.

Did you notice anything particularly wrong with my 'lights'. I'm assuming the curvature around the edges is to do with coma or is this
down to field rotation from a bad polar alignment?

Regards

Chris

[Andres.Pozo]

Did you notice anything particularly wrong with my 'lights'. I'm assuming the curvature around the edges is to do with coma or is this
down to field rotation from a bad polar alignment?

I think the main problem is of bad focus. You have to improve that. It is something that cannot be fixed by the software.

I think there is also a problem of collimation, but I am not sure because the problems of collimation often get exaggerated when the image is not well focused.

[crose01]

Ive been working on my collimation the last few nights and will hopefully get a better focussing setup with the ATIK camera and it's software. I may invest in one of these new focusers for the back of my SCT to give me more fine focus.

[papaf]

I'm happy you've solved your problem, but I don't think you're using the right approach nonetheless.
What you've done now is debayer your image while converting them from NEF to fit. This does noe really serve any purpose if the images are not calibrated, which I'm not sure of.
If they're indeed not calibrated, you must calibrate them _before_ debayering. Keep that in mind.

[crose01]

I've carefully rerun the BatchPreProcessing and used the RAW's with first doing a FormatConversion and I have integrated all sixty seven frames and removed the hot pixels during the process. I'm now left with this green image which SCNR will remove. I'm then left with a very noisy background that I can't remove without affecting the object what would you recommend as the next step? I've put the integrated image in the DropBox Folder.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pcq1h58vjiqpdvx/lThR03SCtD

Regards

Chris

[papaf]

Your data is very very noisy, which is strange for such a short exposure.
I still have my doubts on converting the images before the BatchPreProcessing. Why don't you use the raws directly?
Also, I think the debayer process went wrong.

[crose01]

Yes that's the conclusion I came to and noise was the main reason I'm getting the ATIK 314L+. I suspect the camera has a lot of amp noise and even if I was able to remove it using darks it will still degrade the final image. I did this BatchImportConversion on the RAW's and checked the De Bayer settings for this camera as well.

This is a 'first light' for my AstroPhotography so I'm reasonably happy I got anything. I will probably get a CANON D600 for wide field photography as it will be less noisy but my main focus will be cooled CCD.

I have until the end of July to fully evaluate PI and so far I\m impressed by all the features and will probably purchase a licence. I could spend a lifetime learning how to get the best out of and probably will.

Regards

Chris