What Keith's Image Stacker provides, more than anything else, is a workspace in which to align many similar images (say from a quicktime movie of the moon, a planet, or a series of long exposures. Mar 30, 2018 The alignment task (before being able to properly stack the images) is mandatory in order to compensate the for relative the motion of the moon in front of the camera between the successive shots. In the following, the raw moon pictures have been acquired with a SONY SLT-A55 DSLR combined with a SIGMA 120-400 lens and the following settings. Jan 04, 2017 The goal is freeze the astromospheric turblence and then to reduce to signal / noise ratio. So here is some of the best and free moon stacking softwares: Autostakkert 2: AS!2. – Is a free program and software of planetary and moon stacking in levels of grey intended to produce excellent results of stacking with least possible. Focus stacking software: a post-processing technique that extends the depth of field in your photographs.To use this technique, you take several images of the same scene, focusing your lens on a different part of the object for each shot. Then you can use Helicon Focus to blend all the sharp areas together and produce a completely sharp image.
When I first got the Mac, I had a lot of trouble getting Wine to run reliably and eventually ended up doing my alignment and processing manually in The Gimp. However, that's time consuming and rather fiddly and limited to stacking static exposures. However, I've recently started finding quite a bit of Mac OS based astrophotography software. Starry Landscape Stacker makes it possible to produce landscape photographs taken at night that have both low noise and stars rendered as points. It does this by compositing several images taken in rapid succession, shifting the sky as needed to align the stars. A free trial version is available on.
NEW!
We are happy to introduce our new product that has no analogues on the modern photography accessories market - Helicon FB Tube. Mounted on the camera as a conventional extension tube, Helicon FB Tube automates focus bracketing in single shot and continuous shooting modes. Adjust settings, hold down the shutter button to shoot a stack and process it in Helicon Focus to achieve a perfectly sharp image.
Helicon Focus and Focus Stacking
The digital revolution of the last few years made professional photo hardware widely available and affordable. Now it's the advanced technology that makes the difference. Plain single shots are bit by bit giving place to improved and more sophisticated technologies like HDR and EDoF.
Today it's hard to imagine macro or micro photography without focus stacking technique. Professional photographers and enthusiasts seeking to keep up with the trend take advantage of focus stacking to create eye-catching images.
With focus stacking software you can make your usual camera render results that could not be achieved even with a classic tilt-shift lens. Take several shots at different focus distances instead of just one, and Helicon Focus will quickly and smartly combine the stack into a fully focused image.
Nowadays micro photography, close-ups, jewelry and product photography became truly dependent on focus stacking. But it does not matter what you shoot – landscapes or flowers, animals or still-life – Helicon Focus will make your images stand out. Watch the tutorials, read the articles and impress your colleagues and friends with your new photo achievements!
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Recommendations for your start in imaging on the Mac
There's a few things that need to be covered here as a starting point. I make some assumptions that you’re familiar with Astronomy, possibly already have a first telescope, and are ready to start taking some images. First you have to make a decision as to whether you want to take photos of the planets and Moon, or if you want to take photos of nebula, star clusters, or galaxies. Basically, the decision between planetary, or deep space objects. These things are not exclusive to each other, and can be done with the same telescope but the results might not be optimal for each choice. Your telescope is probably suited to one or the other. (Edit: If you’re just getting into the hobby, have a look at this article on 5 things to consider if you’re interested in astrophotography.)
Planetary imaging on the Mac
Planetary is fairly straight forward. Large aperture scopes like 6' and above are great for this, and you don't need to have an equatorial mount. Any Alt/Az (Altitude Azimuth) mount will work. A high speed web cam or astro camera and Mac laptop are the only additional entry level hardware requirements. Since most planets are relatively small, the larger the scope, the closer/larger they will look, and the more detail you can get out of your images.
Free Stacking Software
Recommended starting software for planetary imaging:
- OACapture - for taking pictures or videos: free
- SiriL - for stacking planetary images: free
- PixInsight - for processing your planetary images to get the most detail out of them: $230 EUR
Unfortunately planetary processing software is a gap right now on the Mac. You need wavelet processing to get the most detail out of your images, and currently PixInsight is the only real option. There are two other apps that might run on older hardware and operating systems (Lynkeos and Keiths Image stacker), but they're not developed any longer, and crash often on modern hardware. They are however, free applications.
For more advanced options, you might switch out Planetary Imager for FireCapture.
Deep sky object imaging on the Mac
DSO imaging requires a little more effort. Because this type of imaging focuses on long exposure shots, where tracking your object across the sky accurately is a requirement, you'll need a German Equatorial Mount (GEM). These deep sky objects can vary greatly in size, with a large number of them being bigger than earth's moon in the night sky. Because of this, a large scope isn't a requirement to get started. In fact, it's preferable to start with a smaller scope, like an 80mm refractor. The reason for this is that the larger your scope, the more accurate your tracking needs to be, the better your mount needs to be to handle the weight and accuracy. The difficulty (and cost) goes up exponentially with larger telescopes. So start small. All of the telescopes I use are relatively small (under 6' in size), and all fit on my entry level GEM mount, the Advanced VX by Celestron.
Additional requirements are going to be a guiding camera and guide scope. This is essentially a small telescope mounted on top of your main scope, with a guide camera. This camera's job is to watch the star movement, and send corrections to your GEM mount when the mount isn't moving accurately. For entry level equipment, this is a necessity, as these mounts are far from accurate for long exposure imaging.
You'll also need a main imaging camera, and your options vary widely here. You have the option of using a DSLR (maybe you have one already in your possession), or a dedicated astrophotography camera that can do color or mono. Mono is a black and white camera, that when combined with color filters, can achieve a higher fidelity color image than a regular color camera can but with more effort and expense.
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Recommended starting software for deep sky imaging:
- Cloudmakers Astro Imager - for taking pictures with an astronomy camera: $21.99
- Cloudmakers AstroDSLR - for taking pictures with a DSLR camera: $21.99
- PHD2 - Guiding software for your guide scope and camera: Free
- Astro Pixel Processor - Processing software for your images. $50/year, or $125 to purchase outright.
Photo Stacking Software
For more advanced options you might switch out Astro Imager for EKOS. And Astro Pixel Processor for PixInsight, or Star Tools.