[Solved] Pure red pic - beginner's mistake? - SOLVED, data is only 8bits

Pure red, that is a new one for me. 🙂 I'm not seeing an appendix, can you maybe show some screenshots?

Thanks for your quick reply! I sent an appendix, didn't work - I try again.

Ah there it is now, pops up in the message itself:

I tried the whole process a second time and deleted all the data created by APP before. Unfortunately the result was the same... Think I've made a real serious mistake.

Ok, what happens when you press the green GL4 button on top?

@vincent-mod

Sorry, the click on OpenGL didn't help.

This time I'll send you two screenshots plus following the console output. Starting on page 29 bottom there are a lot of warnings logged:

Seems there is a problem caused by the CMOS sensor as this warning in the log says repeatedly:

"normally, the median value of the MasterDark should be the same or larger than the median value of the MasterBias because a dark should always contain the entire bias signal plus the dark current and possible amp glow signals
some CMOS sensors however exhibit this behaviour due to CMOS technology."

I used the ZWO ASI533MC pro camera with the Sony IMX533MC sensor. What's to do now?

Hi Peter, so that might indicate an issue with the calibration data somehow. Does it work when you leave out calibration frames?

Hi Vincent,

I tried several times other settings back and forth, no progress but a a red pic. Finally I loaded the lights solely as you suggested and started the whole process leaving all settings as default. At least all the above mentioned warnings in the log file disappeared but the result was the same again: a pure red pic ... See console output below.

I have no clue what's wrong, you have an idea?

Hi again,

to prove I didn't capture silly bad images I send you one I loaded into APP:

Hello,
so how to go on? Do you have any idea what's the issue and how to solve it? Or do you recommend to use another software?
No answer isn't much good...

The no answer was due to illness, my apologies. I'm downloading your fits now. At least it's a unique thing as I've not seen others having this issue till now.

Good morning,

Oh I'm sorry - hope you're fine again!

Thanks for your reply! If you need more information pls let me know.

Will do, I'll have a look at it today. 🙂

Mm, so I just loaded the above picture you attached in 1.079 and it loaded just fine. It does have a weird issue as if a lot of data is missing, also seen in the histogram. I'm also seeing bad pixels, so it's not calibrated. Could you try leaving out the bias frames?

Thanks for your reply!

I sent you one light image. Processing all the lights (without any darks and bias) resulted in a red pic once again (see above at 2 May).

What about the warnings written in the console logs as "...due to CMOS technology..." (see 30 April)?

I remember the guiding was quite poor for I tried a new alignment technique. And I captured all the images using StellarMate transferring the images remotely.

Could this have a negative impact?

Posted by: @peter-johannsen-kluggmx-de

Thanks for your reply!

I sent you one light image. Processing all the lights (without any darks and bias) resulted in a red pic once again (see above at 2 May).

What about the warnings written in the console logs as "...due to CMOS technology..." (see 30 April)?

So, recently CMOS sensors have become popular and it turned out that they don't behave as expected (regarding noise), when you shoot with very short exposure times. This is why we recommend to use bias frames with 0.05 to 1 second as exposure times. That solves the issue for those sensors.

Posted by: @peter-johannsen-kluggmx-de

I remember the guiding was quite poor for I tried a new alignment technique. And I captured all the images using StellarMate transferring the images remotely.

Could this have a negative impact?

Not because of the guiding, but any software in between that might process the taken images, might interfere yes. So that depends totally on the source of the data, making sure you load the unaltered, raw data into APP is always advised and I personally would try to store them locally, instead of via Wifi, sometimes some data corruption might take place in that way.

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for your advice!

You're right, the bias had the shortest possible exposure time of 0.000032 secs - as recommended everywhere. I tried to process the 120 secs lights exclusively but it resulted in another pure red pic. So this couldn't be the cause of error actually.

Data loss during transfer - I can't really imagine as StellarMate is used by many others, but heaven knows... Another possibiliy could be that I switched on red filter or something in the capture settings by mistake. Do you see hints for that in the data?

I think I'll try another capture sequence and store the images locally as a precaution. Hope APP's trial period won't run out before I'll have a clear sky next time here.

Could you pls have a last look on the pic's data regarding the filter error idea?

If you don't have enough trial time, just hit Mabula with a request for an extension, that's no problem. Also, it might be interesting to share your red-session with us to further investigate (if you want). You can upload a subset (that still causes the issue at your side) to our server. Use login and password: appuser

Create a directory named 'PeterJK-redIssue' and upload there. If it is something with the data we will be able to see.

Thanks a lot, I'll come back to you and Manila if necessary. It's a pity I can't use APP right from the start for I like it's structural procedure and it's "all-inclusive" offer.

Clear skies, bye for now!

Sorry, Mabula of course! Stupid auto-completing system...

Hi Vincent,

good news: the frames I captured last night resulted in a normal output - no red pic anymore! I captured just 12 light frames for testing, no additional calibration frames. Anyway I am happy to see M81 on the integration frame this time!

The changes were first I used a new flattener designed for my telescope, second the guiding was much better this time. As a result all frames had a complete histogram with all colours, the frames last time had blue odd histograms. Maybe the new flattener (late shipment) solved the issue focussing the photons exactly so that all the camera's pixels (ZWO ASI533MC-pro) got their share of light. Whatever, APP processed the light frames normally and I am looking forward to continue testing APP!

As you recommended I will contact Mabula to ask him to extend the trial period a little. This "pure red pic" problem cost me a lot of time including waiting for the next clear sky.

Best regards,

Peter

Still very strange though, but maybe that's part of the cause yes. Yes, please mail to him on his mail address: mabula@astropixelprocessor.com with the reason for your request and you'll get one. Good luck!

Thanks for the e-mail address!

I sent Mabula my request, didn't answer yet. Perhaps he is busy with the new APP release now.

Thanks, if he doesn't respond I'll ask him for an update. Please let me know, thank you.

Hi Vincent,

Mabula didn't react yet but it's no longer necessary. I'm through testing APP so far to see if it's useful for me. When I have new frames to process the next time I'll buy a license, probably a renter's one for another trial period of one year.

Thanks a lot for your support!

I take it back, Mabula (or someone else) gave me a new trial period until 26 July for all computer systems! I just looked into my account's order list and found the entries.

Thank you very much!

Oh, the new installation didn't work, the old license code wasn't accepted by APP - an new one I have not got. Hope it will work tomorrow when the license date is over.

Mmm, ok did you check the cfg button on the top-left? There you can deactivate and activate the computer. I think it should be ok automatically, if that doesn't work we'll get it working, no worries.