2026-10-09 APP 2.0.0-beta48 has been released !
This is mainly a bug fix release for the reported bugs in beta47. In addition it has a significant User Interface performance improvement noticable when you need to process 1000s of images in APP.
2026-10-03 APP 2.0.0-beta47 has been released !
This is a very big release... many code optimizations/rewrites, many parts of APP are much faster and more precise, especially star analysis and registration are much faster ! Big mosaics will go much faster 🙂
And we introduce a new preview filter, which includes the new Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch and a General Levels Stretch, this has been long over due. The old preview filter (the panel on the right side to stretch and preview your data) has not been updated for a couple of years and it is a critical part of any APP session.
Adaptive Deep Sky Stretch or ADSS is a much more intuitive stretch algorithm. It is also color preserving (which is a great new addition in itself ! ) which means that the highlights are no longer bleached, color is maintained from the linear data while stretching. You can simply stretch your data using the sky background level and signal width sliders which work much easier and more intuitive. You no longer need to fiddle with the old complicated sliders with zoom buttons. All the zoom buttons for the sliders are made redundant. And you can enter slider values in the slider value fields yourself. I will make a youtube video in the coming days to explain and fully introduce ADSS. Once the video is ready, it will be highlighted on the forum.
RGB Combine upgrade !. The RGB Combine Tool has been rewritten mostly. The tool is faster and easier to use and most importantly, the Luminance slider to inject a luminance channel or channels into the RGB composite is now working correctly. It no longer bleaches the RGB colors. Combined with the new ADSS preview, you will get much better and easier great composites with great color! I will also explain this in a new youtube video.
Another example of Canon 5Ds and APP. Between the object being high enough in the sky from La Palma, the end of darkness and having to throw away a few frames because of wind, I ended up with 26 subs of 60s. So, a total integration time of 26 minutes.
Equipment: Canon 5Ds, Canon 300mm f/2.8 II (at 2.8), Astrotrac. The image is a 35 Megapixel crop (downsized here) concentrating on an area with complimentary colors. The 5Ds is unmodified and not very sensitive to red, but the blues and the yellows are superb.Â
Someone on Cloudy Nights had the blanket statement that the Canon 5Ds is a studio camera, not an astro camera.
Probably.
But APP chews away happily on these large (50MP) files and I like the results.
Processing:
- APP (1.059)Â Calibration of lights and darks, vignetting (I did not take light frames), light pollution, BG neutralisation and DDP.
- Photoshop: Color contrast enhancements, light level dependent noise redution, sharpening and star repair (some blue color halos, black lighthouse artifacts around bright stars and odd starshapes because of wind gusts).
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Hi Anne @annehouw,
Amazing image 😉 for only 26 mintues...
Indeed, I am missing a little bit of Red , but like you indicate, the yellows and blues are superb.
I think the 5Ds should be a great camera for Astrophotography especially with shorter focal lengths (like you show here) and low focal ratios, you obviously get more resolution in your images 😉 when compared to camera's with bigger pixels.
Excellent,
Mabula
