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.
Stock Canon 5D MkIV and William Optics Zenithstar 61 with flattener on a iOptron SkyGuider Pro guided in PHD2 with ZWO ASI120mm and 30mm f/4 guidescope.
30 x 4 minute exposures of the Deneb region, 20 darks/flats and 50 bias frames captured with APT. Calibrated and integrated in Astro Pixel Processor then finished in PixInsight and PS. Full frame image with 100px crop on the borders to remove the dithering artifacts.
This is the full sized jpg from the image processing so you can see the corners, which are pretty good (not perfect but pretty good)
Center (Dec, dms): +44° 08' 03.276"
Size: 5.56 x 3.6 deg
Radius: 3.311 deg
Pixel scale: 3.07 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 341 degrees E of N
Nice! No over processing, great detail. You might up the saturation a bit maybe?
Nice! No over processing, great detail. You might up the saturation a bit maybe?
I did consider lifting the saturation some more Vincent but in the very small regions where the Ha is more dense I was clipping the red slightly and losing fine detail so I left it at this level. I appreciate the constructive comments as sometimes you can get too close to your own work and miss the obvious and less obvious problems 🙂
I've got a spare Canon 5D MkIII body which I'm seriously thinking about modding for more Ha sensitivity but struggling to find someone in the UK to mod it lol I also need to invest in a proper EQ mount so revisiting targets for more data will be easier in the future.
The SkyGuider Pro is a great portable mount with the ZWO ASI120mm guiding it but I'm relying on plate solving from the DSLR and then manually re-targeting which is a pain to be honest, a simple slew to a known Ra/Dec position would be very useful.
best regards
Kev
Ah yes, well that does make the image more impressive! Manually targeting, kudos from me. Take your time when picking your next mount, read about the negatives around them as well and which ones are considered good for what you want. Been there, picked the wrong one at first. 🙂
Ah yes, well that does make the image more impressive! Manually targeting, kudos from me. Take your time when picking your next mount, read about the negatives around them as well and which ones are considered good for what you want. Been there, picked the wrong one at first. 🙂
Oh trust me I know the downfalls. I was heavily into Solar Ha imaging for a number of years using a NEQ6 mount with a hand-built 4" f/11 refractor modded for Solar work. I lost interest and sold the equipment onto a friend who is still addicted to the sun lol.
I'm pretty sure I'll pick up an HEQ5 with belt mod for any serious astrophotography work but camera mod first. I like wide field images, hence the WO61 refractor, and wouldn't want anything much larger than that on the mount so it will work well at that sort of payload.
regards
Kev
Ohh hand built, now that is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I guess you didn't make your own optics as well did you?
Ohh hand built, now that is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I guess you didn't make your own optics as well did you?
Life is too short for hand grinding optics lol. I used a Lyra Optics refractor with a D-ERF filter on the front and then the tunable ethalon out of a Coronado PST Personal Solar Telescope with some Borg adaptors to make up the correct optical path and spacings
Kev
Agreed, too many cool things in life and too little time. 🙂 Really nice, did you make a overview of the built somewhere by any chance? I love reading those.
Agreed, too many cool things in life and too little time. 🙂 Really nice, did you make a overview of the built somewhere by any chance? I love reading those.
I did Vincent, the complete build was documented but I lost it on a website crash 🙁 Some of the build images can be found with this search link http://www.photosbykev.co.uk/?s=loha
Kev
Agreed, too many cool things in life and too little time. 🙂 Really nice, did you make a overview of the built somewhere by any chance? I love reading those.
I did Vincent, the complete build was documented but I lost it on a website crash 🙁 Some of the build images can be found with this search link http://www.photosbykev.co.uk/?s=loha
Kev
I found a link (without images) on the wayback archive lol http://www.photosbykev.com/wordpress/2011/11/29/pst-modifications /"> https://web.archive.org/web/20161115132612/http://www.photosbykev.com/wordpress/2011/11/29/pst-modifications/
Haha awesome, thanks!
