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.
Hi...
I experienced recently that some images shows a distinct blue tint after integration. All taken with ZWO ASI2600c, forced Bayer supported, flats, dark and bias. Example is the 2hrs 10 min integration of M33 taken yesterday where only light pollution has been corrected in APP and the image streched to non linear. The image was shot using a lumicon deep sky filter as well as the integrated UV-filter in the camera. The funny thing is that the blue tint only shows up in some images. In other images (like the attached integration of Rosette Nebula, Nikon 300mm f2.8 3hrs 40min) shows normal colours. Same filter, same camera, same seeing and same process. Any comments on how to avoid the blue tint would be appreciated....
best
Alf J.
@ajnilsen Does this only happen with the ASI2600MC camera? If yes please have a look at the white balance settings of the ZWO driver. The white balance for red is set to 0.52 and for blue to 0.95 (on a scale from 0 to 1) by default and both should be set to 0.5 in order to get good colors. I don’t know why ZWO have decided to set the white balances like that but they did.
Hi...
Yes, only for the ASI2600c and not always. I'll check the white balance settings and reply. Thanks for the tip!
best
AJ
Hi again....
I checked the white balance settings for ASI2600 using ASICap and it was 50:50. However, when I downloaded the latested ASCOM driver version and installed it, the settings changed to 95:1 and had to be manually adjusted to 50:50. Anyway, the driver used when taking the attached photos was the one that showed up 50:50. Could it be that the settings change from session to session?? Funny that the tint only appears in some images...
best
Alf J.
@ajnilsen The white balance is set by the driver so if it changes then it would be a question for the forum of the software that you use to take the pictures and not here, sorry.
