[Solved] Calibration no longer works.

I can't really see what's going on in this case. Would you want to upload a small subset of your data to our server? You can upload 10 lights, 10 darks, etc.

Hi,

They're uploading now. I wonder if it is because I changed my camera to lossless compressed raw? This never used to be an issue but now it seems APP must be reading the resolution as different.

Now I can not only not calibrate my files but I get this when integrating. The program gets less usable as time progresses.

Well this is very strange, so my guess is that this is indeed a data issue. Sorry I wasn't online, my laptop was misbehaving for a while. 🙁 I'll have a look later.

@vincent-mod Thanks, this program is currently useless to me and I would really love to process some of my latest images soon.

Hi Michael, unfortunately we had an issue on the server, would you be able to send me the ARW and BPM again in another way? Maybe using a shared folder or so.

Hi Vincent, 

At this point, I'm almost 100% certain the issue is the fact I'm using Sony's lossless compressed raw. It shows the calibration frames are a different size by a few pixels, not to mention the pink band around the outside of single images or as you see above in the mosaic attempt. This definitely was not an issue in the past as I've been using compressed raw for a few months now (but the calibration frames were shot in regular RAW). 

Here's a folder with some raws I shot a few weeks ago along with my old calibration frames which used to correct things just fine.

Would love an update on this so I can actually use the program. Thanks

Hi Michael @mikeabr,

The master calibration frames need to be identical in raw image dimensions, other wise there is no way of knowing how to calibrated data on pixel level, right?

So if you change the internal camera settings of your Sony camera in such a way that the dimensions of the raw data are different then before, then consequently you need to shoot new calibration data for the lights show with those settings. Even if the dimensions were the same and you switch between lossless compressed raw and a different format, then it would be best to also shoot new calibration data.

Hope this helps?

Mabula

@mabula-admin sure, I can accept that switching the raw format would require redoing calibration frames, although to be quite clear this was never an issue in the past.

The more pressing matter which you didn't address here is the fact that APP is adding a pink band around the files which makes stacking (without calibration) impossible, let alone stitching two panels or more. 

Posted by: @mikeabr

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@mabula-admin sure, I can accept that switching the raw format would require redoing calibration frames, although to be quite clear this was never an issue in the past.

 

The more pressing matter which you didn't address here is the fact that APP is adding a pink band around the files which makes stacking (without calibration) impossible, let alone stitching two panels or more. 

@mikeabr hmm.... APP works like this since many years. If the dimensions do not match the masters will simply not be used/matched to the lights. So if it worked in the past, then the dimensions must have matched. Maybe you also changed the aspect ratio of your raws in the camera as well causing this issue?

The pink band is weird and needs to be explained yes, I will have a look at the data. In the meantime, did you check if the camera matrix is causing this? This is a new setting in APP in menu 0) RAW/FITS. Does it work okay if you disable it?

Mabula

@mabula-admin I know that all too well, but I'm not even able to calibrate panels that used to be able to be calibrated. I have literally used the exact same data previously to calibrate and now it does not work. There's something weird going on with how APP is interpreting the resolution of these images because lossless compressed or uncompressed there should be absolutely no difference in resolution.

Something within the software has changed which shrinks the actual size of the data. Hence the weird pink band that shows up even after stacking. 

It is not affected by enabling or disabling the new camera matrix setting.

Hi @mikeabr,

I will test your data now, sorry to have kept you waiting. I will report back later today with my findings.

Mabula

Hi Michael @mikeabr,

Clearly something changed here with respect to your camera settings or our 3rd party dependency LibRaw which is responsible for processing data from a consumer camera like your Sony.

Now, to start with you are using calibration Masters from Aug/Sep 2022, the BPM and MasterDark should be fine, the MasterFlat probably needs updating after such a long time. But that is not the issue here of course.

The issue is a change in the image dimensions and the pink border is simply there already without doing any calibration, you see it when you load a single sub:

In the dimensions shown for the raws, we see 7008x4672 - 7168x5120 . The first 2 numbers indicate the actual image size after cropping away the sensor raw borders. The last 2 numbers are the dimensions of the sensor as reported by the raw metadata.

The masters should calibrate the whole sensor, so their dimensions of 7040x4688 should match the last 2 numbers of the raw dimensions, which they don't obviously.

The question now is, what changed here? You set the camera to use Sony Lossless compressed, right? That was changed in the camera settings.

I checked my test Sony files, the problem is there is well, all of a sudden the RAW sensor image dimensions change when you set the camera to Sony lossless compressed... This problem also shows with much older APP versions, so I do not think that LibRaw changed things are.

It points to a bug with processing Sony Lossless compressed images unfortunately. I will try to fix this a.s.a.p. This bug would solve the pink banding. But for calibration of your data, there is no other solution than that you make new masters with setting the camera to lossless compression so the raw sensor dimensions will match.

Mabula

@mabula-admin Thanks for looking into it. 

I don't mind redoing calibration frames at all. I just need the pink band bug gone so I can use the program again 🙂

Posted by: @mikeabr

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@mabula-admin Thanks for looking into it. 

I don't mind redoing calibration frames at all. I just need the pink band bug gone so I can use the program again 🙂

I will fix it as soon as possible, thank you for reporting it. Next release should have this fixed 😉

Hi Michael @mikeabr,

I have fixed the issue that caused the pink bands 😉 it was a problem with correctly applying the raw crop to these sony lossless compressed files. I have checked on all sony models for which we have sony raws and all work okay now. The next release 2.0.0-beta18 will contain this fix.

Mabula

@mabula-admin Beta 18 did not fix it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XusUb4NeVftrSOMax3e9lDwW96FsVTAB/view?usp=sharing

Hi Michael @mikeabr,

Indeed, I am sorry, this beta18 release yesterday was a release which did not contain any other work for the next release to solve an issue where some users could not start the software at all. It was important to get that fix out immediately.

I will make beta19 today including the fix for your problem with the Sony lossless compression images. I will let you know once the download is avaible so you can check it out 😉 Again, I am terribly sorry I forgot to include this fix for you in beta18.

Mabula

Hi Michael @mikeabr,

Please try beta19 😉 and let me know if it is okay now !

Mabula

@mabula-admin works now, thank you!

Now if we can just fix mosaics for landscape astrophotography... 😊