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.
Hello,
I usually use QHY168C (it is cooled camera so I have never minded dark scaling), but recently I have started building new portable kit with Sony Alpha 5000. I think taking darks every night would be a massive pain, so I am interested in dark scaling, but I don't understand one think - how it deales with different temperatures? I read all exif data of sony raw file and I didn't find any temperature value. Therefore I would apprecieate information how excatly dark scaling works.
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Best Regards
It is not required to take darks every session, just do it maybe once or twice a year for a cooled camera (and make one with say 80 or so). Also, a Bad Pixel Map is good to use always as that will work for that sensor at all times. Scaling is not advised, it can be done when the signal is linear, but if there is any other issue like amp-glow, it doesn't scale properly. With a non-cooled camera, I typically make a dark library of a few different temperatures. Since that is quite tricky, I just make a good one every season. When your sensor changes with say 5 oC (or the outside temperature), that would be a nice boundary to decide when to make new ones. It isn't ideal, but that is exactly why cooled camera's were invented.
Thanks! I think I will do so - with about 3 different exposure times every 5 degree.
