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.
I am looking at using either NB or dual/multi band pass filters with my OSC camera (A ZWO ASI2600MC)Â
It is pretty obvious which debayer settings to use when integrating light frames, but do dark or flat frames need to be debayered using the same settings? I imagine flat frames do need to be debayered the same way as the light frames but I am not so sure about darks, are the dark frames subtracted pixel by pixel, prior to debayering?
@the_bluester We use dual band filters with our ASI2600MC all the time and it works great. As for debayering, depending on the imaging software you either can let APP detect the Bayer pattern automatically (which is the default) or you need to specify it in tab 0. Then just load in all lights, flats, darks and darkflats (which work better on this modern CMOS camera than bias) and let APP do its job. The calibration frames will not be debayered but used pixel by pixel. Only after all calibration frames have been applied will debayering be done.
Actually, I have found the ASI2600 output to respond well to bias frames (Which was certainly not the case with my old ASI294) It is a real step forward as it massively simplifies shooting flats. I use Voyager for capture and being able to use bias frames instead of dark-flats means I can have it automatically shoot dawn flats for me without the constraint of needing the flats to be a fixed exposure length.
@the_bluester That's good to know. I use Ekos myself and with that software I find it easier to shoot darkflats. What exposure time do you use for bias?
I set it to 0 seconds and let the camera driver sort it out.
