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 have two D5500 cameras.
One is astro-modified and I use it quite often for astrophotography with great results. Use APP for stacking.
The other one is not modified and I normally use it for very wide-field (nightscapes, etc). Usually stack with Sequator.
This weekend I shot the Orion region with this un-modified camera and 24mm lens. 288 frames...
Stacked with DSS because it's very fast - great result!
Then I thought that APP could do better - but oddly, APP produced a result inferior to DSS.
The brightest stars look really strange.
I am puzzled as to why...
See below:
DSS
APP
Any idea?
Thanks!
Max
I experimented some...
If I open a single light frame with different software:
APP, Sequator, Affinity, Photoshop, ACDSee look similar and show saturated star cores and red halos (BAD).
DSS, Siril, Pixinsight look similar and do not show saturated star cores and red halos (GOOD).
Similar situation is with stacking:
APP, Sequator, Affinity are similar and show saturated star cores and red halos (BAD).
DSS, Siril, Pixinsight are similar and do not show saturated star cores and red halos (GOOD).
Just reporting...
@maxthebuilder The stars in the DSS image that you posted here look saturated to me as well. The halos are smaller than in the APP image but they are still there.
Wouter,
Yes, you are right but the difference is obvious.
I cannot use the stack produced by APP.
DSS on the other hand is quite acceptable.
@maxthebuilder The stars in the DSS image that you posted here look saturated to me as well. The halos are smaller than in the APP image but they are still there.
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@maxthebuilder I agree, its not looking good. It seems like too much processing going on
Hi @maxthebuilder @wvreeven @astrogee,
The APP result with these saturated colors is the result of having the camera matrix enabled in 0) RAW/FITS. This is a relatively new setting in APP for regular consumer camera's like Canon, Nikon, Sony etc.... If you enable the camera matrix, APP will produce colors as intended by the camera manufacturer, from sensor colors to linear RGB. If you disable the camera matrix, you will get just the sensor colors which should look identical to DSS.
If you use a modified DSLR, the camera matrix setting should be turned off really because that matrix assumes a non modified camera of course.
On some forums there is a big debate about this camera matrix, some claim it is essential to be able to get good colors with OSC camera's, others claim it is not so important 😉
So simply turn off the camera matrix in 0) Raw/Fits and reprocess and let us know if all is okay now.
We at least provide the option to enable/disable the camera matrix, i do not think that DSS nor Pixinsight nor Siril provide this ?
Mabula
Thanks @Mabula, This feature is excellent for normal DSLRs. I asked Siril developers about this a while ago now and they didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Our friend at Stark Labs had this matrix in Nebulosity but it was really hard to know what numbers to put in - had to do it manually. I'm glad to see the feature is now in APP. As for how important it is it's certainly debatable as it can seem like marginal effect. However, anecdotally it seems to me that the images taken with a stock DSLR have better colour and better star colour than with an Astrocam, where the colour matrix is ignored.
Hi @astrogee,
Yes, it is rather a technical and scientifical discussion, and maybe also a subjective one as well. Personally, I think the camera matrix is very important for normal daylight photography and I would think most people would agree to that. But for astrophotography I think nothing is wrong with simply using the sensor colors as starting point in processing. At least we provide this option now for the user 😉
Mabula
Mabula -
Yes, it all boiled down to the camera matrix and white balance.
I had no idea this feature was introduced...
Stacks from my modified DSLR started to look strange back in June (beta 15 : ).
Turned that off and now everything is good again.
Thanks!
