Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

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FRAZ
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Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

Hi There,

I followed Marty's journey mainly and also sent to Beat Kohler in Switzerland for the adapters. So I first of all want to say a big Thankyou to him and those who went before him and advised we that came after.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25420

I have only just been out and proved the concept working for myself and even then it was too cloudy to image but I could see structures on the screen enough to tune a little.

I'll drop you an image of my setup including diagonal for now. ES 127 triplet with a full aperture D-ERF
DSQuark.jpg
DSQuark.jpg (208.37 KiB) Viewed 4838 times


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by MalVeauX »

Looks good! Any results yet? I found the biggest challenge was getting them both on band to a degree that the double limb was eliminated.

Very best,


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

3966 copy with a touch of photoshop and AI denoise.jpg
3966 copy with a touch of photoshop and AI denoise.jpg (2.02 MiB) Viewed 4809 times
Sorry it took so long. There were many teasing clouds but I got some breaks enough to get a sample. There were a lot of clouds but even through the clouds I got better contrast than quark alone. (tested quark compared to Quark and PST and there was a lot more detail. (time of cloud interference limited fair testing proof))

I could not get more than a couple of hundred shots of a limb version but will try to post it in all its horror later.


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

MalVeauX wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:48 am Looks good! Any results yet? I found the biggest challenge was getting them both on band to a degree that the double limb was eliminated.

Very best,
I'm just getting an image together but have read your thread extensively and will examine the results more thoroughly when I capture some edges.

I have only had the Quark for a session now and it is the first pressure tuned etalon I have had to work with so this is all a big tuning turning learning whirlwind at the moment.

I may have lucked out on listening to all of the advice so far and am a step or two ahead but I am far from the finished article. Any advice is welcome.

Fraz.


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by marktownley »

Great results! I've done the same too.


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

At the end of the day I would recommend it if you have the bits lying around and it will give you 20%.

Don't go spending hundreds of pounds on this though, spend more time looking for good seeing and spending time with those you love.

Buy quality, and in parts that are exchangeable or that are a the top of their game. The value jump over the last few years has been huge.


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by marktownley »

FRAZ wrote: Sun Apr 24, 2022 2:39 pm At the end of the day I would recommend it if you have the bits lying around and it will give you 20%.

Don't go spending hundreds of pounds on this though, spend more time looking for good seeing and spending time with those you love.

Buy quality, and in parts that are exchangeable or that are a the top of their game. The value jump over the last few years has been huge.
Sage advice :cool:


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by highfnum »

had bits around
it works pretty well
not as tight as Lunt-Quark
but you can see difference
qrkpst.jpg
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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by highfnum »

BTW
i tried a prom quark model with PST etalon
it basically converts prom model to chromosphere model
visually it quite pronounced
here is test shots - did not add any contrast to images
no PST etalon
fc2_save_2022-04-24-153137-0000apo80promqrkonly.jpg
fc2_save_2022-04-24-153137-0000apo80promqrkonly.jpg (239.29 KiB) Viewed 4735 times


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by highfnum »

with pst etalon
fc2_save_2022-04-24-152407-0000apo80promqrkwithpst.jpg
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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by highfnum »

it was very uniform

also tried with chromo combo model
that was problem
in focus becomes real issue


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

Most of my other shots were drowned in clouds so had major banding and gradients even with a flat I just couldn't recover other than this one. I put it through Pixinsight DBE.
3993 copy mono.jpg
3993 copy mono.jpg (714.89 KiB) Viewed 4697 times


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by christian viladrich »

Nice mod and first results !


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

Got a couple more shots this morning and in particular a representative example of comparing the quark alone versus the quark and pst etalon.
Quark only straight from AS3.jpg
Quark only straight from AS3.jpg (218.49 KiB) Viewed 4625 times
Quark and PST straight out of AS3.jpg
Quark and PST straight out of AS3.jpg (249.34 KiB) Viewed 4625 times
Sun_93114_Quark alone_light.jpg
Sun_93114_Quark alone_light.jpg (795.12 KiB) Viewed 4625 times
Sun_093802_limit000000-000471_lapl6_ap3992_imp copy.jpg
Sun_093802_limit000000-000471_lapl6_ap3992_imp copy.jpg (1.05 MiB) Viewed 4625 times


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

I didn't do anything special with the processing on these images and kept it pushed to the same degree on each to see if it could go further on one over the other. They both showed the same negative effects from seeing and pushing convolution. I held configuration for both on most aspects but had to draw back for the Quark only and lighten to produce any edge of limb detail.

I also tried my other PST etalon in the Doublestack configuration with the Quark. (The lenses intact) It was as stated by others before, too dark. The scientist in me had to have a look. (approximately 20-30% on the histogram)

On the same note. The double stack configuration will drop the capture rate to 10-20 frames per second depending on the size of capture. If you are not already doing so then get yourself a ringbuffer set up or you will have multiple stalls with firecapture.


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

Another decent shot from this mod yesterday.

The frame rate on capture is pretty low at 10-15 fps and increases only slightly with a reduction in size. This is with a gain in the region of 80 and exposure of 65 or so in firecapture.

I found there to be a lot of banding and newton rings and the need for a lot of twisting of etalons to catch the best I could get example. The flat is absolutely essential.

This was the double stack quark 1000 frames stacking 10% in very variable seeing. ASI 174m on an ES127 with a full frame D-ERF.
140522imp copy.jpg
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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by marktownley »

Nice results!


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by Gera »

Impressive difference, nice job 👍 Thank you for posting.

Could I ask how much tuning of the PST etalon was needed?
Any idea if the effect due to narrowing the band or tightening transmission curvature slope?


I know I’m a little late for this post.

Best regards from Denmark


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by FRAZ »

Gera wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 7:37 am

Could I ask how much tuning of the PST etalon was needed?
Any idea if the effect due to narrowing the band or tightening transmission curvature slope?

Best regards from Denmark
Hi Gera,

No more tuning than usual. You will get some polarising effect until you match the best quark to pst. Once setup, it is repeatable.


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Re: Fraz - Quark Double-Stacked with a PST etalon

Post by Gera »

[/quote]

Hi Gera,

No more tuning than usual. You will get some polarising effect until you match the best quark to pst. Once setup, it is repeatable.
[/quote]

That does not sound too bad.

Thanks for some very inspiring inputs. Might have to try it for visual observation.

Best regards
Thomas


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