Atik 414EX Colour - Help with colour issues please

[MyrddinOB]

Hi there,

I recently purchased an Atik414EX Colour and a Hyperstar, and have been trying to use the it with the capture software. However, I'm running into a few problems and was hoping for some advice. The Hyperstar converts my Celestron 8SE into an f2 scope (as opposed to f10) - so is much faster for imaging.
 
I'm using the software that came with the camera, but the images that are being produced are quite underwhelming to say the least. I'm having issues generating good colour images too and the quality just seems awful. The images aren't displaying as colour properly, instead are washed out by an orange hue across the entirety of the picture. Doesn't seem to be light pollution as I'm using a light pollution filter.

All my images were taken exposures of 25 seconds - onscreen there seems to be detail, but when the images are saved, it's basically just darkness and I can only see a few stars. Been trying Orion and Whirlpool galaxy.

I've attached an image for reference - can't attach original unedited files as they're just too big.
- Orion is a stack of 50 images at 25 second exposures (all with a strange orange hue, removed in photoshop)

I can't seem to work out what's going on colours are mainly the work of photoshop too.
Is there software that will export colour TIF files or JPEGS and not FITS?
What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

[Chris]

Do you have an IR block filter?

The Bayer filters built into most CCDs allow IR through - usually all the colours will pass IR - and this gives washed out colours.

A light pollution filter may let IR through, it doesn't matter for visual work.

One way to check is to see if your TV IR control works through the filter.

Chris

[MyrddinOB]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply.
The filter I have is a Baader L-Booster UHC-S Filter...
Will test it on a remote soon.

Thanks,
Myrddin.

[Chris]

From a look at Baader's specification for that filter it does block IR.

I've not used a colour camera, at least not since using webcams, so can't suggest much other than that it might be worth setting the camera and filter up with something like a pinhole lens and take images of things where you know what colour they are.

Chris