I thought stacking software was a waste of time for my backyard shots

For years, I just took single long exposures with my DSLR and a basic tripod. Last month, a friend in Flagstaff insisted I try DeepSkyStacker on a set of 30 shots of the Orion Nebula. I was sure it would just make a blurry mess. The result was a cleaner image with way less noise than my best single frame. Has anyone else had a tool they doubted that became a game changer?

4 comments

4 Comments

jessica7072mo ago

Remember doubting flat frames until they fixed my weird gradient?

the_terry2mo ago

My flats saved a whole night of M33 data.

kim_ramirez32mo ago

Flats just add more noise in my experience.

kaigibson8d ago

You sure about that? I've been shooting with a mono camera for about 3 years now and flats are basically non-negotiable for me. Without them, my images have this ugly donut shape from dust on the sensor or the glass in front of it. Yeah, you have to take them right and match the temperature and all that, but once you get the hang of it, they clean up way more than they add. I think a lot of people blaming flats for noise just aren't applying them correctly or are using the wrong exposure time.