Orion & Taurus

One problem I have is that alot of the stars came out as a very strong blue before I even started procesing it.
Does anybody else find this? How can I prevent this?
What software should I use to convert from RAW to TIFF?

I use Irfanview ( www.irfanview.com ) a freeware batch processing program to convert my RAWs. You will need to download a plug-in (on the same site) to cope with Canon RAW format.

The latest Paint Shop Pro 9 handles Canon RAWS. It will cost you but you get a graphics processing package that is now as good as Photoshop but for a fraction of the price.

Also, as I mentioned in another post, go to the Canon website and get all the software upgrades. The out of the box software is very poor. Make sure to get Digital Photo Professional which includes a nice previewer for your RAWS, conversion to BMP and TIFF, and some histogram and white point functions.

The stars do look a little blue-ish. There is a White Balance Mode on-camera. Mine is set to Auto. A graphics program like PSP, PS or Canons DPP have a white point function where you can put the dropper on a blue-ish star that (from a star chart) you know to be white and reset the white balance. A black point function is also useful for setting the sky to a darker hue (jet black is not always best though).

Another cause of the blue might be the equipment, post-processing mistakes or loss of information in converting from RAW.

Not to criticise your great image Mike, but there's a hint of trailing in al of your iamges. was your iamge tracked? I just assumed because of the 3 minute exposure.

nice one ?Mchael, although I'm not sure about the fillming effect.
dont you know, film is been phased out

James,
I have Photoshop CS which can handle RAW conversions. It's just that there are several options in the conversion process I'm not sure which one to select.

Seanie,
The image was tracked alright but with a very rough polar aligning on the eq. mount. I should have spent more time ensuring the tripod was level and pointing exactly north.

Dave,
Good quality film images do look good - a fraction better than digital IMHO. However, I wouldn't go back to film even if my life depended on it. It would however be nice to get a processing option in Photoshop which would make a digital image more like a film one.

BTW, I appreciate the feedback and comments.
It's what makes this site so great!

Clear skies,