Astrophotography processing software

Define "best" first.

Best for who, best for what ?


As a beginner I find myself very comfortable with AstropPixelProcessor (just released the 1.083 beta2) and final refinement with Photoshop and Astrotools 
I am planning to integrate also Pixinsight in my workflow for some very useful mechanics that could speed up some part of the processing .

Olaf Fritsche:
The best software is the software you are familiar and comfortable to work with. 

My advise:

1. Get some free tests of the programs you are interested in.
2. Take time to try the handling and the results.
3. Use whatever software you like the best.
4. Be happy! 

Agreed 100%
I would love to use the big boy stuff, but my brain is too stupid to understand how to do the complicated stuff. I’m just not a very techy kinda guy I guess. Takes me a long time to learn from doing.

I know there is a lot of free stuff on the web which is great. I use Gimp and many plugin’s, along with Siril. Just got introduced to it on this thread.  https://www.astrobin.com/forum/c/astrophotography/other/gimp-astrophotograpy-plugins/

Maybe once I get more comfortable with more processing techniques I’ll consider PS or PI.

Thanks for all the comments and sorry for not saying what preferences I had. I'm still a beginner, I started 14 days ago and saw that you need software to process your images, but I'm just researching. I don't have the necessary materials to take a good picture and I don't have a "good" telescope. Another question: it's better to make your own telescope, right?

. Another question: it's better to make your own telescope, right?

Ummm well if you want to go that route you certainly can. I’d say in most cases ATM’ers are mainly doing reflector/dobsonian type scopes which are mainly used for visual use, although there are faster newts that are made specifically for imaging. Like the Sky Watcher Quattro’s as well as Orion and Astro Tech has similar OTA’s as well as mounts. Really depends on what your looking for and what your pockets can afford.
You can get into a nice small 80ed scope on the used market for around $400 then add a mount for that on the used market if you watch you can get something like an AVX that would handle an 80mm easily and it will give you a really good start for learning the ropes then upgrade as you see the need. I have an AVX, and a CGEM and they perform quite nicely when setup properly.

Wish you the best!

Dale

Tom Gray:
I use Startools, which meets all these criteria - ridiculously easy to use, yet packed with power and 'mathematically' derived features;

I also use Startools for most of my images and agree for a novice it will give reasonable results in a short amount of time even with keeping most settings default.   However, it is much more powerful than most give it credit for... especially for more advanced imagers that know the theory and calculations behind the settings and tweak each process to their individual images.   Also, documentation in Startools 1.7 is much better now than a few years ago and worth the read if you go that route.  

I also strongly recommend PixInsight if you have the time and desire to learn “all” of the details (with limited documentation).  Why each step is done a particular way and to understand the decisions that matter behind every processing step.    

I’ve used APP, PI, Startools and Photoshop and honestly could recommend any of them for the heavy lifting.

Since you are just starting, take it easy. You have plenty of time and it's a vast field! 

I would recommend watching some Videos of Peter Zelinka. Especially about the possibility to make very nice astro pics with an ordinary DSLR and a tracker like SkyGuider Pro or StarAdventurer. In summer the Milky Way is a fantastic object for wide field with a DSLR. 

So, you do not need a telescope at all. And you do not need a telescope of your own, if you are more in processing images. You can rent a remote telescope. 

Regarding the software: Better start with something cheap and easy. E.g. Affinity Photo (AP) costs 50 Bucks and can read fits files. It works pretty much like PS, but there are a lot of tutorials for AP, too. 
PixInsight (PI) is the champ in the field but not very user friendly. I admit, I tried it for 3 weeks and was not able to master it (and I am a biophysicist and holding a PhD, and I read Keller's book and watched a lot of tutorials. No, PI is neither user friendly nor suited for beginners). Maybe I will give it a try later.

Lorenzo Jesien:
Another question: it's better to make your own telescope, right?

Nowadays, the short answer is a big fat NO. Even more so if you're starting out. Experienced astrophotographers may want to tweak mounts, adaptors and cameras but it is not certainly for the faint of heart. And then there are the ATMers, which enjoy just that part of the hobby. But anything beyond the simplest newtonian requires wagonloads of optical prowess, guile and hard work.

I agree with the above comments, for ease of use and value for money, Startools is the best processing software to start with while you are learning all the acquisition stuff. However Pixinsight is the most comprehensive and powerful, but it's pricey and as others have said it takes some time to learn. By starting with Startools you will have a good foundation in the core processes for moving on to other packages.
However most imagers find that even with Pixinsight a quick pass through Lightroom of Photoshop can add a lot.

You cannot create and use a mask in Gimp?

Hi,

I use PixInsight. I don’t know if it,s the best but it,s wide used and very powerful. On the other hand, it has a slow and hard learning curve. So ste by step. I recommend to read a lot about it (books, forums, youtube…) and if you can it is strong recommended to do any kind of courses (I think that Adam Block have published some in his web, payment needed). 

Kind regards,