Need help from PixInsighters

Ancient.Photon:
Hello fellow Astrophotographers,

I am beginning and have been taking astrophoto for just over 2 years now. My question may have been asked or answered in other forums but I am still hesitant and wonder the possibilities. I currently use a simple workflow- stack and process in siril + graxpert for background extraction and denoise. 

I hear very good things about PixInsight and how its lightyears ahead of any of the free tools. For me comparing a same image process to the best in PixInsight vs Siril will seal the deal for learning and going ahead with PixInsight. 

I can share my stacked image and am asking if anyone with PixInsight will help process the image for me to compre with my current workflow. 
or if any such comparison already exists in youtube, please point it to me.

thanks in advance for offering any help.

That’s not going to tell you much.  Like any processing software, the result you get depends on the skill of the person doing the processing.  A skilled Siri+graxpert might produce a better result than someone just starting in PI.  

You should just cave in and make thejump to PI.  Yes, PI has a moderately steep learning curve but once you learn it, you’ll be hooked.  And yes, you have to buy it but it’s one of the best deals in AP.  It is a world class piece of code and you get a lifetime of updates for a single one-time purchase price—that is very reasonable.  It’s also the gateway to a number of VERY powerful processing tools such as those offered by Russ Crowman.  It also has a large and healthy ecosystem of training videos coupled with help from more experienced users.  In my view, if you want to take your processing to the next level and you are serious about AP, PI is a must have.

John

Thank you @John Hayes @GiffS for you feedback. I will surely make use of the free trials to learn and see for myself.

@Ryan Génier - thank you for offering to process my stack. please use this link to download the stack - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kBtAPlXuIO5T0IWp68slijM9sGOOMKJP/view?usp=drive_link

Happy to take a look at the data for you as well! As the above poster stated it all depends on the skill of the person processing the data, but it'll give you an idea.

Could you grant access or alter the perms to make it public?

Thanks @Franco Grimoldi for the recommendations. I follow their work regularly so will definitely start with their tutorials .
I have seen some YouTube videos where the difference between siril + Affinity Photo vs PixInsight were outrageous. Thus wanted to ask around here before getting started. 

the link should be open to public now. sorry I didn't  check the permission earlier.

Do not judge Pixinsight just by this picture. I'm not the best at processing for starters. I mainly used used RC Astros paid tools, and Seti Astro's free tools to process this image. Then I used generalized hyperbolic stretch to stretch the image. I skipped any kind of color correction. I spent less than 10 minutes on it, looking at the date modified timestamp, I downloaded your master at 17:29, and saved this image at 17:36. Obviously if someone spends more time on the image, it would look better. I just wanted to show you what an extremely quick process in Pixinsight can look like.

Image03.png

80% PIXINSIGHT- Image Solver, SPCC, Bxt,Nxt, Star Removal, Pixel Math
20% PHOTOSHOP-  Crop, Color, Luminosity,

https://www.astrobin.com/r4677b/


Cheer's

scott

Oh my!!!! 

@AstroSidivis ​​​@wsg ​​@Quinn Groessl - thank you all for processing my image. I can now with confidence say there is day and night difference. I tried my best but was unable to bring out the hydrogen alpha cross in the center that I posted earlier today. I am 100% hooked. Will totally take the time to learn this tool. 

thank you everyone 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Ancient.Photon:
Oh my!!!! 

@AstroSidivis ​​​@wsg ​​@Quinn Groessl - thank you all for processing my image. I can now with confidence say there is day and night difference. I tried my best but was unable to bring out the hydrogen alpha cross in the center that I posted earlier today. I am 100% hooked. Will totally take the time to learn this tool. 

thank you everyone 🙏🏻🙏🏻

It's not only about the results, the whole process is SO MUCH better. 

For instance, getting to save a "project" with all the files and each file's history is incredibly useful. Getting to have multiple images open at the same time also makes a world of difference.

You won't get great (or even better) results right away. As with any tool, it takes a lot of practice, learning and trial-n-error. A good approach would be to get the trial licenses after you've watched at least the "for dummies" series and being sure that you have enough raw data to make the trial period worth.
​

Cody Bennett:
Hey Amit, I'm about the 2 years into doing astrophotography as well. I was using DSS, Siril and Affinity Photo until I decided to go for Pixinsight earlier this year. I was a little nervous dropping hundreds on the software but I can say without a doubt I'm so damn happy I did it. 

My images were immediately sooo much better. I know some people don't do all the processing with PI but I personally love using just one piece of software (I'm sure it's not the absolute best method for perfection). I never liked having to deal with saving different file types and whatnot just to bring stuff into another program. 

As Franco said above - the whole process is so much better. 

That's my two cents - I don't think you'd regret taking the leap.

Cheers

Thanks @Cody Bennett. I can already start to see with the few picture already processed by few members. the difference between mine and from PixInsight is astounding. Will definitely spend the next few weeks watching some tutorials and getting started with it.

Dear Amit, 

in my experience I found (and I'm still finding) PixInsight really interesting, but also very powerful in the post-processing phase.
I also re-processed old data being so temptated in looking at how the same image could have improved from the learning of its modules. And especially if you like math it gives you lot of opportunities with PixelMath. 

Your deep dive journey in learning a software, whatever it is, can bring the step by step improvement and then you will understand from this day-by-day learning if you can be satisfied by what the software is giving to you. 

In PixInsight I also found really robust  the pre-processing phase with the WBPP (the weighted batch pre-processing) for the initial phase of the stacking all calibrated frames. 

Also what I really like in PixInsight is the scientific approach you can maintain during all the path. 

As other astrophotographers said, do not worry about the "learning curve", as more you practice and read (from the guide, from the official forum where you can register, from tutorials, from the sharing with other astrophotographers) the more you feel confident.
​​
So what else, a part all the above, you have to be then happy from the potential you experiment from your gear, from your ensemble of software, from your results. 

Best and CS,
Davide Mascoli.