A Comparative Analysis
which one would you select? I'd like your opinions, including strengths and weaknesses.
Note: The difference is in the background
Thank you in advance.
AB LINK:https://app.astrobin.com/i/oo0pal
CS
Brian
M96-A
📷 M96-A.jpg
M96-B
📷 M96-B.jpg
andrea tasselli · Feb 27, 2026, 09:45 PM
Too much "in your face" colour saturation, duo-colour is bad as it is, and I feel both black points are clipped a bit too much. The second is nosier a trifle too much. I don't really fancy any of them over the other.
Thanks for your comments, both have a background of 0.902 16/255 (23) +- 0.06
CS
Brian
I prefer B, the background looks more natural to me than in A, where I feel like I can see more noise-reduction artifacts, which also seem to take away a bit of depth.
Oscar H. · Feb 28, 2026, 02:54 AM
I like B's background better because I can see noise, and so it feels more realistic/natural to me than A.
thank you so much for your comments
CS
Brian
Charles Michaud · Feb 28, 2026, 08:22 AM
I prefer B, the background looks more natural to me than in A, where I feel like I can see more noise-reduction artifacts, which also seem to take away a bit of depth.
thank you so much for your comments
CS
Brian
I agree with Oscar H. about version B. It also appears that some of the smaller background galaxies are more visible in version B.
CS, Tim
Definitely B. Way too much noise reduction with A. Makes it look 2 dimensional
Personally I preffer a bit of grain noise over exessive noise reduction. The Images tend to look more natural. If Im looking to stretch an image more and the noise is just too much, I tend to go for more total exposure time. For me its Version B