Astrophotography & Integration Time : How much is 'Enough'? 

these are the kind of the videos that make sense. Point out how OCD people are in this hobby and inform them there is a point of diminishing returns.

Sky conditions and bortle scale make such a HUGE impact on this. I’ve had 4 hours of Bortle 2 data look better than 12 hours of Bortle 5 both shot near the new moon. Factoring in the moon is super important as well.

I'm with you 100%! I don't see any point to spending 10-20+ hours on one target. That's really more a function of automation than photography. I like to capture one to three targets on a clear night capturing about 2-3 hours of data on each one. This is essential for me because I'm 100% mobile. I enjoy the wonder of capturing celestial targets and experience of doing so. For me, focusing on just getting more data would ruin the experience.

I don’t get many astro-nights a year. I’ve come to the conclusion that none of my astro efforts are EVER finished. I just collect photons and keep them. When new software tools come along, I experiment. I keep the data and add to it when I can.

If you watch my compilation of 2023 on my channel, you'll probably see that I use far too little integration on my images... The compilation was intentionally made with only data of 2023, and it contained lots of unfinished stacks. I should probably be editing and stacking images instead of watching videos ;-). Having said that, I must say that I usually don't like the effects of too little noise. For some reason a lack of noise makes images look watery (for the lack of a better word). But for dim details, one needs the integration time of multiple nights worth of exposures indeed.

Excellent explanation and you've reinforced my conviction that I will never, never, never shoot two nights on one target! Especially when I'm lucky to get a single full night in. Thanks for making this.

Really enjoyed your interview video, keep them coming Luke.

This video just earned you another subscriber. I really appreciate your philosophy, as I'm only doing this hobby for myself and for the fun. I'm not on social media and other than a couple of my close personal friends, no one else will ever see my photos. I'm 62 and really what I want to do is explore and find as many interesting targets to capture just for the shear fun of doing so.

Nice comparison Luke. There's no getting around the laws of physics in that integration time is king, but RC's tools do help you bend them a little bit. I think this is more relevant than ever given the weather we've been having (we've just had the 4th big storm of the year up in Scotland and didn't have power for 3 days) as you can create an image that would have been unachievable only a handful of years ago. A case in point is I took 45 minutes of data (using an L-Extreme filter) on the Horse Head nebula a while back as something to do while waiting for my main target to get high enough in the sky. I lost count of how many times I tried to process the data but ended up rage quitting! I have recently tried again using GraXpert, BXT and NXT and now have a pretty good image, it'll never match one taken with more data but I'm more than happy with it given how the raw data looked. The star halos caused by the L-Extreme are still awful but that's a discussion for another day🙂

THESE are the kinda vids that really matter and help - questions we all ask and wonder! Lotsa guys doing GHS and all - but you keep giving us great vids - and THANKYOU once again!!! If you make it to Toronto this summer at all, would love to buy you a steak and some frescas and “talk Astro” for a few hours! (Or Tampa area thru the winter/spring)(i am a Canadian “snowbird”) … thanks Luke!

Thanks for this great comparison! Makes exposure times and modern processing literally very clear!

Very helpful, thank you Luke, happy 2024 and may you have clear skies forever and a day

Myths about Astrophotography Integration Time

Love the videos Luke. I personally try and spend 10-12 hours on a target.

Wishing your a happy, healthy, prosperous and as-much-as-possible cloud-free 2024 mate!!

As you were exclaiming how the difference was so obvious, I was zooming in and struggling to see what you were talking about. I used to give a full night to each target, but with the new RC-Astro tools and Hyperstar find that I can now get a few targets in one night that make me happy once processed. There are so few good dark nights available to a working professional that has to travel to a dark site, that my bar has shifted. The comments about setting your personal goals and doing what makes you happy definitely set us all up for very different capture parameters.

Happy new year to you, Luke and family! 🎉🎉✨✨👍

Thank you for another great video! Happy New Year!

Thanks for taking the time to do this, Luke.

Excellent video. I think another important corollary is who the intended target is for your photos and how the images are going to be consumed. For example, Instagram? None of those small differences will be discernable. Astrobin? How many of the photos on Astrobin are viewed at 100% by most people? Poster prints? Ect.