Sequator - The Best Astro Stacking Program?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- In this video I explain how to use Sequator, a free photo stacking application for astrophotographers. This program not only does a great job stacking deep sky photos, but wide angle shots too!
If you rely on photo stacking to create noise-free images, be sure to check out Sequator!
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Just downloaded it and used it. Absolutely brilliant program, especially for wide field lens shots. Many thanks.
Thanks for the excellent tutorial, Peter. Just new to Sequator and you've saved me a ton of time.
Thanks for sharing the great tool. The developer is a Taiwanese by the way.
Thanks for your great video. Sequator worked perfectly well to render my milky way shoot at 14mm while Photoshop failed completely. I really appreciate your tutorials. Cheers.
You should do all the instructional videos on the Internet, you have a such a pleasant voice! Many thanks!
I am so confused about one thing when using Sequator. I take my star photos in RAW, open them in "PhotoDirector 10" do exactly what you suggest, then export the files to a folder as TIFF. I then proceed to open Sequator, and add the TIFF star images. I then get a message in the main screen "read failed! Unsupported format or invalid path. But at the sametime in the work box to the left, I can see all my TIFF files under Star Images with a green light. And the middle Base image purple.
Now if I do the exact same thing, but using RAW to import it works! I am told that it is better to use TIFF than RAW. I didn't even think Sequator would read RAW?
Thanks!
The author is from Taiwan, not China. :)
Kudos for him on his work on Sequator.
Did the review ever mention the name of a location ? "The author is Chinese", no matter where he's from; It's ethnicity, stop politicize everything.
Thanks Peter for the video. I would pronounce the program name like "equator" with an "s" in front. "See-quay-tor"
Comet stacking possible ?
Can Sequator handle FITS files?
DSS seems to have a deeper limiting magnitude --- you can see fainter stars, but it's subtle. As he said, Sequator is more grainy which would tend to drop out very faint stars. Yet both are good.
Should be noted that 1. This software is only for non-commercial use
Now that DSS is 64 bit i run DSS over this anyday.
I didn't realize they finally released a 64 bit version, I'll have to check that out! Thanks for the tip!
@@PeterZelinka It's honestly really good, Sequator is probably better if you got a foreground but DSS does a pretty good job at handling big files and lots of it, I've tested with 69 exposures, almost 4 hours of integration time with drizzle, i guess the memory issue is resolved.
Hi, can I use Sequator to export/import to On1 2020?
Hi.I would like to know please if this software is able to do focus stacking?
Not that I'm aware of.
If I have to do photo stacking I normally use Photoshop
picolay.de is a good focusstacker...Rob Trek has a great demo...! I use it.
does this work on mac ?
No, Windows only. Check out Starry Landscape Stacker instead
When you export your RAW as TIF, do you export as 16 bit or 32 bit float?
You really need faster lens. Astro is all about collecting as much light as possible like a telescope. That rokinin 14mm is a 2.8 which is slow for astro. A 1.4 or 1.8 lens like the rok 20 or 24mm is better capable even at sacrificing some FoV. Even then you should still under expose the shot so you can have use a faster shutter to keep the stars sharp and ISO lower to reduce noise. Youll bring up the gain in post and it will astonish. Your results will be much better with cleaner and sharper image.
Plan, storyboard, script, rehearse, THEN record rather than make it up as you go...
4:53 Flat Earth confirmed?
Very good video. FYI Pete mentioned using more than 10 pictures not being worth it. I happily disagree with Pete and followed what the deep sky guys do. This weekend I took and stacked 8 minutes worth of 6 second photos with my Nikon D3200 with a 35mm at f1.8 ISO400 and had INCREDIBLE results! I wish I could share a picture here. I turned on most of the settings - Auto Brightness, High Dynamic Range, Remove Dynamic Noise, Reduce Light Pollution. Very little post editing needed. The 24mm @f2.8 ISO400 and 18-70mm @ f3.5 ISO 400 also looked pretty good but not as much detail. I am trying to stitch together a a 6 picture pano of the 35mm to get more sky but am having trouble with differences in the color of the sky from picture to picture.
Agree, I have used sequator for a while for astro-landscapes and DSOs.
I've been looking for a Windows program that will do what Starry Landscape Stacker (Mac only) does, and this is probably better. You did a great job on the tutorial - it really helped me get started. I do have a few suggested workflow changes and a few comments:
* you can do this in Photoshop using layers, smart objects, and the mean or median blend mode. It takes a lot more time that this does, but it is possible (I have not had issues with align layers working)
* I'd suggest doing a dark frame at the start and end of the sequence, as the hot pixels are related to the heat developed in the sensor
* LR and ACR do have lens profiles for the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8, which is what I assume you're using - you have to manually select the lens (manufacturer, model) and do this on the RAW file (not a TIFF)
* I found that Sequator's results were much better when I did (almost) all the edits in post. I apply lens corrections only in LR and export the files as DNGs. The Rokinon 14mm is a fantastic lens for the money, but it does have a lot of barrel distortion.
* the light pollution filtering works really well. I had the best results with uneven/100% strength/intelligently-aggressive set
* Sequator does a good job of noise reduction (far better than reducing the noise in a single image) but the output files still need some noise reduction (I used Nik Dfine2). The light pollution removal (I think) also added a purplish line on the horizon which was easily removed with a manual chromatic aberration adjustment in LR.
* rather than setting all the options from scratch each time, save the project. For a new set, open the project (.sep file), replace the base frame and star images, and re-mask the sky
Thanks again for putting this together.
I've been bouncing between Sequator and DSS, and always seem to be drawn back to Sequator. DSS does allow use of dark bias frames, but frankly, at my current skill level, I haven't noticed any improvement. Sequator is sooo unknown/underrated. Do the creator a favor and buy him a 'cup of coffee' (Paypal link on his website sites.google.com/site/sequatorglobal/encourage).
If it took FITS files, Sequator would be even better. I use Sequator for my Milky Way shots taken with my Nikon, but my DSO shots (sometimes numbering in the 100’s for each target) captured with my dedicated Astro camera are FITS files. Anybody know a way to batch convert numerous FITS files to TIF files?
This is so easy to use! I came up with a nice picture before I even finish the video.
ARE YOU SERIOUSS your base image is my own life goal on Milky Way lol
Where did you shoot that? Altitude, distance from abitations etc etc
'DSS always stops, running out of memory' - really? Mine never has even processing 500+ 16mb subs with darks, flats, and dark flats. Takes maybe 5 minutes. Maybe your machine needs more memory?
Much faster than DSS. Also has light pollution correction. Have used both on DSO and milkyway and SEQ was better in both cases.
Taiwanese, not Chinese !
I am just starting in astrophotography and need to know if you are using Sequator as a Photoshop plug-in? I have had my Ioptron Star Track Pro for a few years and just now am getting around to using it because your tutorials are great and easy to understand.
Thanks Peter for taking your valuable time and sharing it with others.
I worked for NASA running the MOTS (MiniTrack Optical Tracking System) at Orroral Valley in Australia. Out spacecraft shots were captured on Kodak F103 10" x 8" Glass plates, Our camera/systems cost would bankrupt small Nations.
I mainly use Nikon today, Hasselblad and Linholf rail systems, .. display only now.
Time to down-load Sequator.... Thanks again Peter.
I see a light source in your pic and yet still the milky way is clear before even to stack. What dose it take to have clear milky way with a light pollution.
Can this be use for deep sky objects, without landscape ?
Good stuff, processing is a time waster to me, the simpler the better.
I try to use it with the latest 4.x WINE on Apple and it seems so fast and promising....BUT CRASHES AT THE END OF PROCESSING THE LAST IMAGE.
Wish there was a Mac addict who would make a WINE bottle of this...
Wrong it will not do FITS format. But it is free.
Do you have to use a tracker for this program to work?
I watched this video and immediately decided to download and try it. Unfortunately, it's a Windows-only application. sigh... back to DSS. ugh.
i can't seem to select all my files at once this is really annoying
Well, I guess I know what I'll be testing out tomorrow 👍. DSS really is a pain to use and takes away all of the nice colours, and Photoshop...eugh, I have to do so much processing just to get my images (maybe) looking good enough to stack.
Definitely better than DSS and a hell of a lot faster!
Sequator Down Sizes my files? - I have been using a Nikon D850 (8200 x 5500 pixels) for some astrophotography. Why is it when I run the images thru Sequator the output file is about 4144 x 2760? Am I missing something? I would like to keep the pixels if possible . Any ideas? The software work very well and is fast. By the way you have a great channel!
Hmm, that's odd. I haven't noticed that before. Are you running the RAW files through?
@@PeterZelinkaGot it figured out, my fault. I was using the 'merge 4 pixels' option. Therefore reducing the output file size. You have a good channel, keep up the good work. Thanks.
Is it tiff or tif? Coz i just converted my RAF files to Tiff and now i get an error message "read failed. unsupported format or invalid path"
Tiff and Tif are the same thing. It sounds like the files may have gotten corrupted or something. I'd try redoing the process
Never heard of this program. Thanks I can't wait to try it out
Doesn't stack FITS!
Hi Peter - great tutorial! Thanks. Can you use it for the comet Neowise?
Any idea why the Sequator screen goes black when I try to paint the sky to freeze the ground? I'm using ON1 Raw 2020 to export my images to Tiff. I'm using the latest version but also got the same results with an older version.
Just a quick question: Do you post-process the dark frames aswell? Or do you just put the raws in Sequator?
I personally edit all of my RAW files, including the dark frames, and save them as TIFFs first. Then I drop those into sequator.
The dark frames should have the same edits applied as the normal photos.
Editing the RAW files first helps to reduce the color noise and vignette, among other things.
I know many other people would argue that you should only use RAW photos and not do any editing before stacking, but I disagree.
Can someone tell me the BEST astrophotography lens that can mount a Canon like Canon T8i or Canon 90D? I heard of IRIX 15mm f/2.4 as well as Rokinon? Any suggestion of the BEST lens that is amazing in all aspects that can take nice shots of the Milky Way as well as Orion Nebula?
CelebrityLyrics I have no particular experience yet bu I'd say that a fast lense 2.8 and below are just nice! Rokinon is well known in this area because of their performance/price ratio. But Nikon, Canon, Tamron, Sigma lenses are all fine!
I use sequator since 1 year but i found your tutorial very interesting as a good refresh about how to manage or the difference characteristics.
Thanks
Do you need anything to install, I tried they wanted me down Microsoft program but my computer said I couldn’t do it because I have a later version, can you get override this or will the new version work
Sequator did a better job when I used my tamron lens for DSOs but now that I use the Redcat 51 Telescope, Deep Sky Stacker does the better job.
Awesome tutorial. Can you please tell me how did you got rid of that tint with curves layer?
I van recommend to use Sequator with different light Pollution filters and autobrighyness on/of, getting different results and put them afterwards together with a HDR program to get more output from dark regions - especially from a dark foreground.
A mice feature in Sequator is the time lapses function to put let's say 5 images together and go through all images. So it is possible to get more dynamic in your time lapse.
appears to work when running under LINUX MINT 19.3 with WINE.
So all you do to stack is take more than one picture? Or do those pictures have to be different exposures?
That was very helpful. Hadn't heard of Sequator yet and hated the workarounds needed in DeepSkyStacker to get large files to work. Thanks!
I am getting a series of composition fails while stacking. Can you tell why it is happening?
Great little tutorial, looking forward to getting stuck into your other vids. Subbed ✌️
Question is how does it work when you dont have a tracker and end up having to take a bunch of 1 sec photos?
When i go to download the Microsoft Visual C++ it says my computer already has another version thats installed. So i tried to download the program and it wont run it? Any ideas...
Hey man !! Amazing tutorial ! thanks for sharing !! I was wondering if you were using a tracker aswell ?
I used a star tracker for the Orion Nebula photos! A good star tracker is the best way to take better astro photos!
Cool Thanks man !!
Wow..
Hi, great tutorial. One question, can this programme be used for other photo stacking subjects such as macro, or is it just for astrophotography.
The algorithms are designed for astrophotography specifically. I would recommend using Photoshop to stack macro images
@@PeterZelinka ok thanks.
Hi, Peter - thank You for a good tutorial. One question for the Orion nebula - which lens/ focal length did you use for those photos?
Thank`s in advance.
Stein
Still waiting for that reply? lol
@@octavenoize He used Nikon D750 and Tamron 150-600
Hey Peter! For whatever reason I'm getting error on sequator when stacking "Reducing Noise Failed". Any idea what might be causing that?
I'm not sure, that's the first I've heard of that error. I don't see it mentioned on his website either
i was looking around for rookie friendly AP programs and i found your channel , and since i am a rookie and you explained this so well that i even understood , i subscribed ,thanks a bunch
thanks so much, can't wait to give this program a try
What was the focal length for the orion shot, on crop or full frame? Thanks
If I use boundary line in the Sky region, it's always red. Anyone knows how to fix it?
When I try it I get "too few stars CANCELLED" any ideas?
Hmmm, I'm not sure. If you can upload the photos to a Dropbox, I can download them and give it a shot. Might be able to figure it out.
I just ran into this problem. After some lens correction profile/editing in LR I exported to tif and got this issue. I changed it from "zipped" to no compression and that seems to have done the trick. For anyone with this future problem!
Awesome vid. Just bought a Samyang 16mm f/2.0 for shooting the milky way. This tutorial is excellent and this software seems way less overwhelming than photoshop. Thanks, bro!
Thanks for the info I downloaded it solved all my stacking computer issues
Subscribed to your channel! I have been binging on the content! I have a few good shots of the Milky Way w/o using a tracker, and now that I have a tracker I am ready to take the next exciting steps :) Keep up the great work
Peter...Thank you for all the amazing and informative videos. I am just getting started with shooting the night sky and have been taking a ton of notes from a lot of your videos. For now I am just going to be doing milky way with the rokinon 14 mm f2.8 on my Nikon d5600 and also using the skyguider pro you recommended in one of your videos. I had a question when it comes to stacking, besides the "lights" and "darks" which i think you mentioned can be done anywhere and anytime, when it comes to actually taking the pics of the foreground I assume the 2-4 minute exposure is with the skyguider not rotating...and then after that shot turn on the rotation for the milky way? When it comes to taking the pics of the milky way, once you find the right shutter speed (between 2-4 minutes) do you take lots of pics at that sweet spot and then stack them, or do you vary the time from pic to pic and then stack them? Lastly, with the camera on the skyguider is it possible to reduce the iso down to 400, or for night sky shots is it always best to shoot at iso 800 and above? Sorry for all the questions, Im just trying to make sure I am covering the main topics as I am planning on going to Cheery Springs State Park either Wed Aug 28th or 29th to shoot the milky way.
I tried this with 10 Milkyway photos using raws and it came out worse
My experience is the same. The dynamic range and exposure of the combined stack looks worse than view a single image which makes up the stack in Camera RAW. Not sure what I am missing as I have tested different options.
do you think this will work on photos of the moon
2 years old but if you or anyone else sees this, it's a similar process where instead of taking many exposures and stacking them, you actually record a video and use a program to stack all those hundreds/thousands of frames, AutoStakkert
Do you use Sequator to merge a long exposure foreground shot with ,say, 10 sky shots? Or do you just process stack the star shots in Sequator and then combine them with the foreground shot in LR or PS? Thanks
Yeah, I do the blending in Photoshop usually. I only use Sequator to stack and align deep space shots or short exposures at wide angles
thanks for letting me know about this program. It‘s pretty good. I tried it. I needed an alternative because I recently encountered problems with deep sky stacker where it wouldn‘t stack all of my light frames, only half of them. They where shot at different nights and I tried many times with different file group tabs an so on,but nothing worked. And sequator seems to stack eyerthing, no problem at all.
For wide field nightscape, do you prefer to stack or bring the tracker for 1 long exposure instead. Does this make the tracker less useful and more for just deepsky photos. Which has better quality?
I normally prefer using a star tracker. There are a few drawbacks though. Since I normally take a 4 minute exposure, I have a ton of hot pixels. Therefore, I used Long Exposure Noise Reduction, which effectively increases the total exposure time to 8 minutes. That's a long time to spend on a single photo.
I've gotten much better images overall when using a star tracker. Photo stacking isa good way to reduce grain, but it has its limits.
I try stacking images even just 3 or 4 and just end up with a white over exposed "fog" , is that artificial light just stacking up?
Dazza dizzy For the light frames, put a t-shirt on top of your lens and apply a light source like your smartphone or tablet on top. Take 10-15 shots with same ISO setting and speed as your sky pictures. This will reduce/eliminate the vignetting on your final photo.
Very nice presentation. Thanks for the tips!
whats the MAC alternative?
StarryLandscapeStacker
I am having problems with sequator, I went through and used the software exactly how he states in the video and my final images look all crazy or come out with the foreground out of focus. Maybe this is an effect of stacking because all of the images I am using are in focus. Also the images I am using have a lot of light pollution which I cannot escape because of where I live. Does anyone have any suggestions?
He's using an HA filter in a certain range...9 nm I think.
Astronomik. Clips into his dslr.
Hi Peter,thanks for the test.i did some test too.
there are two problems.
1:the stacked image is always darker than the originals.short of dark side and white side according to histagram.
2:if there is a bright thing moving on foreground e.g. a car,we we will see a black stripe on stacked image,in that case we still need photoshop to mask it.
did you test Registar?
TKS
There is an option in there to remove things like airplane trails but I have not tried it.
I use Sequator all the time. This has been a good refresher.
How do you balance a telephoto lens on a mount like the SkyGuider or Star Adventurer when they extend perpendicular to the counter-weight axis?
I will try having the camera and telephoto closer to the centre of the Star Adventurer as well as move the counter weight closer to the mount on the counterweight shaft. Tightening the clutch after polar alignment with Polemaster may solve the balance problem with long telephotos still within the weight limits of the mount.
Hi, I can't get it to download and open zip file
Hey Peter, I wondered if you'd tried this program with trees or objects in the foreground and how it works around those ...??
Good question!
I actually don't have many stacked images with trees in them, but I did find one example to test.
It worked surprisingly well. There were a few artifacts around the trees, which looked like black star trails. Besides those minor streaks of black, everything else looked really good!
If you have a really complicated scene with trees, I think Sequator would have some problems. However, I do have a post-processing tutorial for blending complicated scenes like that in Photoshop. You can watch that video here:
th-cam.com/video/x2dVRoyyFrc/w-d-xo.html
It works OK if the foreground is dark, but if say you have trees light by porch lights against a dark sky it creates some weird halos.
I've used this program twice now and both times the image was very dark. Not sure I'm a big fan of this.
They appear dark on deep sky stacker too, just tweak curves and levels in Photoshop, all the detail is there, just needs teasing out
Can it work with normal lens.
Why everyone talks about wide lenses
The current rage is to take a wide angle sky shot and use it as background for night time still photos.
Hey Peter, a qns pls: I notice random blotches of green in the background of the sky, which also appeared in all my milk way photos. any idea what is that and how to get rid of it?
Airglow? Maybe?
Awesome information Peter!!! What focal length did you use for Orion photos?
I believe I was at 600mm
Cool👍🏼 Thanks Pete!
You said to convert your raw files into a tiff file but you never said why.
I generally edit my RAW photos in Camera RAW first. This allows me to fix the exposure, white balance, vignette, remove color noise, etc ... Then I save them all as TIFFs and begin stacking in Sequator.
This workflow gives better results than stacking RAW files in most cases.
thanks for the great video!
In a nutshell -- is there a huge difference in results between using a stacking program vs shooting long exposures with a tracker. Thanks for these great videos -- I'll keep watching.
I would say there is a noticeable difference. Stacking short exposures is a good first step, but a star tracker will take things to a new level.
You'll be able to pull out a lot more fine detail and color once you start shooting 2+ minute exposures. You could even stack multiple longer exposures together, but usually a single image is good enough.
The only real downside of using a star tracker, and taking longer exposures, is hot pixels. They tend to blend in with the stars, but I still find them to be a pain. There are ways to fix them, but I'm still trying a few different techniques to determine the best option
@@PeterZelinka Thanks for that -- The prospect of taking really good night sky shots has opened up new possibilities for me. When I am ready to get out there, I will definitely be taking your online course. Thanks again.
DeepSkyStacker is 100 times better then this piece of junk, true it's faster but the stacking result is worthless. Out of 102 images I'd stacked during the proces 102 images said; COMPOSING FAILED. I rather wait 15 minutes for DeepSkyStacker to do this proces properly and end up with a way better end result.
Huh, that's odd. I've used it many times, and I think I got that error once.
Now that DeepSkyStacker has a 64bit option, at least it won't crash anymore when doing a basic stack. Unfortunately its user interface is still a nightmare for beginners, especially when compared against Sequator. And DSS can't really handle stacking wide angle images.
All things considered, Sequator is great for beginners, while DSS is better for more advanced users.
@@PeterZelinka I'm getting that "composing...failed" message for all of my files, too. (NEF files from a Nikon.) Converting to TIFF helps with some, but still many fails. I tried a re-install, but no luck.