Shoutout to this free star stacker app I almost ignored

I spent like 6 months trying to get decent stacked shots of the Orion Nebula with my old DSLR and a tripod. My laptop is too slow for the big programs everyone recommends, so I was about to give up. Then I saw someone mention DeepSkyStacker on a random forum thread and thought it looked too basic to work. I finally tried it last Wednesday and it handled 40 light frames from my Nikon without crashing once. The final image had way less noise than anything I got from manual stacking in Photoshop. Has anyone else had good luck with free stacking software over the paid stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabethhayes1mo agoMost Upvoted

My buddy tried that and got a killer Andromeda shot first try.

lauras831mo ago

I was at Cherry Springs last fall with my old Canon DSLR and a cheap tripod, and I got a solid Andromeda shot on my third try. The key for me was using a remote shutter release and taking like 30 or 40 dark frames to stack later in DeepSkyStacker. I also used a simple intervalometer app on my phone to time the exposures, which helped a ton with consistency. The first few tries were blurry because of the wind, so I had to weigh down my tripod with my backpack. What kind of settings did you end up using for that shot?