1.9 Astro Stacking Fuji RAF - No Color

[Dan C]

Hi @M WInd,

Welcome to the Affinity forums 

To all on this thread, we're currently in the process of testing these fixes internally, before we can release the changes to a beta version.

In order for us to best test this issue, we'd like to request a sample set of Fuji RAW files for astrostacking, including calibration frames.

If this is something you're able to provide for us, please reply here to let me know and I can provide each of you with a Dropbox upload link, so that I can pass these sets through to our Dev/QA teams and we can hope to include this fix in the next update.

Many thanks in advance!

[fedevento]

Hello, i can supply xh1 files, just send me the links, cheers!

Federico

[Dan C]

Thanks for the offer @fedevento, please upload these to the below link for me and let me know once this has been completed 

https://www.dropbox.com/request/kP1OGroaTjCXjiO7rHFu

[fedevento]

Already uploaded, those are compressed raf files, not the best astro pic since i was testing some stuff , hope it works!

f 

[Givnik]

Hey Dan,

I have the same issue with no colour in my images. I'm new to astrophotography so this could be an issue on my behalf however, I also find that when I include flat files I have what looks like a bayer sensor pattern on the flat files in the astrohphotography stacker as well as the final stacked image even though the JPEG version of the flat files are all white. Is this a software issue or my own error? Additionally, when following the youtube video by James Ritson titled Editing astrophotography images (Affinity Photo) I am unable to bring out the detail of the galaxy through the curves tone stretching process, rather any adjustment just lightnes the whole image quite drastically. Is this due to the files being in black and white or again my own error?

I have uploaded a folder named "givnik_fujifilm raw files_afinity photo" to the above dropbox link with a set of photos I took of the bodes and cigar galaxy. This includes light, dark, flat and bias frames. My camera, lens and settings were as follows:

• Fujifilm X-T3 camera
• Fujifilm 100-400mm lens
• Raw uncompressed RAF files

Thanks and look forward to this issue being fixed.

[Dan C]

Hi @Givnik,

Welcome to the forums

2 hours ago, Givnik said:

I also find that when I include flat files I have what looks like a bayer sensor pattern on the flat files in the astrohphotography stacker as well as the final stacked image even though the JPEG version of the flat files are all white. Is this a software issue or my own error?

I can confirm this is a bug within the Affinity software and is not due to operator error, our developers are working to resolve this in an upcoming beta build and I will be sure to post this build here when it becomes available.

2 hours ago, Givnik said:

I am unable to bring out the detail of the galaxy through the curves tone stretching process, rather any adjustment just lightnes the whole image quite drastically. Is this due to the files being in black and white or again my own error?

I highly suspect this is due to the Affinity app not correctly processing the images when loading, meaning any post-stack adjustments will also not work as expected. Once the aforementioned beta is available I will ask you to once again test this workflow, to see if it works as expected for you!

2 hours ago, Givnik said:

I have uploaded a folder named "givnik_fujifilm raw files_afinity photo" to the above dropbox link with a set of photos I took of the bodes and cigar galaxy. This includes light, dark, flat and bias frames. My camera, lens and settings were as follows:

• Fujifilm X-T3 camera
• Fujifilm 100-400mm lens
• Raw uncompressed RAF files

Many thanks for your images provided, I will be sure to forward these to the developers testing and fixing this issue

[MEB]

On 2/22/2021 at 10:49 AM, Martin S said:

Thank you Dan. I found another small issue there. In all the video tutorials you can just select a folder of say Dark or Light frames and all the images inside are loaded. This also seems to be broken for RAF files. You always need to select all of them to be added. Not a big deal of course.

In the mean time, a small workaround for me is to do the stacking in "BW" and after that, developing one photo normally and apply it only as color overlay. Not the best and probably sufficient only for total beginners like me, but at least I can continue learning this hobby  Still many thanks for going on with this functionality!

Hi @Martin S
This is now fixed in the latest Affinity Photo Customer Beta 1.9.4.243 (macOS only). The fix will be included in the next Retail update. Thanks for raising it up.

[Martin S]

Hi,

this is great news! I just briefly tested the beta and can confirm that both issues seems to be resolved. I can now fully process images from Fuji XE-3 with colors. I can also import all images within a folder just by selecting the folder. Great fixes! My thanks to the developers!

Martin

[Givnik]

Hey @Dan C @MEB,

I noticed that there was a Windows beta also available after reading the previous comment about a MacOS beta. I've downloaded it and found that the Fujifilm images are now in colour which is great, thanks for fixing that!

I've run some initial tests and have found that when I apply curves after stacking the images there are no peaks present in the curves window, whereas when I carry out a stack of the same Fujifilm images that have been converted to TIFF files I do have peaks present in the curves window (images attached). I noticed that in James Ritson's youtube video on editing astrophotography images he has rgb peaks in his curves window (image attached). I am new to astrophotography editing so not sure if this is user error or a bug within the beta version? I also tested stacking the images in the beta version, saving the file, then opening in the normal affinity photo and had the same issue.

Thanks again for fixing the issue with no colour being present in the Fujifilm RAW files!

givnik

 

[James Ritson]

3 hours ago, Givnik said:

I've run some initial tests and have found that when I apply curves after stacking the images there are no peaks present in the curves window, whereas when I carry out a stack of the same Fujifilm images that have been converted to TIFF files I do have peaks present in the curves window (images attached). I noticed that in James Ritson's youtube video on editing astrophotography images he has rgb peaks in his curves window (image attached). I am new to astrophotography editing so not sure if this is user error or a bug within the beta version? I also tested stacking the images in the beta version, saving the file, then opening in the normal affinity photo and had the same issue.

Hi @Givnik, it looks like the initial result from the pre-processed TIFF files is much brighter than the stack that uses the RAW files. Look at the (Pixel) layer thumbnail for both screen grabs: you'll see the TIFF stack one is brighter, whereas the RAW stack looks pure black. Did you stack with 16-bit TIFF files? If so, they would have been gamma corrected with a non-linear colour space, which would explain the difference—Photo will still convert them to 32-bit linear for the stacking process but the brightness will have been retained. When you stack the RAW data it's processed directly in linear colour space, so there's no gamma transform applied.

Bear in mind that the Curves dialog you have open is representing tones from just the (Pixel) layer—not what you're seeing on screen which is a result of two further Levels and Curves adjustment layers being composited. Also, although the result you see on screen is being gamma corrected and is non-linear, all compositing in 32-bit is performed in linear space—and the Curves graph is also representing those linear tones. Therefore it's quite plausible that without any tone stretching, the linear pixel values could be so close to 0 that they would barely register on the histogram graph.

What might be interesting to investigate is if you added another Curves adjustment at the top of the layer stack so you're working with the tone stretched data—do you see the appropriate tones on the graph then? Bear in mind that they may still appear darker than expected compared to what you see on screen, since they're the linear values and not gamma corrected. If you still don't see anything at all then it could be a bug and we can have a further look.

Hope the above helps–if your result on screen looks as expected I wouldn't worry too much about the histogram graphs. Trust your eyes at the end of the day (and hopefully your calibrated and profiled display too 😁).

[Patrick Connor]

To the participants here: you will see thread some of the problems reported in this thread have been addressed but not all of them. Please try to keep to one problem per thread where possible, though I do understand it is sometimes hard to know if your problem is the same as someone else's.

Thanks for your help with these bugs "Using FUJI (and other) RAW files with Astrophotography stack produces black and white images with mosaic patterns" and "RAW files don't open when importing a 'folder' into the Astrophotography files studio"

We have now resolved these problems and will make the fix available in the next official release of Affinity Photo on your platform.

We believe this issue has already been addressed in these betas, which you are welcome to try before the next version is officially released to all users

[MICK WARREN]

Please fix the astro asap for Fuji XT2 and XT20 raw files it is very frustrating they come out BW not colour.

[MEB]

The Fuji's X colour issue (X-T2,X-T20, X-T30 & X-H1 etc) is fixed in Affinity Photo Customer Beta 1.10.0.250 RC1 (macOS) and Affinity Photo Customer Beta 1.10.0.1112 (Win). Please let us know if you still experience issues.

[B_Cannings]

Developers -

I just installed the beta build 1.10.0.250 RC1 for macOS. Below are two pairs of screen shots, the first at 300% zoom, the second at fit zoom (51%) for two Canon .CR3 files opened in 1.10.0.250 RC1 as (1) a single file and (2) as one of the light images in an astrophotography stack. For the images as viewed in the astro stack, RAW options include inferred FITS Bayer pattern, default demosaic method, and daylight white balance. I am still experiencing color issues with Canon raw format files when attempting to create an astrophotography stack.

The EXIF info for the images includes:

IMG_460.CR3: 10 mm focal length, 30 s exposure, f/3.5, ISO 1000. Shot at 4:12 AM 5/15/21.

IMG_540.CR3: 12 mm focal length, 60 s exposure, f/4, ISO 1000. Shot at 11:22 PM 6/1/21.

Color information appears to be there for the image when it is opened either way, but it is rendered differently when it is opened as a single file as opposed to being opened as part of a stack. It's obvious when opening dark frames, as well -  opening a dark frame as a single image shows nothing, but when opened as part of a series of dark frame images within an astro stack, the dark image renders as a colored grid (dominated by red for an inferred FITS Bayer pattern).

The frame clipping is slightly different, as well, when the raw file is opened singly, as opposed to being part of a stack of light images. A few columns of pixels at the far left of the full frame image are visible in the image opened as part of the stack, but are not visible when opened as a single image.

Thanks in advance,

Joe

IMG_0460.CR3 IMG_0540.CR3

[Kevin Barry]

I am having same problem with FITS files from an ASI071 MC colour. No colour is imported using Windows

[Komatös]

Hello @Kevin Barryplease try the beta of Affinity Photo. The beta has many improvements.

[Kevin Barry]

I have the beta 1.10.0.1104 and still no colour, just downloaded it

 

any advice please?

Edited July 24, 2021 by Kevin Barry
addnl info

[Kevin Barry]

@MEB

I have uploaded a FITS file from an ASI071MC to your dropbox

 

no colour appears to load with the file in Astro stack

[MEB]

Hi @B_Cannings,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Sorry the delay getting back to you. Thanks for the files and feedback. I will check them out.

Hi @Kevin Barry,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Do you mind uploading the FITS file using this link please. Thanks for your feedback/support.
Previous links/folders may have expired or may place the files in specific folders for certain customers/cases. If you need an upload link please let us know so we can provide one specifically for you. It helps us to better keeps track of the files.

[B_Cannings]

Thanks, @MEB!

[Jörn Reppenhagen]

Just to push up this topic again: Still no colors with Fujifilm RAW files and astro stacking with update 1.10.3.

Single RAF files have color information, stacked files just show a single tone.

Come on, AP guys - this bug is known for more than 8 months, now.

[Dan C]

3 hours ago, Jörn Reppenhagen said:

Just to push up this topic again: Still no colors with Fujifilm RAW files and astro stacking with update 1.10.3.

As previously confirmed in this thread, this issue was marked as fixed by our developers in version 1.10.2 betas (1.10.3 retail).

If you're still experiencing issues with this latest update, please create a new bug post with all the information required at the below link -

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/76-report-a-bug-in-affinity-photo/

Many thanks in advance!

[Kevin Barry]

It works on my laptop and it is also now windows 11 and workds fine thank you from ASI071MC Pro

[Jörn Reppenhagen]

@Kevin Barry- ASI071MC Pro uses a Sony sensor. This thread is about Fujifilm.

@Dan C - I am reluctant to opening a new thread if there's already an old thread dealing with the matter. In most forums you'll immediately get lectured for redundancy.

I'll try astrostacking again, maybe I just missed setting a vital option - and if the result is still the same, I'll open a new thread.

Note: There's no total absence of colors like before - there's just ONE color; in my case it's yellow, with all the other colors not showing up.

[Jörn Reppenhagen]

@Dan C - Mystery solved: a typical case of HAUS (highly advanced user stupidity).

A mysterious entity (ME) had set the white balance in the stacking dialog to "daylight".