SyQon Studio: Raw Frames to Finished Image (OSC)
My end to end SyQon Studio path for colour camera data: organise and stack in Fusion Stack, solve and flatten while linear, calibrate colour against Gaia, restore, then stretch stars and background separately and finish on layers.
Rig context: ASI585MC Air on the Askar FRA400 (400 mm, 280 mm reduced) and 107PHQ (749 mm), captured through ASIAIR; Seestar S30 Pro (150 mm). All OSC. SyQon Studio Public Beta 1.1 with Axiom V3, DeepPrism V2 and Parallax licensed.
The workflow at a glance
Stage 0: Organise
- Open Fusion Stack, filter RGB. Classic for one night, Multi-night / camera for more.
- One acquisition per rig and night. Lights, darks, flats, dark-flats. Scientific defaults on.
Stage 1: Integrate
- Analyse and review subframes. Sort by quality, check both tails, confirm Use.
- Validate, then Analyse and Stack. Drizzle Off, rejection Automatic.
- Verify master, maps, manifest. Display Stretch only; coverage and rejection maps.
Stage 2: Solve and colour
- Image Solver (local ASTAP). Give focal length or image scale from the rig table.
- Deep Gradient or Gradient Removal. New layer; inspect the background model.
- Spectrophotometric Color Calibration. Gaia DR3 XP; check with linked RGB stretch.
Stage 3: Restore
- Parallax. Correction for star shapes, Deblur for structure.
- DeepPrism V2. Advanced or Ultra; preview region at 100%.
- Axiom V3 star separation. Starless layer plus a linear Stars Only layer.
Stage 4: Stretch
- Continuum Stretch the starless layer. Protect highlights, keep shadow separation.
- Star Stretch the Stars Only layer. Moderate transfer; SCNR if stars run green.
Stage 5: Finish and save
- Tone, colour, detail on the starless. Background Tone, Protected Color Boost, Curves, masks.
- Star Editing, then Reapply Stars. Flux first, then colour, core and halo at 100%.
- Save SYQ project, then export. TIFF for print, JPEG with sRGB for the web.
Optional: a second, lighter DeepPrism pass on the stretched starless layer if noise shows after the stretch.
Standing habit: while Studio is in beta, I compare key masters against my PixInsight or Siril result.
The logic in one line
Calibration and geometry come first, colour is measured on flat linear data, restoration works on linear signal, and stars and background are stretched and finished apart before they meet again.
Non-negotiable
- One acquisition per rig, night family, gain, offset and exposure. The ASI585MC Air and the S30 Pro never share calibration.
- Darks within 2 °C of the lights; Studio rejects a bigger gap when both headers carry temperature.
- First integration at native resolution, Drizzle Off.
- Plate solve and gradient removal before SPCC, all on linear data.
- Every neural step goes on a new layer and is judged at Fit and at 100%.
- Keep the original frames and stacking-manifest.json with the master.
- Save an editable SYQ or SYQPRJ before the final export.
Your call
- Deep Gradient for complex wide fields; sampled DBE when the target fills the frame.
- 2x CFA drizzle only on well dithered S30 Pro data; never on the 107PHQ.
- SPCC or statistical Color Calibration for L-Ultimate and L-eNhance data.
- DeepPrism profile: Advanced for clean data, up to Max for walking noise or very faint signal.
- Parallax Correction for FRA400 corner stars; Deblur for compact galaxy or nebula detail.
- Rejection: Automatic unless the rejection map gives me a reason.