washed out?

Did some quick research at lunch into StellaCam³ issues...

Found an interesting note via the StellaCam Yahoo!Group:

In light polluted conditions, I've found that things get really washed out below approximately 60 degrees altitude. There's a significant increase in brightness the lower you go, so I pretty much don't bother with low altitude objects - saving them for the darksite.

And, I never observe with gamma on high. I only use high gamma for locating objects. Once I find an object or identify a starfield with gamma on hi, I switch gamma to low, cut the gain down to below 50% and increase exposure time. Then, I keep cutting down the gain incrementally to find the best image for that type of object at that altitude in the sky. I imagine that's a pretty standard procedure.

Plus, playing with brightness and contrast on the monitor makes a significant difference as well. I'd like to add that fact that there are just a few controls is one of the things I like best about this camera. You're only experimenting with a few knobs, which is intuitive.

The star Ludmilla was to block was at 20° altitude...