Always skipped dark frames, but a weird streak changed my view

I used to think taking dark frames was just extra time for no real gain, you know? But then I got this bright line in all my shots of the Andromeda galaxy last night, and it ruined the whole set. After digging around, I found out my camera's sensor has amp glow that only dark frames can fix. So I took some, stacked them in, and boom, the line was gone, so now I'm a believer.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_alice1mo ago

My friend had the exact same stubborn phase, refusing to take darks for over a year. He kept getting these weird gradients in his Orion shots that no amount of flats would fix. Finally, someone told him to look at a single raw sub stretched really hard, and there was this perfect little pattern of hot pixels from a warm sensor. He caved and took a set of dark frames, stacked them in, and it was like someone wiped a dirty window clean. He sent me a before-and-after and it was honestly shocking. Never argued about the extra time again after that.

alexj991mo ago

Shoot darks for every new temperature now.

mason.jason1mo ago

That story about the hot pixel pattern is a perfect example of why I don't do it for every temp. My camera's sensor is really stable, and I've built a big library of dark frames at my usual temps. I check a raw sub every few months, and the pattern hasn't changed in years. Shooting new ones every single time feels like a waste of clear sky for me.