Why does nobody stack images anymore?

I spent 3 hours last weekend trying to pull detail out of a single shot of M31 and got nowhere. Then I remembered a tutorial from 2018 about stacking just 20 frames in DSS. Tried it with my old Canon 60D and a 200mm lens. The difference was so big I felt dumb for not doing it sooner. Anyone else skip stacking because it seems like a hassle?

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3 Comments

noah_chen175mo ago

Stacking is basically like free SNR, so why wouldn't you do it? I get that it seems like a chore, but running 20-50 frames through DSS takes maybe ten minutes of actual effort. It's not that serious, just let the software do the heavy lifting and move on.

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smith.ray5mo ago

Read somewhere that even 10 frames can make a noticeable difference in noise reduction.

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leow904mo ago

Actually, even just stacking a few frames (like 2-3) can give you a small but real boost in SNR. The gains are logarithmic though, so the jump from 1 to 10 frames is actually way bigger than from 100 to 110. That first handful really does the heavy lifting in terms of noise reduction.

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