Pentax users have been promised since a long time that APP will be upgraded to import Pentax image files. In the past the Pentax raws had to be converted into tiffs which meant huge file sizes and other inconveniancies. Now Mabula did a half step foreward with the release of the 1.075 beta6 version of APP. It is available for Windows Mac and Linux. Though direct Pentax file imports are still not possible (but promised for the release of the upcoming 1.075 version) it can handle Adobe DNG. So it is possible to convert the Pentax files to Adobe DNG e. g. from Lightroom and stay within reasonable file sizes. Astro Pixel Processor.

I have downloaded and installed the latest beta version and DNG conversions from LR were processed flawlessly (size ca. 30mb).

I will be downloading the beta as soon as I can then. I shoot in .dng.

I shoot in DNG as well. I see no advantage to shooting in PEF and, as the above still provides an example of, PEF has the major disadvantage of less support in software.

Reading my post again I see that my wording might lead to a misunterstanding. The actual 1.075 beta6 version of APP eats Adobe DNG files, not Pentax DNG files. Pentax Pef or DNG files must first be converted to Adobe DNG before APP can import them. The next full 1.075 version can handle Pentax DNG and maybe Pef files.

I also shoot in DNG. When I hat to convert images to Tiff for APP they grew from 30 mb to about 100 mb which slowed down all the processing in APP. Also there were color issues sometimes. This can be avoided with conversion to Adobe DNG now.

I didn't know there was a difference between Adobe DNG and Pentax DNG. Adobe created DNG as a universal format. Different versions are not in the spirit of the format.

I do not know about differences between Adobe DNG and Pentax DNG. But I can state that in the APP beta version the Pentax DNG files delivered only a yellow square. The Adobe DNGs were fine.

This afternoon I got a mail from Aries production with the download link to the new.1.075 version. Though it says in the mail that Pentax and other brands are not yet supported and owners of these brands should use the Adobe DNG converter I tried and everything is fine with my Pentax DNGs! Because of the RGGB Bayer matrice the first appearance is greenish - same like with my ASI294mcp. With the "neutralize BG" box checked the color is corrected.

So Pentax is in the game now in APP. I can really recommend this program for everybody who uses PS for the final processing.

Pete

Latest news: Pentax DNGs are fully supported!

I might go back and wash some of my old stuff through the new version.

Good news: I got some pretty decent Ha data of the Elephant's Trunk Friday night. Bad news: Ekos failed to perform a meridian flip when it should have, my CEM-25P mount crunched into itself and shut itself off. Now it won't come back up.

I'm only hinting very obliquely to Janet so far that a new CEM-40 would be a great way to dig out of this unfortunate situation...

Hey guys, yes this is great news. I have tried it already and 1.075 and it works like a charm. It auto selects the bayer pattern and can use camera colour balance if desired or just process without it and the colour will be balanced in the last stage with "neutralize-background" selected or when you do star colour calibration.

There is no such thing as Pentax DNG. There is only DNG and Pentax supports this Adobe standard by outputting in DNG if you select it. I have been using DNG output since I bought my K-5II ages ago for the same reason as Lew Dite mentioned. (In fact I think I used it with my K20 before that.)

You do not have to do any conversions. Just set your Pentax to output in DNG and be happy.

I did this in APP with some final tweaks in Photoshop. Ohh boy, APP makes a huge difference! I love the full Pentax .dng support. Hopefully the linked .dng files I sent way on back were useful.

I have no shares of APP but after working 1 1/2 years with this software I feel I have to do praise it once more because it sure breaks the limits of other software like DSS, Fitswork, Sequator or PS alone. PI certainly has a comparable power if used by a skilled user but APP is way more ergonomic. To illustrate what I mean I have as an example the integration of old K3/DA 50mm/F2.8 macro data of the Orion region that I sent through the APP integration yesterday to test the compatibility of Pentax DNGs. The integration is of 230 lights of different exposure times, apertures and Iso values, mostly 120s ISO 800 @ F/4.0.

This is the integration result without any other processing except a slight stretch of the linear image. Local normalization (one iteration) was choosed for the normalisation routine. In the balcony-fov you see "my" lightpollution from the surrounding cities with the impact of the nearby streetlight I formerly mentioned so often with some frustration:



And this is the same image after the light pollution removal tool was applied:



I think the comparison speaks for itself.

Cheers
Pete

Speaking of light pollution removal. Yes, I found it quite good. Attached is the results of APP 1.075 on the California Nebula without doing anything but light pollution removal and calibrate star colours. Then tweet the output in Lightroom. I didn't change any default APP settings! (and the DNGs are straight out of the camera K-5II.)

25 x 120s (calibrated with bias and flats)
ISO1600
K-5II (modified)
ED102CF+FF
IDAS LPF

There is no attached image. The link is only visible when I quote your post but it does not work then.

Thanks for letting me know, Pete.

I seem to have this problem every time. I don't know why and I forgot how I fixed it last time. I think I'm just going to quit posting images. I really hate it when simple stuff doesn't work. Why is attaching images such a problem on a photography forum?!

Go to imgur.com and upload the image, then get the forum share link and post it