Well I cannot cope with that lot Alex.
In case you are wondering I am still here, but trying to get my head round a few things.
As previously posted I downloaded RegiStax v4 but seem to be having a few probs. Starting simple I tried a few exposures of the moon but program only seems to recognise the last image loaded. Downloaded v3 but still the same. Also a bit of a problem with image size dimensions as the D2X exceeding program limits. Had a play with wavelets on a single moon exposure and that is something I will definately go back to next time the moon appears.
I have downloaded DeepSkyStacker and that does work. Long processing times though, 20 mins to stack 10 frames and subtract the darkframe and that is on top of image registration time.
Next problem is exposure. I did a stack of 30 frames with a 30 sec f4 exposure taken the other night. Result looks underexposed in terms of the number of stars captured. Luckily last night we had a lull in the high winds and by midnight clear skies as well so I had another go. Starting with 6mins at f4. Totally overcooked. 3mins at f4 the same. The length of those exposure did show up the limits of my manual tracking system. A bit of a rethink and I decided on the 50mm at f1.4 at a dramatically reduced exposure of 4 secs at f1.4. A test stack of 10 frames showed we were now in the ballpark but still suffering from tracking errors. I then took a series at 2 sec f1.4 and have just downloaded to pc and things are looking promising. Just got to process now. I have not worked out a link yet between exposure and each frame added to the stack so it will be a bit of trial and error.
I think something else I will need to look at is sensor sensitivity at low temperatures. Comparing the image I posted the other day taken with a warmed up D100 that 30 sec exposure, although delibrately containing more noise has also recorded the planets better than the 30 stack from a cooled down D2X ( approx 3 deg C ) . Last night it was 8 deg C and I did not allow a cooling down time and was achieving better results at same ISO. Previous exposures f4 - 30sec, last night f1.4 - 2 sec. 3 stops difference.
Guess you do not have the same temperature problems in the Bahamas luck devil.
Don