Starting off in Astrophotography...

ZeRoY

Nerro wrote: »

Cheap way is to get a Philips SPC webcam and Barlow it, and it can be used successfully for guiding as well.tho they are like gold dust these days...
Not saying you can't do it with DSLR.

Got one of those!

And yes you are correct, video and frame stacking is best way, liveview on DSLR would be fiddly for a small target like Jupiter

spookwoman

Woodstown and Orion by Spookwoman, on Flickr

Cold out there tonight gave up with lens fogging and 2 degrees

ZeRoY

Some clear skies last night so had to try out my new SW 200PDS - Target was to be Lovejoy Comet unfortunately my view to the North West was badly light polluted from nearby Stadium... Results arent great but really happy with performance of the new scope. Pics are unguided using Canon 1100D on LXD75 mount, stacked with some darks/bias

C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) (stack of 11 X 20s)


M45 - The Pleiades (stack of 6X 30s)

Nerro

Great result considering so few and short exposures!well done.

dacogawa

Great picture of Lovejoy I saw on Facebook

ZeRoY

Moon this evening,



Skywatcher 200PDS
Canon 1100D
1000mm, ISO 100, 1/200exp
8X Stacked, Registax, CS6 processed

Iancar29

Just a dual exposure I took the other night.




Lets hope for some more clear and moonless nights too come!

ZeRoY

Jupiter, first proper attempt at it with new SW 200PDS, its a stack of the best of 300 jpg from Canon 1100D (Liveview 10X)

dacogawa

ZeRoY wrote: »

Jupiter, first proper attempt at it with new SW 200PDS, its a stack of the best of 300 jpg from Canon 1100D (Liveview 10X)

Great shot!

Iancar29

Hey folks just wondering where the best place to get a Sodium filter ?

Considering i mostly do astro stuff from my back garden due to lack of a car , I'm usually discouraged with my efforts because of the light pollution.

Heres the type of one that in the 500mm lens that i use.



Also if anyone has any good comparisons using one that would be great!

Cheers ,

Ian

ThatDrGuy

I use a 2 inch one from first light that I have literally duc taped to the end on my imaging train. Works quite well but do get some colour washout from nebulae.

Iancar29

ThatDrGuy wrote: »

I use a 2 inch one from first light that I have literally duc taped to the end on my imaging train. Works quite well but do get some colour washout from nebulae.

Washes out the Nebula? ... well thats not that good for me as i wouldnt be looking at much else in my 500mm . I can only see M42 and M31 from by back anyway so any idea what would be best for them?

Its just i was told to have a look at some and found this also..




This was my best effort at m42 , manually tracked on tripod , 120 1.5 seconds with darks and flats.

ZeRoY

ThatDrGuy wrote: »

I use a 2 inch one from first light that I have literally duc taped to the end on my imaging train.

Similar, I use the Skywatcher basic Light Pollution filter 2" but I bought the adapter to use it on my Canon kit lens 58mm - the rings to adapt are a few quid from China on Ebay... just pick the right one!

ThatDrGuy wrote: »

Works quite well but do get some colour washout from nebulae.

Note that the LPF does introduce some purple in the image so it needs correcting in your graphic package.

SeaFields

Some stunning photos here.

I spend a good deal of time in south kerry (unpolluted skies) and would love to try and get some decent shots if they are at all possible with my meager equipment. What has amazed me is that from the few times i have attempted photos, with just a short shutter time, is the amount of stars that appear on the photo which are invisible to the human eye and the fact that they have different colours (im guessing this is based on how far away they are?). If the camera was facing the right direction would some more interesting features appear?


So basically, what kind of results could one get with just a dslr and tripod?

Nerro

SeaFields wrote: »

If the camera was facing the right direction would some more interesting features appear?


So basically, what kind of results could one get with just a dslr and tripod?

Really depends on the lens you will be using...some are better and some are worse.

ZeRoY

SeaFields wrote: »

So basically, what kind of results could one get with just a dslr and tripod?

As said on post before it will depends on lens you use, you can anything from widefield under 18mm to short exposure at higher focal like 300mm +

Tzetze

SeaFields wrote: »

What has amazed me is that from the few times i have attempted photos, with just a short shutter time, is the amount of stars that appear on the photo which are invisible to the human eye and the fact that they have different colours (im guessing this is based on how far away they are?).

The main causes of star colour are composition (the fuel they are consuming and elements they are producing) and surface temperature (red stars cool, blue stars hot).

So basically, what kind of results could one get with just a dslr and tripod?

With a little practice, maybe something like this or this.

SeaFields

Cheers lads. Id love to shoot the milky way. Is this possible with my set up? Finally could someone point me in the direction of what settings to use with my set u for best results (shutter times, iso)?

Nerro

SeaFields wrote: »

Cheers lads. Id love to shoot the milky way. Is this possible with my set up? Finally could someone point me in the direction of what settings to use with my set u for best results (shutter times, iso)?

What's your setup again?

SeaFields

Nerro wrote: »

What's your setup again?

cheers, I've a sony a200 dslr with 18-50mm, 50-200mm and 75-300mm lenses.

ZeRoY

SeaFields wrote: »

cheers, I've a sony a200 dslr with 18-50mm, 50-200mm and 75-300mm lenses.

For a milkyway shot you would want to go with the lowest focal for maximum FOV, that would be 18mm - the problem then will be how dark is the place you are shooting from and also what F number your lens can achieve at 18mm - the smaller the number the better (F1.8 being the ideal if avail). Lastly for the settings it would be typically an exposure of up to 30seconds at high ISO (3200/6400) to pick up as much star as possible.

Check this also: http://www.lightstalking.com/how-to-photograph-the-milky-way

Nerro

SeaFields wrote: »

cheers, I've a sony a200 dslr with 18-50mm, 50-200mm and 75-300mm lenses.

Thats a good setup to begin with as you have some wide angle lenses and zooms.Here is a good article on DSLR photography
http://www.astrophotography-tonight.com/astrophotography-on-budget/
Now the thing you DONT want is star trails...so here is a handy page to work with
http://www.sceneplanner.com/tool3.php
basically it calculates the exposure you can use without getting star trails with your setup.Taking that you are using simple tripod?
Regarding settings, well there is no one that you can use for all situations.Basically its trial and error.I can only recoment to start with high enough iso, "open up" your lens as much as possible, use custom white ballance and calculate exposure for the lens you will be using and....shoot RAW!!!
Now when you have your images next step will be learning how to stack them to get as much detail as possible.Thats when deep sky stacker comes into play.It is free and simple.
http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html
Now just to note that it doesnt make BAD pictures better.What it does it makes GOOD pictures BETTER by stacking them one on top each other to show maximum detail in final picture.
Hope that makes sense?

SeaFields

Thanks lads, that's exactly what I was looking for. Hopefully I can post some pics now at some stage.

versager

I believe for the ones, who've just started to explore the vast magic of night sky photography, it'd be recommended to be aware of the latest trends in form of very useful tutorials, like the website I found to be extremely helpful for a novice like me:

www/lonelyspeck/com

Use dots instead of slashes. Don't have 50 posts yet...

Iancar29

Trooperstown , Co Wicklow 23.5.14
500px Profile

ZeRoY

Iancar29 wrote: »

Trooperstown , Co Wicklow 23.5.14
500px Profile

Great results Ian, what lens did you use for this one?

Iancar29

ZeRoY wrote: »

Great results Ian, what lens did you use for this one?

Thanks Zeroy..
Samyang 14mm f2.8

ZeRoY

Iancar29 wrote: »

Thanks Zeroy..
Samyang 14mm f2.8

Ah yes, nice lens - on cropped sensor then?

Iancar29

ZeRoY wrote: »

Ah yes, nice lens - on cropped sensor then?

Nope , my Dad got a new D610 , great camera so far .
Love the fact it can do in camera timelapses .. so i could bring that out on a night , put the wide angle on and let it work away and then do other shots then with my D7000

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I took this when I was in NewZealand, some of you may know the location

I am looking to get a telescope down the line and a T adapter. Just have to do some research first. My mate has a pretty awesome telescope, we will be trying out some shots soon.