Camera Labs

In the constellation Auriga is the nice little open cluster M36. Wasn't expecting the bonus object of NGC1931 to appear as well Nice little emission nebula to the edge of the frame. Image processed by Noel Carboni, acquired by Greg Parker.




Greg & Noel

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

you keep amazing me with your fantastic astrophotos CM !!

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Canon EOS 40D - Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM - Canon EF 50/1,8 II - Canon EF 70-200/4L IS USM - Speedlite 430 EX - Lowerpro Nova 4 AW
My Flickr

Im still amazed by the sheer amount of stars in these photos! its incredible i well need to get a big telescope! but then again i gotta add that to a whole list of things!

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Nikon D80
18-55mm VR
Slik Tripod

spent a bit of time looking at your websites. i just absolutely love most of the stuuf on there! i wish i had the means to do some of this type of work!

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Nikon D80
18-55mm VR
Slik Tripod

Hi MVP,

Thank you - glad you like my work.

Well you have a DSLR so you are half way there at taking deep-sky images. All you need is a mount that tracks the stars and I can highly recommend the AstroTrac TT320 which sits on a sturdy tripod. You need a ball head joint and a geared head and you can then track the stars with your DSLR. This is especially good for very wide field shots of the Milky Way.

Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

thanks i shall look into this now!

I take it there is little light pollution where you do your work!?

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Nikon D80
18-55mm VR
Slik Tripod

So just to clear it up a little, i focus on my subject, press the button on the AstroTrac TT320 and it automatically follows it where you need it to go!???

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Nikon D80
18-55mm VR
Slik Tripod

The light pollution is not good from where I work, I am surrounded by Sodium street lights - but I use a Hutech IDAS light pollution filter which seems to do a reasonably good job.

You use a polar alignment scope to set up the AstroTrac [pointing in the right direction] then you move the camera on the ball joint to point at the area you want to photograph. Focus the camera and then set off your exposures. The AstroTrac just makes sure the assembly moves at the same rate as the rotation of the Earth so you don't get star trails.

Greg

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Nexstar 11 GPS, 2 x Sky 90, M25C, MaximDL, Photshop CS3, Noel Carboni's Photoshop actions, 7 foot Pulsar fibreglass dome, Canon 40D, 100mm macro lens, 28-200mm zoom lens, 17-55mm f#2.8 zoom lens, 100-400mm zoom lens, 1.4x converter, 2x converter.
http://www.newforestobservatory.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801949@N02/

thats what i mean...good

How much should i expect to pay for one of those??? either way i know the mrs will kill me!

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Nikon D80
18-55mm VR
Slik Tripod

This looks like their web site: http://www.astrotrac.com/
Prices will vary depending on the number of bits you already have and need to buy.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I think i might go for http://www.uk-telescopes.co.uk/celestro ... lt_150.htm

and get the motor for it. that way i get a telescope to! then all i need is th ecamera attachment.

Sound good? that astrotrac is expensive

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Nikon D80
18-55mm VR
Slik Tripod