Camera Labs

Managed to tune in the mini-WASP array with this run of clear Moonless skies and managed to let the beast loose on the North America nebula for a couple of hours. Very pleased at how this one turned out.

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/

That is fantastic! If I wore a hat, I definitely take it off to you!

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Bodies: Canon EOS 550D w/ Magic Lantern
Lenses: Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX f/2.8, Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Accessories: YongNuo Speedlite YN-468 Flash, Neewer Macro LED Ring Light, Meike Battery Grip, YongNuo RF-602 Wireless Flash Trigger & Receiver YongNuo WR-128 Wireless Remote Control

Awesome!

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Flickr

Nice as always, but if I can ask, how "deep" did you go? I'm still experimenting with my early tries in narrowband imaging, but with all its many faults I got more red stuff with 4 minute subs at f/2. A dedicated sensor has never been so tempting...

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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.

Hi Greg,

Today marks the first opportunity I've had to see this on a big screen. Nice work! Can you spare a few moments to tell us how the image was captured or point to a web page where you've already done so? Did you use any filters, how many subs, as it is a mosaic and how many frames? What's the pixel count for the full-size image? The usual questions...

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Bob,

This is a 3-framer using the Sky 90 and the M26C one-shot colour camera. The filter is just an IDAS light pollution filter to try and cut out all the street lights. Each frame is just one hour (I was amazed and it shows how good the M26C is with a short focal length refractor) consisting of 6 x 10-minute (dithered) subs. The pixel count in the original is 3377 x 4341 with quite a bit of cropping out of stuff on the right hand side and at the bottom as I just wanted the North America nebula as the subject.

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 Greg. At my current rate of progress it will be next year before I can tackle that area of the sky with the new kit but the numbers will be a useful crib to get me started!

Interesting to see how much Hα I lost with my 5D Mark II effort a while back, though my total exposure was only about half yours which wouldn't have helped my cause!

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

That also gives me a useful guide on what to aim for. Roughly speaking, assuming no reducers were used with the Sky 90, that's a f/5.6 optics. When I tried H-alpha imaging those 4 minute exposures at f/2 would have been equivalent to 32 minutes at f/5.6. So putting aside sensor sensitivities I did go a bit deeper. I think I can afford to back off, both stopping down and maybe using shorter exposures to control the negative aspects of my setup.

I think I'll have to re-read Greg's book again as it has been a while since the last time I looked at it. I vaguely remember the question of exposure duration, aperture and "deepness" raised but can't recall the conclusion.

Bob, I hope you do have a chance this year to have a go around Cygnus. Seems to be so much there to explore. But if you do end up missing it, there's always Orion to look forward to

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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.

There is always an f#4.5 reducer/corrector on the Sky 90 - you can't take reasonable CCD images without it.
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/