Camera Labs

I tried a long exposure shot into the sky last night. It just came out black I'm going to try again tonight. Perhaps it's too cloudy round where I live or maybe there's too much in the way of street lights affecting it.

_________________
Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

I'd be interested to know how you get on, please keep us informed. I'm guessing there's a chance that the camera can pick up something you can't see, although having never done it I'm only guessing

_________________
flickr
Nikon D40 | AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED | AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II

Not getting on too well here! I guess the sky is too cloudy. I can see a handful of stars in the sky but that's really about it so I'm getting a mostly black image with the odd dot here and there.

_________________
Nikon D700 | 20mm f2.8 | 28mm f2.8 | 50mm f1.8 | 70-300 f4-5.6 | SB800 | flickr | serial photography

I decided to take a shot at it. No amazing clouds of stars or anything, don't think its dark enough where i am but this is what i've got so far. This was shot with a Nikon d80 with the 18-70mm @ 70, ISO 1600 and 10 sec shutter. and a little brightness tweaking in photoshop.

here is the sky at 70mm, the red square is the crop below of the Andromeda galaxy


And heres a 200% crop of the Andromeda galaxy.

What a fantastic thread. This is a subject that interests me on several levels from photography to sheer amazement at whats out there.

So having said that how do I begin to do some wide-field astrophotography? I have shot startrails and wish to move into photographing galaxies / nebula's etc.

Ive heard about tracking mounts - can anyone recommend a beginners tracking mount?

_________________
Lee Diggle
My Astronomy Blog | My Photography Gallery

Hi Digz, there's lots of stuff around, but I'd try and pick up a copy of Sky and Telescope or Astronomy - both US mags, but sold in larger WH Smiths in the UK - as they'll give you an idea of what's available. If there's a telescope shop near Bristol, I'd also recommend a browse...

Welly, do you live in Leeds now? Great city. I used to live in Huddersfield and there's certainly lots of light pollution in the urban parts of West Yorkshire, but there are lots of serious astrophotographers in your neck of the woods and some great astronomy societies. Many have some great equipment - and as crucially - experienced members who know how to make the most of it. I can personally recommend the Huddersfield Astronomical Society, but there's probably one in Leeds too, maybe affiliated with the University. If nothing else, they'll know some dark spots to shoot from.

But yes, I wouldn't bother unless it's a 100% clear night - at least in the area of the sky you want to photograph.

PS - Digz, I'd also recommend seeing if there's a good astro society in Bristol, as you may be able to try some of their equipment before buying. Indeed you may not even subsequently need to buy.

Try this http://www.bristolcameras.co.uk/ and then click on Optics and Astro

_________________
Roy
EOS 350D, 40D + BG-E2N, EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM, 430 EX Speedlite




My Fotopic

Thanks Gordan / Roy I will do just that

_________________
Lee Diggle
My Astronomy Blog | My Photography Gallery

Thanks for a great guide Gordon! Will try that as soon as we get our night-sky clear

_________________
Sonyian?

My Flickr - Comments very welcome
Gear: a200, Sony 18-70 3.5-5.6 DT, Minolta 50 1.7 AF, Lowepro TLZ Mini, GorillaPod SLR Zoom
Saving for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX HSM Macro II (50%)

Hi guys, great thread. I've been looking for advice on simple astrophotography and this has been a great source of information. A few nights ago, I went out to shoot some pics of the night sky, and here's what I came away with:



This is the result of three photos stacked (with DeepSkyStacker). The three original exposures were all the same, 5 seconds at ISO 400 and f/1.4. I used a custom white balance to eliminate polution from the sodium vapor street lights. Still working out optimal settings, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi ban25,

May I offer you a warm welcome to the CameraLabs forum.

I suffer from the same issue of sodium street lamps and I have found that using a specialist filter (Hutech is one source but there are others out there) helps a lot. They aren't cheap, unfortunately, but I think that if you can't find darker skies you might need to make that investment as the custom white balance you used, while effective at getting rid of the orange, has resulted in purple stars.

Bob.

_________________
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.

This thread has been a fantastic resource for basic astrophotography. I gave it a shot last night (and will go to the same location again tonight if there aren't any clouds).

I was pretty happy with these 2.

The first one was at ISO 1250, the second one was at ISO2000. Both 30 second exposures at f/3.5 (the minimum aperture of the Nikon 18-200 lens). I might primarily use the 50mm 1.8 tonight though. Open up the aperture a bit more, and tone down the ISO

_________________
Nikon D90, 18-200VR, 70-300VR, 50mm f1.8, SB600, Kenko Tubes, MB-D80

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradchiplin/

first time go at it with the f/1.8 lens, this thread defiantly inspired me to try this out

Full Size


Full Size

_________________
Canon 50D || Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 || Tamron 17-50 f2.8 || EF 50mm f/1.4 || EF 35-105mm f/4.5-5 USM || 430EX II w/wireless system flickr

Nice shots adon, and I really like the foreground subjects. The sky looks quite dark too - where were you?

lol the photos actually looked more like this originally (VERY Bright for night time)

This is just a sumulation of the original(the original has been altered)

just a little bit of lightroom fixed the black levels

I wanted to try something different with the palms in the foreground, it was all part of my "Garden at night" exploration. (there was nothing good on TV)

I live in Perth, Western Australia. And this was from last night

Adon

_________________
Canon 50D || Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 || Tamron 17-50 f2.8 || EF 50mm f/1.4 || EF 35-105mm f/4.5-5 USM || 430EX II w/wireless system flickr