FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

Topic ClosedLunar and Astro Photography (6)

Page  <1234 20>
Author
ratboy View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Joined: 26 May 2010
Country: United Kingdom
Location: North East
Status: Offline
Posts: 1780
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 December 2017 at 15:10
Originally posted by WestCoastCannuck WestCoastCannuck wrote:

Very cool composition Karl!

Thanks ! I have been enjoying those moon shots, great work.
 



Back to Top
WestCoastCannuck View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Joined: 11 January 2011
Country: Canada
Location: Victoria, B.C.
Status: Offline
Posts: 2632
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 January 2018 at 22:49
Moon, Jan3

Single exposure, A77ii + Minolta 400/4.5 + 2X TC

flickr

A99ii|A77ii|Tam15-30|ZA24-70|M28-135|M35-105|M80-200G|SAL70400G|Σ50 1.4|ZA135|200F2.8HS G|300F2.8HS G|400/4.5|APOii1.4XTC|APOii2XTC
Back to Top
Dena View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Joined: 02 November 2015
Country: United States
Location: Arkansas
Status: Offline
Posts: 1112
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 January 2018 at 21:06
January 1.

a77ii + Minolta 80-200mm f2.8 @ 150mm

Back to Top
svjetlana View Drop Down
Alpha Eyes group
Alpha Eyes group

Joined: 05 March 2009
Country: Serbia
Status: Offline
Posts: 7637
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 January 2018 at 13:40
Very calm image Dena and nice complementary colors
Back to Top
mikey2000 View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
OoU coördinator

Joined: 10 January 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Posts: 11659
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 January 2018 at 14:22
Very nice Dena. It's great to see a moon pic with a little bit of context mixed up with all the detailed closeups on this thread.
Want to know more about Fred_S? Just click!
Back to Top
mikey2000 View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
OoU coördinator

Joined: 10 January 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Posts: 11659
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 January 2018 at 14:31
My christmas treat was a new mount for my telescope. It weighs a ton and gives very very stable tracking. It effectively allows for unlimited exposure duration. Light pollution limits me to about 10 minutes. My old mound used to glitch every 5 or six minutes. No problems any more!

Being steadier, I can now get more stars to be more pin-pointy too :-)

Here are some early results... I haven't had a *really* clear night lately 0 there's been a little bit of humidity in the night skies...

50% crop from A6000 shots:
Cocoon Nebula 12x10mins Disappearing into the horizon light pollution at this time of year, this presented a serious processing challenge.


M74 7x10mins This is a *very* faint target...


M1 Crab Nebula 4x10mins


Almost the full APS-C frame:
NGC281 Pacman Nebula 7x10mins


Nearly the whole frame. With some added flare from terrestrial light sources just out of view. Over 10 mins, any unwanted photons can have quite a strong effect!
Flame and Horsehead Nebulae 6x10mins







Want to know more about Fred_S? Just click!
 



Back to Top
Mark Twain View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Joined: 05 May 2013
Country: Austria
Status: Offline
Posts: 554
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 January 2018 at 15:27
Astonishing results as always, mikey2000! I bet those would look great on a nursery's roof (if the resolution is high enough).

How long do you need to post-process a single picture?
Back to Top
skm.sa100 View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Joined: 08 January 2009
Country: United States
Location: Charlotte, NC
Status: Offline
Posts: 4605
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 January 2018 at 15:31
Nice images! With that kind of hardware I'd be tempted to drive out to some dark sky locations, sleep all afternoon and spend the entire night getting some good pics! Not that I mean to instruct you to abandon your daily duties!
More Dyxumer, less photographer.
Back to Top
Dena View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Joined: 02 November 2015
Country: United States
Location: Arkansas
Status: Offline
Posts: 1112
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 January 2018 at 16:24
Amazing stuff!
Back to Top
Fred_S View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member

Joined: 12 January 2017
Country: Netherlands
Location: Noord Holland
Status: Offline
Posts: 13705
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 January 2018 at 17:14
Very nice Mike! Could to hear what effort is required to achieve these great pics. TFS
Back to Top
stiuskr View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group

Joined: 01 September 2006
Country: United States
Location: West Virginia
Status: Offline
Posts: 11497
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 January 2018 at 17:37
Can you link us to your new mount?
Rob Suits Jr.
a99M2 a99 a77 a700 KM7D|Min24/2.8 Min35/2 So50/1.4 So50/2.8 Min85/1.4G Tam90/2.8 Tam180/3.5|Tam17-50 CZ24-70G2 KM28-75D So70-200G1 So70-300G So70-400G1| SonyF60 AD200R2
Back to Top
mikey2000 View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
OoU coördinator

Joined: 10 January 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Posts: 11659
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 January 2018 at 10:36
The mount is a Skywatcher EQ6-R, it's an absolute monster EQ6-R

The method runs a little like this:

Haul kit into garden. (scope, mount, laptop) 5mins
Polar alignment (get the main axis aligned with the earths rotation) 10m
Obtain critical focus (5 mins)
Point at target (5 to 10 mins including 'plate solving' to ensure invisible target is actually in the frame)
Set up and start 'guiding' (A piggy backed miniscope and mini camera connected to the laptop monitor the tracking for tiny errors and send corrections to the mount)
Leave the intervalometer to shoot away. (1 hour minimum, the longer the better)
Tidy up (10mins)

So, that's the pics taken. It's largely automated once it's all set up. It's just a matter of time.

Also, I have a ready-made library of Dark frames (for hot pixel removal) and 'flat frames' to cancel any dust bunnies and vignetting. Also, I have 'bias frames' to cancel out read noise. (or something like that) These were all quite time consuming to get right. To make it more complex, I have different dark frames for different temperatures. (Apparently it can make a difference)

Now I have the libraries, I'm just re-use them, occasionally making new ones to account for thing like new hot pixels, different temperatures etc.

Processing comes later, at leisure.

Processing:
Load raws with darks + flats + bias into 'deep sky stacker'
This takes about 20 mins to complete. It's a sort of multiframe noise reduction.
The load the rather boring looking result into Startools ($25) for 'stretching' This corrects the colour, cancels out light pollution (to an extent) and pulls the faint objects out of the background. Quite amazing really.

Finishing touches jhappen in LR or Photoshop.

PP time is about 60 mins max per photo, depending how good the data is and how fussy I'm being.   30 mins is quite possible too.

Phew!
Want to know more about Fred_S? Just click!
Back to Top
mikey2000 View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group
OoU coördinator

Joined: 10 January 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Posts: 11659
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 January 2018 at 10:38
Of course, the obvious question is 'why bother?' when I can go and visit hubble.com etc for even better views.

Well, it's that photography hobby thing - the process is just as important as the result. If you get into a particular type of thing enough to want to photograph it properly, you end up learning much more than you expected about your chosen subject matter.

Fun! Knowledge! Results! Big hole in wallet!
Want to know more about Fred_S? Just click!
Back to Top
stiuskr View Drop Down
Moderator Group
Moderator Group

Joined: 01 September 2006
Country: United States
Location: West Virginia
Status: Offline
Posts: 11497
Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 January 2018 at 12:41
Originally posted by mikey2000 mikey2000 wrote:

Of course, the obvious question is 'why bother?'...


Wait, what? What idiot said that?

Sorry, couldn't help myself and please don't respond here. Maybe there though...http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/the-seinfeld-thread-its-about-nothing_topic130397.html

Edited by stiuskr - 11 January 2018 at 12:44
Rob Suits Jr.
a99M2 a99 a77 a700 KM7D|Min24/2.8 Min35/2 So50/1.4 So50/2.8 Min85/1.4G Tam90/2.8 Tam180/3.5|Tam17-50 CZ24-70G2 KM28-75D So70-200G1 So70-300G So70-400G1| SonyF60 AD200R2
Back to Top
Dyxum main page >  Forum Home > Dyxum Photographs > Themed Views Page  <1234 20>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down



This page was generated in 0.078 seconds.

Monitor calibration strip

Dyxum.com - Home of the alpha system photographer

In memory of Cameron Hill - brettania

Feel free to contact us if needed.