Making the most of a bad night out

[Icearcher (Chris)]

Hi All

Popped out last Saturday, everything was looking good but after only an hour, small high cloud started ruining subs and after about 3 hours, the heavy clouds rolled in and cut the night short.

Still, I thought I would have a crack at trying to salvage something from the night and Im pretty happy with what came out.

Pleiades had the most data at 16 x 300sec subs and I think it turned out quite well, nice amount of detail.

Horse Head Nebula got 11 x 300sec subs but they were already starting to be ruined by the cloud, still surprised but its very noisy.

The Vails received 9 subs but it was very low on the horizon and the subs came out very brown, Im happy with the detail though.

All up, not a great night but im happy that my equipment didn't give me any issues, you cant always control the weather.

Thanks for looking and please give me any input.

Regards
Chris

[Xeteth (David)]

Given the conditions I think you've captured some great detail there, well done!

Just wondering - I'm using a Canon EOS650D which is very similar to your camera, have you modified the camera at all? I had a crack at the flame/horsehead last week and I couldn't pull much detail from it, even on a very clear night and it being right overhead.

I am shooting from a bortle 8 zone, but I'm using a Hutech LP filter so I am expecting to get at least some usable data. I'm wondering whether I'm missing a setting on the camera or something.

[Icearcher (Chris)]

Hi David

My 600d is totally stock, no modifications.

I am shooting from a bortle 2 zone though and pointing away from all the light pollution, Adelaide's light dome is behind me.

My subs are 300 seconds (5 mins) @ iso 800.

Below is one of my subs, its a .jpg straight out of the camera, no touch ups, just resized for upload.

What setting are you using on you camera?

[Ant0nio (Tony)]

Nice work Chris, M45 & the Vela SNR particularly.
Cheers,
Tony

[Xeteth (David)]

Originally Posted by Icearcher

Hi David

I am shooting from a bortle 2 zone though and pointing away from all the light pollution, Adelaide's light dome is behind me.

What setting are you using on you camera?

Ah, bortle 2 would definitely help a lot! I'm right in the thick of Melbourne's bubble which makes things difficult.

As for the camera settings, I'm shooting 60s subs @ 1600 ISO. I'm not sure if there's anything else on the camera itself I should look out for? I just control the camera through Astrophotography Tool.

Here's one of my subs, the blue you're seeing is from the light pollution filter. There's definitely some detail there, but I am having a hard time drawing it out. Perhaps it's my processing which admittedly is my weak point at the moment.

[Icearcher (Chris)]

Hi David

I think you are making good progress.

Have you tried to increase your exposure time out to like 120 secs or so?

Also, maybe try stacking lots and lots of subs to increase your signal to noise ratio, this might help you bring out more detail during processing.

How many subs are you getting? are you also getting darks as well?

I think processing is by far the hardest part, Iv only just started scratching the surface of whats possible.

[xelasnave]

Chris you much better.
Do not let the minor problems give you a list of excuses.
Look I could be a film star if I had good looks and could keep my hands off the females on the set.

There will always be something not perfect ... a champion still produces better than best with all the problems.thats what champions do..do t be anything less...have you ever seen a great guitarist break a string in the middle of a solo..no probably not because they just keep going turning out excellence as though it was easily won...nevertheless I conceed you have done very well... But it only indicates you have the talent and perhaps holding back.
Great effort and really..well done.
Alex

[Icearcher (Chris)]

Thanks Alex, they are very wise words indeed.

You are correct, in this hobby, we will always be up against something and its very rare that we get everything just right.

I was hoping that by posting my bad night out, it might get others to post their great efforts working with less than great data.