Practicing the Craft: Focus And More Stars

[Brian W (Brian)]

Last night was about 6 out of 10 but I needed to practice. Sony Alpha a58, Tamron 90mm 272E, ISO 6400, shutter speed 4s., F/4.5. 124 colored, 50 darks and 50 bias.

I dl directly into Capture 1 Sony Pro. Did a bit of tweaking. Cropped and exported into DSS as Tiff. A couple hours later back into Capture 1 for final pp. The area is around the top of Cassiopeia.

[Mickoid (Michael)]

That's certainly an improvement from what I've seen in the past Brian. Stars look nice and round and there are plenty of them. Your processing has improved too. You've just got to take the next step and purchase that EQ mount so you can increase your exposures and really make a difference!

[Brian W (Brian)]

Agreed. Tonight I went out and tried for the Andromeda Galaxy. I slowed the shutter speed down to 5 s. Stars are a little elongated for my taste. Tomorrow I hope to get the pp done and post it here.

Brian

[ZeroID (Brent)]

You should be able to stack SONY RAW in DSS. Does the A58 have the RAW option in the menu ? Output from DSS is TIFF.

[speach (Simon)]

I really wouldn't call it, astrophotography, an craft. It's much more a black art!

[Brian W (Brian)]

Originally Posted by ZeroID

You should be able to stack SONY RAW in DSS. Does the A58 have the RAW option in the menu ? Output from DSS is TIFF.

Yes I can. Yes it does. Yes it is.

But I have found for reasons unknown that it works best if I do some initial sharpening and universal adjustments in Capture 1 and then move into DSS with TIFF

[Brian W (Brian)]

Originally Posted by speach

I really wouldn't call it, astrophotography, an craft. It's much more a black art!

You do have a point.