First Light STF8300_Canon 50mm Lens

[Martin Pugh]

Hi folks
I did have an ST8300, which went defective on me, so I got it changed out for the upgraded STF8300. I have found significant improvements in many areas, especially download speeds and cooling. I did use this lens previously with the ST8300 and had to stop it down to f4 to overcome the off-axis nonsense.

Anyway this image was unguided and consequently stars are a little fatter at the edges, and I can see I have some drift going on which is obviously far more noticeable at this FOV.

Just 15 minutes each RGB.

http://www.martinpughastrophotograph...s/color-v2.jpg

I am going to have fun with this setup methinks.

cheers
Martin

[alpal]

Hi Martin,
what a beautiful photo - well done.

I'll have to try with just a camera lens too.
I'll get a QHY10 tomorrow & I hope to be able to
fit a lens to it as well as use it in my telescope.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

That looks like a good combination Martin!

Must get myself a decent 50mm lens.
The drift, bottom right hand corner of the image?
Not sure, I need new glasses.

Cheers,

Justin.

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks for the comments.

A comparison between a 60 sec and a 300 sec image showed added elongation in the stars, which I can only put down to drift.

Plenty of folk on this forum have great experience with all sorts of lenses, so if in doubt, post your question.

I hope to use the STL11K to guide tonight and repeat the exercise.

cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Great shot Martin. Wonderful colours and deeply saturated. Lovely.

Greg.

[RickS (Rick)]

Very nice, Martin! The colours are lovely.

I'll be interested to see how you fare with the bigger sensor. I was out last night testing a Zeiss 100mm Makroplanar and STL11K. The corners look pretty horrible until f/5.6 or so. Makes me appreciate the quality of my FSQ-106ED even more.

Cheers,
Rick.

[DavidTrap (David)]

Very impressive for such a short exposure Martin.

I've got all the gear to do something similar, but been waiting on a motorised focuser for 8months that has finally shipped... Hopefully I'll get my act together in the next couple of weeks.

DT

[Martin Pugh]

Thanks again folks.

I should add that this was manually focussed, and like you David, I have all the kit, just have not set it up.

Rick - I am not going to be using the STL with this lens, just using it to guide.

cheers
Martin

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by Martin Pugh

Rick - I am not going to be using the STL with this lens, just using it to guide.

Sorry, missed that little detail. A STL is a very expensive guide camera

[Ross G]

Great photo Martin.

I love the colours and composition.

Using camera lenses is such an enjoyable way to image.

Ross.

[iceman (Mike)]

Wow, and you do this type of shot as a test shot!

That's amazing Martin, stunning image. I want to see more from this combination!

It's now IOTW.

[dmurton (David)]

What a great shot. Which canon lense did you use, the 1.8, the 1.4 or the 1.2, or is it an older lense with manual aperture? If it is a lense with without manual aperture control, how did you stop it down?

Regards

David

[Martin Pugh]

Well thanks very much Mike!

David - its the f1.2 professional lens. In order to stop it down, attach the lens to the camera and set your f stop accordingly in the camera.

Press the depth of field button while removing the lens from the camera, and the aperture stays closed....attach to ccd camera!

cheers
Martin

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Wow Martin! Love it!