M42 with CGEM and Nikon D600

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You guessed it - M42 :) Have to start somewhere.

This is a single frame from the Nikon D600, processed in lightroom. (iso 800, 30 seconds, unguided)

I actually took about 30 odd frames, and stacked them in deepskystacker, but I didn't get any better result than this, so...

Edit: I used a WO megrez 90...

[ourkind]

wow you must have some clear dark skys! Nice sub :thumbsup:

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Actually Im the northern suburbs of Melbourne. :)

[Larryp]

Very nice, Tim!

[TechnoViking]

Very nice, such a pretty nebula. I love seeing all the variations of colours from different cameras, editing and personal tastes.
Great job!

[04Stefan07]

Nice image mate!

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Thanks all :) I really need to spend some time playing with deep sky stacker. Im sure I can reduce the noise.

The D600 seems like a nice camera for Astro - excellent sensor in a lightweight body. The Live View is no where near as good as the Canon though. Makes focusing a little more difficult.

[ZeroID]

That's more than pretty darn good for a single exposure Tim. Is the original that dark or have you pushed the processing quite hard ?
I haven't even got a Liveview mode on the SONY so I know what you mean about focussing being a mission. But there are always ways to get round it... well done.

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the original is not dark, but its lowish in constrast because of light pollution. I mostly did some curves adjustment in LR, and boosted the 'clarity' and saturation.

[Rhysmandala]

Dude this looks amazing! How exactly did you capture it with your Nikon? I have a Canon 7D and would love to be able to get shots like this. Cheers.

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Thanks :) The image itself was a 30 second exposure at ISO 800. I used the Celestron All Star alignment routine to get me closely polar aligned - I hate trying to drift align :lol: Seems to be good enough for 30 seconds unguided at the focal length of the megrez 90.

In lightroom I adjusted the curves to increase the contrast, then played with the saturation and clarity. That's about it!