astrophotography

[jupiter1]

Hi Everyone just bought a canon 60DA camera I am interested in learning as much as I can about astrophotography can anyone recommend any books that will be helpful

peter

[rogerco]

The "Projects and Articles" section of this web site is as good as any a place to get started.

[h0ughy]

i am sure you will find a heap of reading material http://www.iceinspace.com.au/projects.html - but go through the galaries here and see what settings people used. trial and error and have fun. probably the best other accessory you can get at the moment would be a vixen Polarie and tripod with a bubble compass - then you can do some timed exposures. use live view to focus and your off!

[Astro_Bot]

When it comes to astrophotogtaphy, I still have my 'L' plates on, but I've been finding this site very good so far: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/TOC_AP.HTM

[naskies]

Hi Peter,

Congrats and welcome! One of the IIS members here, Phil Hart, has written a beautifully illustrated eBook on DSLR astrophotography that is perfect for beginners to get a sense of "how things are done":

http://shop.iceinspace.com.au/shop/shooting-stars-ebook/

[jupiter1]

thank you for your help Ill check out the book and website thanks again. Peter

[NeilW]

Hi Peter,

Digital DSLR Astrophotography by Michael Covington will be good once you've learned the basics. It's not cheap, but there's a wealth of useful information in it.

Cheers,

[Jon]

Yes, the Covington is good - I got it the same day as my 60Da. The book I have found really useful recently is Bracken, The Deep Sky Imaging Primer published this year. http://www.amazon.com/Deep-sky-Imaging-Primer-Charles-Bracken/dp/148180491X

[Larryp]

I have Covington's book, too. Easy to read and understand. When I first got into A/P many years ago, I bought his original book on film photography and it was brilliant-so I thought his book on DSLR would be equally good.

[acotiga]

If I would be you I would start with Jerry Lodriguss' Catching the Light. After understanding that book, I would move to Ron Wodaski's "The New CCD Astronomy". The only catch is that this book is no longer in print but I have it from a very reliable source that if you join the Yahoo group and ask him nicely he would give you the pdf version. ;) It's an AMAZING book and you would understand the WHY not only the HOW.
For intermediate processing skills, the next Jerry Lodriguss book is gold. There are many more out there. I've tried to stay away from those that do not apply to Photoshop but that's not to say that you should too.

Scott Ireland's book is another well respected one. However, I have my reservations about it, mainly from the fact that it came into my possession a little too late. Most of the techniques presented in the book are included in the Noel Carboni action pack.

The last on my list would be the second Ron Wodaski book - ...Astrozone... which is held in high regards and judging but how good the first one was I have no doubt about it.

Good luck and welcome to one of the most expensive hobbies that you could have come across.:D

[ZeroID]

Once you've got the basics under control then I reckon this is the latest 'bible' to get.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=104512