Milky way

[allan gould]

Had a chance to try the Olympus OM-D EM5 with a new Samyang 7.5mm full frame fisheye lens that I had purchased. The image is a stack of 7x15 sec at f4.
Wasnt sure of focus etc as this was a first attempt but I have now an Ioptron Skytracker and this should really make the full frame lens stand out.
Was quite happy with the resukt but tracking will open up a new dimension. Antares is the very red star just to the right of center.
Comments welcomed
Allan

[gregbradley]

Nice start there Allan. An OMD and a tracker - a lot of potential there.

I take it this one was not tracked hence the 15 seconds?

I am giving a talk at AAIC about this sort of imaging with quite a bit of data about settings, equipment as well as the basics of composition and details of processing.
It'll save a lot of time experimenting so you can concentrate more on imaging and less on experimenting and processing trials and tribulations.

Hope to see you there.

Greg.

[h0ughy]

well done Allan, the Emu stands out like the proverbial...

[ozstronomer]

Nice image Allan - plenty of detail for 15 sec frames. That Ioptron will certainly help in gathering longer subs :thumbsup:

[allan gould]

Thought long and hard about going but bought the DVD instead and am just getting into PixInsight, so I thought the next one would be more productive for me.
Anyway it was 15 second subs as even with a 180 degree full frame fisheye there was obvious trailing at one and two minute images of the Mily Way. Hence the 15 sec subs which amused me. Anyway the Samyang lens operated excellently at f4 ie one stop down and ISO1600 with no noise reduction in camera or during processing. I was just ecstatic to get something and the Skytracker from Ioptron has just arrived so I will devote several nights getting long tracked images soon.

Ahhhhhh the dark nights of Astrofest, miss them already.

thanks Geoff, looking forward to see what you did with the 35mm lens.
Allan

[RickS]

Nice colouring, Allan!

I wonder if my wife would let me borrow her OM-D? I just ordered a Polarie ;)

[jjjnettie]

The colour is lovely.

[Larryp]

Very nice, Allan!

[peter_4059]

That worked out well Allan. Focus looks pretty good.

[allan gould]

I think the micro four thirds cameras are very under rated and I see a lot of potential with them, especially as they are about one third the weight of a DSLR and lens and so will place less strain on the tracker.

thanks JJJ, just trying to emulate your images.

Thanks Larry

Thanks Peter but focusing a full frame fish eye lens is a real no brainer
Allan

[Ross G]

Nice shot Allan.

I like the colour.

Tracking will give you the ability to shoot beautiful quality widefields.

Good luck.

Ross.

[acropolite]

Nice colour Alan and looks promising.

I'm curious, what are the edges like on the fisheye, my Canon 15mm fish is terrible at the edges.

[allan gould]

This Samyang 7.5 mm M4/3 full frame fish eye lens is very good stopped down by one stop with hardly any distortion that I can discern. It's equivalent to a 15mm 35mm lens and from what I hear on the Internet the Samyangs are quite good in all iterations but this lens got rave reviews on the Olympus forums. As a prime lens it's exceptional and if you keep it level in a normal photo it's very harm to see distortions in landscapes, but if you tilt it - whoa it's a different beast. Worth looking at some of the reviews, Phil.
Hope this helps.
Allan

[gregbradley]

Yeah that's the key with a fisheye - keep them level.

I wonder if that also works with the lens in portrait orientation. I'll have to test that, I think it does work that way as well.

I find defish plugins don't work very well getting rid of the excess curvature so the best approach it to try to keep them level. Not that easy when the MW is at the zenith after dark like it is at the moment.

Greg.

[naskies]

Looks good, Allan. Lots of potential!