Carina Neb Wide Field Success!

[nebulosity.]

I thought last night that while the moon was up I'd capture some darks, so I the camera going and set my alarm for 11:30 when I planed to get up and hopefully capture a few hours of Carina. Anyway the alarm didn't work, or maybe I turned it off in my sleep :( but the result was I slept in till 3 am, so only 21 two min subs for this one.

Despite the lack of data it seems to have worked out well I think, Focus is good anyway :D and I got 300 two min darks :lol:

Pretty happy with the resolution, considering it's only an 8 mp camera for a 15 degree FOV, check out the large here. (http://astrob.in/63365/0/)

Cheers
Jo

[cometcatcher]

Look at all those stars!

[DavidNg]

Agree, so many stars :)

[Rex]

Wow that camera of yours is going great Jo. Only comment I would make about this one is that stars kind of take over and the hero is pushed to the background a little. Other than that this is another great image.

[nebulosity.]

Thanks Kevin and David,



Yes your exactly right, any ideas on how I could tone down the stars a bit?

Other pictures I've taken with this lens at F four are not so bad but since modding the camera the increased IR sensitivity have coursed the stars to bloat and has forced me to up the aperture to F8. I have an IR cut filter coming so hopefully that will allow me to open up the aperture again and reduce the stars.

Jo

[rcheshire]

Very nice Jo. The Orion wf too. As a suggestion - you could try a lower iso and see how your stars look. Say 400 or 800 and 3 to 3.5 mins. This will increase your dynamic range and slow integration a little. You should then see more colour in your stars. you will also have morecontrol over the bright areas of the nebs.

EDIT: Works on my 1000D.

[nebulosity.]

Thanks Rowland, my PA is a but off so thats why I've been using the high Iso and short exposures. I should be getting a IR cut filter in a few days so then I'm hoping I'll be able to open the lens up to 5.6 and drop the Iso to 800, and then once I get the PA fixed as well things should be good.

Jo

[Rex]

Hey Jo. I am not an expert but this is how I reduce the stars if needed.
If you have PS, make sure the image in flattened, (only background layer), then copy background layer and rename the new layer whatever you want, (usually reduce stars). Make sure the new layer is highlighted in the layers palette, (so you are working on the new layer).
Select all the stars, (use the magic wand to select everything except the stars then invert selection),
Once the stars are selected go:
Select/modify/expand, (this expands the selection, usually 4 pixels works), then go:
Select/feather, (usually 2 pixels works, sometimes you have to feather more),
then go:
Filter/other/minimum, (this will shrink all the stars way too much but click ok anyway).
Then using the layers palette, reduce the opacity of that layer until it is right.
I have had varying success with this procedure but it's worth a shot.
Hope that helps.

[nebulosity.]

Thanks Rex good to know, I haven't got PS but it looks like it might be the way to go, I'll keep your info handy.

Cheers
Jo

[LightningNZ]

Jo - super nice Carina. Hopefully one day I'll be able to take a picture as nice as this.

Rex - just wanted to say thanks! Your method is quite handy. I'll try to remember that one.

Cheers,
Cam