Hello and my very first 'astro' photos

[SimmoW]

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m561/xplane10/stack4orion.jpg


http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m561/xplane10/stack3orion.jpg

Hi, my name is Simon W, from Melbourne, only at very early stages of getting into astronomy after many years of neglect!

These pics are pathetic compared to all your beautiful pics, but I was still thrilled with the result last night (first clear night for awhile). Just taken on a fixed tripod, with a canon 5D mk 3, with a 50mm F1.4 (1.5 secs by 5 images) and a 200mm F2.8 (4 secs by 5 images). I did 5 darks, but obviously no flats (I'm a bit unsure how to do those).

I used these to start to get familiar with Deep Sky Stacker and the Astronomy Tools for Photoshop. Just experimenting, but wanted to show someone! It was marvelous to see all the stars appear on the screen as each pic was taken. A real thrill for little old me. I think I'm gettin' the bug!

The JPEGS are much worse than the originals, more colour, not sure what's going on there. Focus was guesswork as I couldn't get my live view to work for some reason.

I'll be getting a decent mount and a 'scope eventually, still deciding. Probably a HEQ5 and a Bintel reflector for now, to see how I cope!

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Hi Simon,

:welcome:

Its a real thrill, to see those first images come up!
Beware, astro imaging is quite addictive but fun.:)

Cheers,

Justin.

[scagman]

Hi Simmon.

Welcome to IIS.

Congrates on the first images. they have come out well. The thrill you mention I think most of us get that and still do.
If you havn't seen it yet, backyardEOS is a great program for controlled canon DSLRs. Or at least those I know who use it swear by it. I dont use it as I use a CCD.

Hope the bug doesn't bite to hard as it can get expensive very quickly.

Cheers

[SimmoW]

Thanks chaps, yes I'm sure it'll get addictively....expensive! I have to swear not to get a CCD as my 5D was expensive enough. But really, the quality and tech we can get nowadays is amazing compared to 10yrs ago. Great times.

Now, I'm curious, the DSS... does it layer the multiple exposures on top of each other, effectively increasing the captured image brightness, or is it doing something else? I haven't noticed a massive increase in brightness. But it certainly helps with the hot pixels

[WingnutR32]

Nice photos, Simon.

That feeling you get when you see the results of your photos in front of you, for me, simply does not go away. Whether it be your first photo or you 100th, you still grin from ear to ear from the result.

[rustigsmed]

nice work Simon! very nice shots.

you could definitely up the exposure time to bring out more detail - even at 50mm. the 5d is also a great camera for wide field night scape shots.

DSS doesn't stack to increase brightness it averages out noise and allows you to extract (go deeper) more detail from the 'image'.

cheers,

Rusty

[alistairsam]

Thats a good start Simon. Its always nice to see your very own first astro image.
Thats a very nice camera you have there and I suggest you search for tutorials on taking widefield photos that show the milky way and timelapse.
Dont worry about darks for exposures shorter than 3 or 4 minutes.
And experiment with higher iso's and increase exposure till the star elongation is prominent.
There might be some articles in the projects and articles section here on the left.
Widefields and timelapse will keep you busy till you get a mount.
Have a look at the night scapes section here for widefields and do ask questions on how they took it, what settings were used and so on.
Have fun.

Cheers
Alistair