5D Horsehead and Orion

[TidaLpHasE]

:) Hi all, i forced myself out early this morning down to my dark site west of Melbourne.

It was hit and miss with light drizzle on the way up and fog blanketing the sky:doh:

When i arrived at my possie, it was clear to the south, but not so good to the west, i raced around like a mad chook trying to beat the clouds.

I had planned to polar align the eq5 as good as i could without a polar scope, and thought of drift aligning with the ED80.

I decided to at least get something on the cmos before it all turned to muck, so i ditched the polar and drift align, and just plonked the mount roughly towards the scp, made it level, and hoped for the best.

It ended being close enough to get half decent images, and i am stoked with them:D

I have a few more to process later today, here's a couple of quick pics processed with ps cs2

LMC: 28-105mm @ 105mm, 102 seconds f/4.5 ISO 1250

Orion+Horsy: 70-300mm @ 300mm, 60 seconds f/5.6 ISO 3200

SMC+47Tuc: 70-300mm @ 300mm, 60 seconds f/5.6 ISO 3200.

Comments welcome.

[Octane]

Trevor,

Lovely images.

I love the LMC and SMC ones most.

Tucanae 47 looks beautiful. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[avandonk]

Great results considering the weather etc. Shows that a dark sky really lets you get you the faint stuff.

Bert

[Lester]

Hi Trevor,

very nice images. Ten out of ten for dedication and perseverance.

[TidaLpHasE]

:)Thanks for the nice comments, i have still got a heap to learn yet thats for sure, but i am very happy with this mornings results.

Here is a few more processed with ps cs2.

I hve 7 or 8 good images of the horsy, that i will try and stack:lol: you notice i said try.

[EzyStyles]

amazing trevor! and the above pics looks really nice esp the clouds. btw how did you get the pic with diff spikes so long?

[ballaratdragons]

Trevor,

I hope you don't mind, but Cheryl and I love your sunrise pic so much I couldn't resist taking out the Star-trails!

Stunning shot mate!!! :thumbsup:

[Striker]

The defraction spikes are not square....did you edit these in with photoshop...????

Some nice images Trevor.

[Octane]

Trevor,

OMG, you are *the* king when it comes to these surreal, serene and splendid images.

Mate, you have to spill the beans, what focal length, exposure, F/ratio, ISO settings are you using? What time are you shooting at as well? I would desperately love to give this kind of thing a go.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Regards,
Humayun

[tornado33]

Yep, good shots there, that 5D has a huge image sensor, the polar aling looks pretty good too :)
Scott

[TidaLpHasE]

:)Thanks again for your comments, i am still working on the stacking side of things, i could only align 2 images, and when resized the compression was too much, i will try again.

Eric, the diff spikes are as is from the filter, i used a cokin style 4 star filter, i think it's just too much and takes over the whole image, but i will try again to see if i can get a nice image using it.

Tony, i had to use p/s to reduce the spikes:doh:

Ken, i don't mind at all, you are a magician, you have to tell me how you did it, what a difference it has made:thumbsup:

Humayun, thanks i really like taking these pics too, the lens i use mostly is the 10-22mm it does the job nicely most times, exposures are anything from 20- 60 seconds and longer, iso to match the amount of light, just experiment with your iso, f/ratio and length of exposure to see what works.
I find dusk, just on darkness in the evening, and dawn just before daybreak the best for a long exposure.

Hope this helps Humayun.

ps, don't forget the tripod:thumbsup:

[spearo]

Trevor,
I must say these are awsome shots!
I have come back a few times to look at the Orion and Horsy shot and even talked to people at work about it!
Very cool stuff!
well done-very impressive
frank

[TidaLpHasE]

:)Thanks Frank, i am looking forward to getting some more longer exposures of the horse region when the moon moves on from its current position.

I will try for a shot through the ED80, and i can't wait;)

[h0ughy]

Trevor, what lens do you have on the 5D?

[TidaLpHasE]

:)G'day Houghy, for the Horse i used a Canon 70-300 image stabalizer f/4-5.6, i also use the 50mm f/1.4, 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5, and a 28-105 f/3.5-4.5.

I would love a couple more lenses, but now i am in saving mode for the 350d replacement:(

[iceman]

Great shots Trevor, you're coming along very quickly and I'm expecting bigger and better things from you!

Don't drop that 5D in the water! :)

[TidaLpHasE]

:scared:Dread the thought Mike, it has been strange the last week or so without the 350d, i had really become attatched to that camera :violin:

[strongmanmike]

Lovely shots Trevor particularly the sea scape ones!

What is your overall ompression of the 5D?

How big in pixels and mm is the CMOS in the 5D?

Mike

Mike

[TidaLpHasE]

G'day Mike, the 5D is an awsome camera, it should be to for the cost of it:doh:

The sensor size is 35.8mmX23.9mm and 12.8 MP

I am still learning with this camera, as it is modified i don't use it all that often as i don't yet have the lens filters that enables normal daylight photography.

Once i get a couple of filters, i will be using it more and more for terrestial pics and landscapes, which i am sure it will perform as good as it does on astro imaging.

Bert(avandonk) also has a Hutech 5D, and seems to have had alot more use and experimentation regarding its overall performance and ability, i think he is the man for a more definitive explanation regarding this cameras pro's and con's if any.

The seascape images were all taken with the 350d.

Cheers.

Trevor.