Just joined... Hello!

[HJW]

Hi everyone,
a few month back I got a new DSLR (Pentax K-30) and started to take some pictures of the night sky. Now I have some more serious equipment on Santa's wishlist. Of course I have set my goals pretty high and want to focus on DSOs. T give you an idea how far I've come without a telescope, I attached a couple of images.

[Ryderscope]

Welcome aboard Hans-Juergen. Am looking forward to seeing lots of images as you journey through DSLR astrophotography.

[yoda776]

I would be interested to see more photos over time and learn how to do this myself in the not to distant future. Fascinated by astrophotography / astro-imaging.

[HJW]

Hi Matt,

on this level, imaging is quite easy. The moon shot, for example, was taken with a cheap 1080p Panasonic video camera on a tripod. I took 30sec movie at highest zoom and stacked it with Registax. No telescope, no tracking.
The milky way is about 5 images 10sec @ ISO3200 using 18mm f/3.5 with a 18-55mm DAL kit lens.
With the magellanic cloud (~150mm) and the Lagoon Nebula (300mm) I used a 55-300mm DAL lens, but I also used a OGPS-1 device, which is unique to Pentax and is able to track stars by moving the sensor inside the camera. That's about 30 pictures each (10 and 20 sec; ISO3200).
It's worth a try and you don't need too much equipment. ;)

Cheers
HJ

[scagman]

Hi Hans-Juergen.

Welcome to IIS.

They're very good images.

Cheers