My first wide-field with the 350D lol

[EzyStyles]

Hi Guys, newbie with a DSLR here . Finally fixed some of the issues i had with DSLR Focus. Thanks to John, Tony, Roger and others for their help. Nothing compared to other great wide-field shots i have seen around here, but heres my first attempt last night at it piggy back on the 8" GSO. Bit of glow in the pic due to the moon and some donuts :lol: need to take some flat fields and darks.


6 x 2 minutes at ISO 400 at 55mm.
mirror lock disabled, noise reduction off. Large Fine mode.

If anyone can suggest what settings i should be using feel free :)

Oh, how do i save to the correct format?. I use registax to stack the 6 images and save it as .tif (16bit). After processing in photoshop cs2, i try to save it as .jpg but won't do? The only way is by print screen in photoshop and paste it in paint. The file was overly huge. 45meg.

thanks.

[iceman]

Looks like you have a lot of dust on your lens already!

[RB]

Eric you have to switch your mode to 8 bit in PS and then the option to save as jpg will be available.
You can save for web and get the required file size from there.

[[1ponders]]

Nice start Eric. ;) :thumbsup: It definately looks like you need need to apply a flat, they will also help with the vignetting. To save your files as jpegs, convert your Tiff to an 8bit image (Image>mode>8bit) and then save as jpeg. Alternatively you can use your tiff and go File>Save for Web and then adjust your size and quality then.

If you have difficulty using Reg to apply your flats, you can do it in PS by using Image>apply image select your flat and then subtract it from the original.

[[1ponders]]

Damn, too slow. That Andrew is quick :lol:

[EzyStyles]

arh cheers guys. i knew that :) wasn't thinking .. got another question, ive checked the dust donuts, it seems there is a very small speck of dust on the mirror rather than on the lense. how would i go by removing it? i was thinking of using a vacuum cleaner but i better check with you guys first .

[gbeal]

Eric,
I don't think the vacuum cleaner is the tool to pick up here.
The "dust donuts" are either on the sensor or mighty close to it.
On my Canon there is a "Sensor Clean" function in the menu. Otherwise seek some help from where you bought it.
If all else fails, leave them, and do a flat field. That will "eliminate" them.
Gary

[acropolite]

Eric, the best way to remove dust is as Gary said, use the Sensor clean function which only raises the mirror. Then use a blower (No Brush) to gently puff the dust off the sensor without touching it. Failing that h0ughy has used some brushes specially designed for the task, hopefully he will post to this thread as well. There's nothing wrong with using the in camera long exposure noise reduction function. The 350D will then automatically take a dark of the same exposure time and subtract for you.

[Striker]

Yes their is nothing wrong using the in camera noise reduction...it's just wasted time doing in camera noise reduction when your image does not work out as good as you liked and lets face it my hit rate is approx 70%....so it's all down time..nothing worse waiting for the dark to be done then find out the image was useless anyway.....you could have done another complete exposure instead of waiting for the dark to be done on a image your going to delete.

But it may be a good option to start with until you get the hang of making and processing darks / flats.

Bit surprised you have that much dust on the camera straight out of the box.

[TidaLpHasE]

:thumbsup:Well done Eric, i tell you that image is a heap better than my first widefield with the 350.

Now that you have the camera, experiment with settings and see what you get.

I have to admit, i did use the vacuum held a fair distance away to clean out the 350, prolly not the best idea and i wouldn't go near the 5d with the same method, but it did work:screwy:

Keep at it,

[acropolite]

Eric, dust on the mirror has no effect on the image, the mirror swings up & out of the way when the image is taken; the dust is on the sensor. You need to set the camera to sensor clean to look at the sensor.

[xelasnave]

Eric that is an excellent capture. I expect that with a little more attention to this area of photography will see you raise the bar for everyone. I think you will find wide field very satisfying.
alex

[EzyStyles]

cheers guys. I was surprised too myself . the camera is brand new out of the box. I'll try the blower method first.

cheers alex for your kind words :)

[EzyStyles]

thanks phil. i was blowing the mirror. I thought sensor cleaning is that the camera automatically cleans it for you. :lol:

[Striker]

Dont worry Eric...so did I when I first saw the sensor cleaning option...lol

You will just need to turn the camera off once you give the sensor a bit of a blow and make sure you point the camera down wards..you dont want to blow more dust onto the sensor.