Some Recent DSO Shots

[AstroAdz]

Hi All,

This is my first post on Ice In Space, grateful for the opportunity to share my shots and receive any feedback :)

All images were shot with my 8 inch f5 Saxon Newtonian and Canon EOS 550D (not modded) from my favourite dark sky site in Springbrook, Qld (Gold Coast hinterland) or with Astro Anarchy west of Beaudesert. Mount is a Sky-Watcher EQ-5 Goto unguided. Processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS5.

Swan Nebula - Single 40 sec exposure @ 6400 ISO

Lagoon Nebula - Single 30 sec exposure @ 6400 ISO

Tarantula Nebula - Single 20 sec exposure @ 6400 ISO

47 Tucanae - Single 15 sec exposure @ 6400 ISO

Trifid Nebula - Single 25 sec exposure @ 6400 ISO

Cheers,
Adam

[Atmos]

For some single shots they are pretty good!

[raymo]

Good first results, but most of them are very noisy, due to ISO 6400.
3200 is usually the highest most people use, unless they have a cooled camera, and 1600 is better.
raymo

[AstroAdz]

Thanks raymo & Atmos, yep these were just trying to get as much out of single frames as possible and any more NR than I already applied was sacrificing a bit too much detail. I'll nudge it down to about 800 ISO when I start shooting subs to stack. I'm Mac-based so when I get my PC laptop I can then have a play with DSS and shoot some dark frames and get the noise right down.

I'm a complete noob to AP (been at it since winter 2014) and have a lot of room for improvement so lucky there's so much up there to shoot :)

[Cimitar]

Hi Adam, these are awesome. Good stuff! :thumbsup:
I run a stock Canon 600D (next model up from yours I think - very similar). I agree with starting out at ISO 6400, helps you learn the ropes, see the objects etc. Once you get the hang of it, start to stack. Then lower the ISO and start to take longer images (I'm still shooting jpegs at the moment whilst I learn).

Look forward to seeing more images :)

[AstroAdz]

Cheers Cimitar, much appreciated. I only ever shoot RAW for all of my photography which really helps in Post, and I agree that stacked longer exposures are the way to go :) I have only recently become proficient enough at Polar Alignment to achieve 30-40 sec shots and I'm keen to get them to a minute or more unguided before I think about auto guiding and proper exposure times. I am a bit thick :lol:

[John W]

Hi Adam, Your pics are good considering the gear you are using. Well done.
John W.

[AstroAdz]

Thank you heaps everyone for your encouraging feedback :) What would be your thoughts in achieving more detail in my future M27 shots please? This is the uncropped image with an enlarged section :thumbsup: I love this nebula, it's a great target

[raymo]

you would get a little more detail if you improved your tracking so as to
get round stars. To get more detail, two ways to go, longer exposures/and/or stack a number of exposures in Deep Sky Stacker.
raymo