Cloud with no cloud.

[xelasnave]

Arrived up North (Tabulam) Wednesday night but too tired to do anything after the drive.
Next night spent sorting gear but managed some stuff.
This is my attempt at the large cloud using the nikon 5500 and a cheap 70 x 200 lens and my little baffled dew tube.
I took 193 frames and told DSS to select 50 %
Played with in gimp.
alex

[xelasnave]

And some other stuff done with short exposure times 15 to 30 seconds.
Spider was thru 80 mm.
Last night was perfect but I was so tired I just coud not hack staying up and my concentration was nil and I could not manage to do much.
alex

[Startrek]

Great images Alex

Yes it’s great to get away from the polluted skies of Sydney, gives you a chance to see the real universe in all its glory

I’m heading 220km down south on Monday arvo for a week or so

Can’t wait

Martin

[xelasnave]

Thanks Martin.
It is amazing how the lack of sleep stuffed me up.
It was magic last night but I could not even put the 80 mm on the mount and as you can see I had no patience with any of my processing. I had to come inat about 11pm as I could not think straight.
I had hoped the widefield stuff turned out better but with short exposures probably all I could hope for.

I sure hope the weather is good for you and a tip...rest so you can do your best.
I find at my age and with my burning legs it is a real challenge but tonight if its clear I wont give in...
alex

[Camelopardalis]

Nice one Alex, your efforts are certainly paying off :thumbsup:

LMC looks a bit lacking in colour, but there’s so much going on in that field it is a tricky one!

[xelasnave]

I think this which came straight from DSS and only downsized is better than the one I played with.
alex

[xelasnave]

Thank you Dunk...I am so drained I cant think or perform simple tasks...processing on each was about 5 minutes all up, other than stacking time...I feel like a losing cage fighter in the 5th round.
Thanks again.
alex

[Camelopardalis]

Alex, acquisition is half the battle, and you’ve clearly done well there.

Processing is a battle for cloudy days :lol:

[kosborn]

Great shots Alex. Must be great in Tabulam with dark skies from your backyard!

Kevin

[PKay]

Way to go Alex :thumbsup:

Good job!

I have almost given up hope that it will ever be clear again (15 days straight now).

[h0ughy]

Some nice shots there. It feels great when you accomplish something like this and get some good results

[xelasnave]

Thanks to all for the encouragement.
For those thinking about starting astro photography the thing to realise is that although there are far better lens out there ...these shots were thru a $200 nikon lens (the spider was thru a $2000 scope☺) and on a $1200 mount.
My point is entry level is reasonable.
All you need is a dslr, a camera lens, and a equatorial mount. The softeware was free ..Deep Sky Stacker and Gimp.

All exposures were short and the camera was not computer controlled.

Guiding ...who needs guiding with such short exposures☺.
I had hoped to do some "static" shots to see if I could get away without a mount.
And more frustration ...I finally set up the auto guide scope and camera and set up the lappy in the back of the car ...all nice lay out...and the lappy says it cant find the camera...then the clouds rolledin (last night) but hopefully tonight I take another step forward.

Alex

[rcheshire]

Lovely LMC Alex. Amazing what can be done with basic equipment. I had planned to do more on the LMC this new moon... but its been raining on and off for two days...

[xelasnave]

Thank you Rowland.
I am amazed what I can get from such short exposure.
I did some long exposures that until blown up to revel poor stars blew me away as to the colour and detail.
Trying to get auto guide working now but experienced a set back as my regulator went down and again tracking down that was the problem saw miles of insulation tape unwound...
I cant believe the numerous small problems with my electricals particularly the effort and attention to detail ... I had better settle before I go into jaycar as I am sick of their stuff letting me down.
Alex

[Atmos]

Very nice Alex, I’ve always loved what a basic wide field can do! Sometimes the most fun that can be had is with an $80 nifty fifty (https://www.astrobin.com/294419/B/?image_list_page=2&nc=&nce=).

Really enjoy your regions around Sagittarius :thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

Thank you Colin.
I purchased a cheap 18 to 55 only to find it does not do manual focus as far as I can tell and I was looking forward to some really wide fields....
Alex

[Atmos]

You can turn the auto focus off on your camera. Nikon’s have a switch on the front bottom right of the camera (when looking into the lens).
Just a matter of flicking it from AF to M.

[xelasnave]

Thanks Coln but my camera does not seem to have the unit. Maybe there is something but I cant see a thing ...anyways the camera is set up on the scope hopefully to do something so I will look more carefully in daylight tomorrow.
Alex

[JA]

Hello Alex,

I don't have a 5XXX series Nikon but, Setting to Manual Focus should be able to be achieved via the camera menu (try the "i" button on the back of camera or the deeper menus: Focus should be able to be set from AF-C, AF-S, AF-A and MF (depending on lens). Another trick, If you want to get the camera to use its infinity setting as calibrated at the factory:
1. Place a lens cap on the lens
2. With the camera in one of the Autofocus modes, half depress and hold the shutter release and the camera will attempt to focus until it finally settles at infinity as you can see on the focus mark dial.
3. Take the camera out of Autofocus mode into manual focus mode leaving cap on.
4. The camera is now at infinity (as determined by lens) in Manual focus mode
5. Remove the lens cap and take the picture, which provided you don't touch the focus ring of the given lens will stay at infinity.

May not work with all lenses (obviously MF lenses won't work:D)

Exactly which 18-55 Nikkor do you have? There are several 18-55mm Nikkors: AF-S DX, AF-S DX VR, AF-S DX VRII, AF-P DX, AF-P DX VR... models ....which could affect how you go about things.

Happy hunting

Best
JA

[xelasnave]

Thanks JA I will try all you suggest.
I am imaging at the moment and will have a go later tonight if I can keep going.
I just cant get a good polar align and its doing my head in...I have done my star trail thing and get the center of the circle but no????I drift align and all seems good but no...I am begining to think the land is subsiding. ...so we shall see how M 83 goes on 30 seconds...and even 30 seconds is not producing decent stars...tried auto guide but could not get the graph plot line??? Too tired so will do some easy stuff.
Alex

[xelasnave]

At least the software found the camera...a small step forward.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Here is a photo of the lens with no manual control
Alex

[JA]

Hi Alex,

That lens, is the Nikkor 18-55 AF-P DX VR. It does have a manual focus ring. It is the thin ring in front of the large zoom collar. It is a relatively new DX lens from Nikon (and quite sharp BTW, even wide open) with a new type of silent pulse focus motor. This lens is backwards compatible (w/restrictions) with some older cameras. Your camera is the Nikon D5300 ( I Think) which was released well before the lens, but if the camera firmware version is C 1.01 and above it should support manual focus. Perhaps your camera firmware is the original version C 1.00 and hence wont support it until a camera firmware update. You can find the camera firmware version used by your camera via the camera setup menu.

There are some Nikon details and restrictions to use here:https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/eu/BV_article?articleNo=000035705&configured=1&lang=en_GB

If updating firmware ensure battery is fully charged

Best
JA

[xelasnave]

Thanks for all your help however I cant raise the site for some reason.
My camera is d5500.
I have had no luck finding anything to manual focus so far.
Alex

[JA]

Hi Alex,

Here is the link again:
https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/eu/BV_article?articleNo=000035705&configured=1&lang=en_GB

The D5500 is also compatible if the camera firmware is C version 1.01 or later. Check your version - It may need an update. According to the link above it's only from the D5600 onwards that it is fully compatible with AF-P type lenses out of the box.

Best
JA

[xelasnave]

Thanks JA that works on the computer but not on my phone.
I have decided not to attempt it until I have finished this trip on the basis that I may stuff something up and not have a camera for the duration of this trip.
Next month will be set up for wide fields at 18 to 55 and the Milky Way a little better placed ...I could not believe how good it was last night around midnight and later...It was a smorgesborg of interesting stuff...I imaged a number of clusters but didnot identify them so I wont post them but so many clearly seen thru the finder and by eye it became tiresome..
alex

[JA]

Very wise - just in case. I have heard a few horror stories with updates, not on these cameras, but it makes you sit up and think. Especially important is don't run out of battery power (hence importance of a fully charged battery).

By way of consolation, I've performed an update on a D3300 for exactly the same reason: to provide compatibility with the 18-55mm AF-P lens. Beforehand the lens would not auto-focus or manually focus. After the firmware update (3 minutes), the lens, the same one as yours, could auto-focus and manually focus via the narrow ribbed front ring on the lens (see your pic attached).

Best
JA