C9.25, Pentax *istDS, M42 from Brissie

[Dennis]

Hi

I used my Pentax *istDS last night for the first time on the C9.25 and grabbed 10 x 15 second exposures of M42 from suburban Brisbane. Here are the details:

Celestron C9.25 f10, unguided at Prime Focus (2350mm fl)
Pentax *istDS
10 exposures at 15 sec exposure each
800 ASA
Manual focus

Images aligned and combined in Images Plus. Final image of 3008 x 2008 was re-sampled down to 1024 x 684 and saved as a jpg with 30% compression.

If you look carefully you should be able to make out the 4 main stars of the Trapezium. I must say I was quite impressed with what the Pentax was able to pick up in the Mag 4 skies!

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

Very nice Dennis

I can see the 4 stars of the Trap clear as anything in that pic.

Nice colours overall too. very natural looking.

Well done, mate. :)

[Striker]

Well done Dennis...great start.

What mount are you sitting your 9.25" on....

[Dennis]

Hi Tony

The mount is a Takahashi EM200 Temma2 that I acquired a couple of months ago. Mechanically it seems an excellent mount although it is a bit backwards in terms of software functionality compared to my Vixen Skysensor 2000.

Experimenting last night, I could get 30 secs unguided exposures at a focal length of 2350mm after using the polar alignment ‘scope.

It is a mount that generally, you can just plonk down and use without having to tweak it or interact with it too much.

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

that is very good,

there is a plethora of great images at the moment to learn from .

thanks

[iceman]

Hi Dennis.
Wonderful M42.. how come you're using the Pentax? Is the Canon off to get modded?

[Dennis]

Hi Mike

The Pentax is all I got! Apart from EddieT's old ST7E, the ToUcam and a Meade LPI. Oh and the Minolta DiMage 7Hi. Gee, I'm getting as bad as Striker!

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Oh sorry had you confused with westsky (david)!

[h0ughy]

Dennis,

We have a lot in common so far, I too have the Pentax *istDS, Meade LPI (used once), Meade DSI (haven't used that yet???), a Minolta Dimage7 with firmware update. But by far that is a wonderful shot of M42, best one I have seen taken with a pentax yet! :) Well done you should be bursting with pride with that shot!

[Dennis]

Hey Dave

Your continuing support for that good little ol' battler, the Pentax *istDS has been an inspiration to me.

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy]

It is a beaut little camera, as you well know Dennis, and I have just updated the firmware to version 2 thanks to 33South for the notice that it was out http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=69628#post69628 .

I will admidt that this camera is no 350D or 20Da but for what it is it gives me a lot of pleasure using it. I have spent probably too much money on it but I wanted a good zoom lens for the price and spent $1800 for the Sigma 50-500 lens and another $300 for a 2 times teleconverter. I know my next camera will be of the 20Da variety, but that will only be for hooking up to the telescope.

I recently bought a power adapter so that I can power the Pentax up with an external battery that i got from SuperCheap for $29. it works a treat and should be able to give me some decent long exposures without worrying about if there is enough power for the camera. i usually power the Pentax with lithium batteries and found that at Duckadang the cold really affects the battery life and that they were the only real option (until I got the external power adapter).

I have taken some really nice photos with the camera, well at least I like them, and really when it comes down to it, it really has bang for bucks. I just wish it had mirror lock. :)