Hi all,
Seems like a very long time since I actually did any astrophotography as opposed to talking/thinking about it.
Clouds parted for a very nice night of imaging down here in SA last night allowing me to finally test out my newly modded/cooled Central DS Astro 40D DSLR.
Set my sights on probably the 'noisiest, grittiest' part of the sky - the LMC!
Camera averaged a temperature of around -13.5ºC throughout the 3 hour session. (Ambient Temp started off at around 24ºC and dropped as night fell - have to admit that I didn't check ambient air temp while imaging...I just focused on the sensor temperature!!)
So details...
Canon 40D - cooled/modded by Central DS
Canon 70-200mm f4L IS lens - 200mm @f4 stopped down with cheapo ebay step rings from 67mm to 37mm to tighten up stars - unsure what f ratio that ends up with!!
IDAS LPS2 filter
In Camera Noise Reduction off.
18x10min subs @ iso1600.
Bright 58% Moon looking down on the scene until around midnight - 2/3 through imaging run.
Not as dramatic a difference as I had dreamed/hoped for, but promising nonetheless.
Certainly a lot smoother than my previous efforts a year ago on my photobucket site which was a lot grittier!
http://s327.photobucket.com/albums/k...urrent=23a.jpg
Cheers
Doug
