[sacredblack (Steve)]

Hi all,

As the subject says I've been a lurker for several years and managed to escape daily life for a few days last week and went up north a little to Orroroo (SA).

I spent time re-learning drift alignment and working out some short cuts.

I managed only one nights worth of shots before the weather changed for the worse.

But at least I managed a few shots. Here are a couple.

Here's the tech details.

Canon 5Dmk2 (unmoded), Canon 50mm f1.8 set to f4, 1600ASA with internal normal noise reduction, 180 second exposure, Meade LXD75 mount.

I've been using "The Backyard Astronomers Guide" by Dickenson and Dyer as a bible for my experiments.

Things learnt: my 50mm lens (real cheapie $140) is only good at f4 and up. Still the edge (on a full frame camera) is heavily abberated but fine on my 450D.

Dickenson and Dyer suggest trying the camera's internal noise reduction over dark frames but the catch here is that the noise reduction does not affect the RAW images taken but only the JPEG ones.

I've got a cheap Orion scope (guide scope sold by Bintel) on the Meade mount which really needs to have a diagonal added to it. I had really sore legs the following day.

It was great fun and wonderful to get some shots that I could actually print posters from.

Steve R.

PS - next step - mmmm the Canon 60Da looks nice....