First light Rho Ophiuchi Olympus OM-D

[allan gould]

While at Astrofest, I thought I would attempt a quick Rho Ophiuchi image with the Olympus OM-D EM5 and 75mm lens that I had just purchased for overseas travel. I managed 5x2 min images which I stacked with DSS and processed in PS3. Quite happy with this short attempt and have just ordered an Ioptron Startracker and next year should be able to give it a good work out. I like the fact that the camera is weather proofed and should stand up to the cold weather.
Comments welcomed.

[ozstronomer (Geoff)]

Looking Good Allan, the new camera looks like it will produce some nice results

[RickS (Rick)]

Very nice, Allan! Looking forward to some results with longer exposure...

Cheers,
Rick.

[batema (Mark)]

Looks great. As always it was great to catch up.

[Nortilus (Josh)]

nice image allan...that little camera seems like it performs nicely

[gregbradley]

A great start there.

A strategy for this type of camera would be to expose longer with the lens stopped down to the point where there is no chromatic aberration or coma from the lens (some are fine wide open but these are few and far between) and use lower ISO like 800 (OMD EM5 is rated at ISO826 by DXOMark ( I use the DXOMark sensor rating for highest ISO before image degradation as a guide). That may need 5 minutes of exposure.

You can use long exposure noise reduction or take a few darks and subtract in Photoshop or CCDstack or whatever you use.

Build the image up like any deep sky shot. As always longer exposure builds the signal at a dark site and you can get better and better images by building the signal.

Greg.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

For just 10 minutes of exposure time, it's a damn fine image Alan.
Twas lovely to catch up with you once again.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Very nice result from 5 subs Allan Great color and sharp also

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Nice image, Allan!

[h0ughy (David)]

its certainly a promising shot Allan - but don't get the ioptron, you will grumble and whine for weeks after you try to use it and its a lot heavier. I stand by the polarie - its good quality.

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by ozstronomer

Looking Good Allan, the new camera looks like it will produce some nice results

Thanks for the comments Geoff and the company at Astrofest - had a great time.

Originally Posted by RickS

Very nice, Allan! Looking forward to some results with longer exposure...

Cheers,
Rick.

Thanks Rick - Iwas just playing at the time and need to get serious. I was amazed at how quickly the stars would move.

Originally Posted by batema

Looks great. As always it was great to catch up.

Thanks Mark, great to catch up with you too.

Originally Posted by Nortilus

nice image allan...that little camera seems like it performs nicely

Josh, thanks for that and you have come a long way in 12 months.

Originally Posted by gregbradley

A great start there.

A strategy for this type of camera would be to expose longer with the lens stopped down to the point where there is no chromatic aberration or coma from the lens (some are fine wide open but these are few and far between) and use lower ISO like 800 (OMD EM5 is rated at ISO826 by DXOMark ( I use the DXOMark sensor rating for highest ISO before image degradation as a guide). That may need 5 minutes of exposure.

You can use long exposure noise reduction or take a few darks and subtract in Photoshop or CCDstack or whatever you use.

Build the image up like any deep sky shot. As always longer exposure builds the signal at a dark site and you can get better and better images by building the signal.

Greg.

Thanks for all the tips Greg as they are much appreciated. Wasnt sure where to start with ISO etc and just had a tripod so had to get something. I swapped to a 180 degree full frame fish eye lens and that showed trailing in a few minutes so I went down to 15 seconds and was amazed at what it captured. Need to do darks and get a small tracker to do these lenses justice as I feel the Olympus and lenses a much neglected.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

For just 10 minutes of exposure time, it's a damn fine image Alan.
Twas lovely to catch up with you once again.

Thanks JJJ but Im going to murder your feline companion.

Originally Posted by astronobob

Very nice result from 5 subs Allan Great color and sharp also

Thanks Bob for the comments

Originally Posted by Larryp

Nice image, Allan!

Thanks Larry

Originally Posted by h0ughy

its certainly a promising shot Allan - but don't get the ioptron, you will grumble and whine for weeks after you try to use it and its a lot heavier. I stand by the polarie - its good quality.

Ahhhhh David you know Im going to do the opposite but thanks for the laughs and for the loan of the tripod. Glad you got hame safely and I bet you were sharp and keen at work on Monday.

[alan meehan (Alan)]

Hi Allan nice shot ,buy the ioptron i just put mine down and left it worked great
AL

[allan gould]

The Ioptron arrivd today and Ive set it up and is great with the cmera and new tripod. Have to go somewhere dark to try it out.
Allan

[Ross G]

Nice looking wide photo Allan.

I like the colours.

I tried some astro photos with an Olympus 410 a few years ago. They have really come a long way since.

Ross.