Well, not as good as Peter Ward's Eta. Haven't had much good weather lately and wanted to do a quick test with the MPCC, so I chose bright and easy.
Very little processing done, set white & black points, standard curve and levels, noise reduction. Eric Lo modded 40d, 200mm Bintel reflector, MPCC, guided, 10x3mins, DSS and PS CS3.
Hope you like it and thanks for looking.
You shouldn't compare your image with Peter's .... they're as different as chalk and cheese ... this is a very good image for only 10x3mins with a DSLR mate ! Lots of detail, pinpoint stars and very smooth .... well done !
Looks fantastic... If its guided, you may as well push out to 5~10 minute exposures.. I think the image is great, but pushing the exposure length out longer will definitely make it better...
As has been mentioned, You should never compare your images to those of other people, especially not images taken with gear that dwarfs your setup in every way.. your whole setup wouldn't pay for his camera, much less the mount, telescope, field flatteners etc etc etc.. not to mention his rather overwhelming level of experience in astro imaging...
What you should do, is ask yourself, Am I happy with this image (the answer should be yes) and if it is, then thats what matters.
Thanks for the comments Tilt, TrevorW, ejcruz, blue scope & peeb61, much appreciated.
Alex, do you really think upping the exposure time would be ok? I though the saturation in the red was quite high already for that length of time.
He, he, your right about the cost of the gear, and thank you, yes I am happy with it
Giving it more exposure time will pull out the extended nebulosity, Then you can use layer masks in photoshop with some shorter exposures to heal any areas that have become over exposed in the longer subs.. there is a good tutorial of how to do this in HERE
Layer masking is a very powerful tool, and a definite must have in an astro imagers processing arsenal...
i wouldnt worry about that, he is probably using 60,000 dollars plus of gear, and really should be off doing the tough targets, rather than competing against the beginners.
enjoy what you do.... others have said, but i feel it needs to be confirmed.
