Getting there!

[Nico13 (Ken)]

Well after being a keen photographer for as long as I can remember and having a daughter pro photographer as a result I consider my terrestrial photography to be pretty reasonable but this digital Astro picture taking is a completely different ball game as most here will know and if they didn't they like me are sure finding out.

After getting the new EQ6 mount sorted out and getting my home made guider working (just) I'm very pleased to present a couple of single frame images here because I think it helps to show your progress.

So tell me what you think as this will lead me from here into multiple stacked images I guess. When I get the guider really working reliably of course.

Ken.

Both images are Pentax K5 piggy backed with a 77mm Limited lens attached. In Camera darks.
Eta Carinae ISO 800 f4 250 seconds.
Crux ISO 800 f4 240 seconds.
Raw converted in Capture One and PP in CS5

[NeilW]

Hi Ken,

I'm just starting out on this journey myself, but these look good to me, particularly as they're taken with the K5. I've just bought one, and I'm looking forward to getting it on to my scope. Nice to see Pentax coming up for a change

Cheers,

[Nico13 (Ken)]

Originally Posted by NeilW

Hi Ken,

I'm just starting out on this journey myself, but these look good to me, particularly as they're taken with the K5. I've just bought one, and I'm looking forward to getting it on to my scope. Nice to see Pentax coming up for a change

Cheers,

Thanks for looking and comenting Neil,
I have been a Pentax man since the early seventies and just find them to be very user friendly and they make some very nice glass as well.
As for the photos well I've been struggling with an old equatorial mount for a couple of years without any real success so as mentioned the new EQ6 Pro has just blown me away, should have bought one a long time back. So just being able to guide it well is a god send and definately something that without you will have a lot of trouble taking pictures unless your scope is permanently mounted and aligned of course.

These shots are just to show that I've achieved round stars, nothing more I guess so I,m looking forward from here to bettering them somewhat.

Ken.

[stardust steve (Steve)]

yeah nice couple of images there ken. Love the Eta Carinae with the beaut colour and some star clusters? included also. I would like to see some pics/specs on your home made guider, it loos like its working good to me being able to cap those exposures.

[Nico13 (Ken)]

Originally Posted by stardust steve

yeah nice couple of images there ken. Love the Eta Carinae with the beaut colour and some star clusters? included also. I would like to see some pics/specs on your home made guider, it loos like its working good to me being able to cap those exposures.

No probs Steve,

Here is the guts of it.

Basically a Phillips Toucam, my lens adaptor and pick a lens for the job.

And here it is mounted on a tempry fitup until I make an alingable mount for it.
The problem I was having was sorted by increasing the calibration step size to around 2000 and this varies a bit depnding on what lens is fitted to the unit.

The more accuracy I need the longer lens I fit as it will accept all the SLR lenses I have from wide to tele but I've found the 135 works pretty good. If I need a few more stars in the field I just fit a wider lens.

I do still have issues finding a guide star in very low light areas of sky like when working on the LMC.
Still have to do something about that but not sure what as yet.

Ken