M42 baby steps and a dedication

[spearo (Frank)]

Hello everyone!
I posted a terrible M42 a while back, a pic taken with the S7000 i was using.

I've since been lucky enough to find someone willing to part with their EOS 20Da for a song (well a small recital perhaps, but one I could afford!)

So Here's my first M42 as I begin to learn how to use this camera (and the rest of the equipment for that matter).

I dedicate this one to Striker!

I've revaped my old website to include some astro pics reflecting my progression over time. If anyone is interested it's at: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~frankbon/
Ive placed pics there of the Ring Nebula and Omega Centauri. Ill image better when i master drift tech of alignment i think.

Thanks and
Cheers

Spearo

[Itchy]

Hi Spearo

Congratulations on a great start to the hobby. With the 20Da and the C9.5, you now have the equipment to produce some really good shots.

The next step will be to learn how to stack a number of single shots together. This will improve the signal to noise ratio in your shots and allow even more aggressive "stretching" to bring out more faint details. You should also look into calibrating your frames to remove dark current and to remove vignetting (darkening of the edges).

Much of this can be done in programs like Photoshop, but there are some dedicated software titles that will automate these processes. ImagesPlus is probably the most popular and is an excellent program but is does cost $$. IRIS is also popular. It is free, but it is difficult to learn.

As you say, baby steps. But you will soon be taking leaps and bounds.

Cheers

[Striker (Tony)]

Well done Frank.

Have you got a 6.3 focal reducer....if not you will find one very handy...it will give you brighter images with less exposure time...very handy if your planning on doing 1 or 2 minute unguided exposure...they say your exposure time will be cut in half for the same results plus also giving you a larger FOV.

90% of all my images were done with a focal reducer....imaging at F10 is too slow unless your autoguiding and plan on doing exposures for eg... over 5 minutes at F10.
You will find the reducer to be most valuable...unfortunetly I dont have one anymore but can be picked up at most astronomy stores.

Was this just 1 exposure frank and did you shoot in raw......

Nice start and if you need any help with processing images ask away.

[Lester]

Great start Spearo,

Look forward to more of your shots.

[spearo (Frank)]

Thanks guys,
I'll get a focal reducer as soon as I get some $ together. It does sound like i need it. Anybody know where i can one good and cheap? I think they're also field flatteners?

I also really need to learn how to drift align.

I've been able to registax some pics taken with a camcorder before but i'm struggling a bit with the alignment feature when looking at some stills...haven't mastered that yet either...so that one was a single shot.

Still,
I'm feeling pretty good getting results like these already. It's really rewarding and I think that's what's most addictive too, you get pretty immediate results (after a sleepless night shooting, hours of processing, etc...).

Hope to post some more pics soon.

Thanks again
Frank