One of our last with the Pentax

[Tamtarn]

We had two sessions last week and this is one of the targets taken. We have another two targets to be processed.

These two sessions were our last with our Pentax ist DL

We picked up our Canon 40D today

NGC 5139 Omega Centauri

Pentax DSLR .... 3 x 300sec ICNR ISO800 ................ DSS & PS CS2

Thanks to Alchemy for some processing tips

Edit 20th Feb:Thought this may be a little over sharpened so have put another image further down this thread

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Originally Posted by Tamtarn

We picked up our Canon 40D today

image turned out pretty well

looks like the pentax will make a good doorstop or paperweight from now on.

we will prepare ourselves to be amazed by your images with the new camera.

[snowyskiesau]

Great picture.

You'll enjoy the 40D, it's amazing. I'm still learning the (many!) settings.
One day I'll connect it to the telescope ...

[Ric]

Hi Barb & Dave, that's a great looking image of Omega Centauri, well resolved and nice detail.

Congrats on the 40D, I'm looking forward to your first images.

Cheers

[EzyStyles (Eric)]

Nice one guys, can't think of anything negative about it. alot of pretty star colours . droollll 40d.. droool can't wait

[Tamtarn]

Originally Posted by Alchemy

image turned out pretty well

looks like the pentax will make a good doorstop or paperweight from now on.

we will prepare ourselves to be amazed by your images with the new camera.

Eagerly waiting for clear dark skies and hoping to improve the quality of our images.

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

Great picture.

You'll enjoy the 40D, it's amazing. I'm still learning the (many!) settings.
One day I'll connect it to the telescope ...

There's a few using the 40D on deep space now Geoff

Originally Posted by Ric

Hi Barb & Dave, that's a great looking image of Omega Centauri, well resolved and nice detail.

Congrats on the 40D, I'm looking forward to your first images.

Cheers

Thanks Ric. Will study up on the manual while we have moonlit skies

Originally Posted by EzyStyles

Nice one guys, can't think of anything negative about it. alot of pretty star colours . droollll 40d.. droool can't wait

Can't wait either Eric. Looking forward to the live view

[RB (Andrew)]

Nicely resolved image guys and lovely colours too.

I'm amazed at the take up rate of the new 40D, seems like a lot of people are taking the plunge.

Looking forward to your work with the new camera.

[Tamtarn]

Thanks for the comments Andrew. We researched reviews and the 40D had very favourable feedback on many of its features.

The Pentax was our way of entering the deep sky imaging at a very reasonable cost. It has been a big learning curve but we are enjoying it immensely.

We hope the 40D will enable us to improve the quality of our images.

[Tamtarn]

Thought the first image may be oversharpened. This is a little softer

Barb

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Tamtarn

Thought the first image may be oversharpened. This is a little softer

Yes it was, glad you picked it up.
Much better.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by Tamtarn

Thought the first image may be oversharpened. This is a little softer

Barb

Attachment 38866

Yes, like this one better - more pleasing to the eye . It's easy to overdo processing in the pursuit of detail.

Cheers, Marcus

[Tamtarn]

Thanks Andrew and Marcus. I couldn't work out how the image ended up so sharpened when my final processed full res was much softer.

Actually the first image is the original full res image resized using bicubic sharper to 900 in PS the second is the same original full res image resized using bicubic to 900 in PS.

I didn't realize using bicubic sharper it would sharpen the 900 resize so much.

( That sounds a bit double dutch doesn't it )

The bicubic sharper worked well on a nebula image I posted a couple of weeks ago but was just a bit harsh with the glob

Barb

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Tamtarn

Actually the first image is the original full res image resized using bicubic sharper to 900 in PS the second is the same original full res image resized using bicubic to 900 in PS.

I didn't realize using bicubic sharper it would sharpen the 900 resize so much.
Barb

Yes it's a little tricky because we're scaling down.
It depends on the image size ratio chosen as to how much PS will apply.
Usually images are displayed on screen at 800, 1024 or 1200 px so scaling to 900 may have caused some over-sharpening.

It's always been recommended to use bicubic sharper when scaling down and bicubic smoother if scaling up.

Just be mindful that you are applying extra sharpening when using that method and if you find it adversely affects the image, try a slightly different size or use just Bicubic alone.

[Tamtarn]

Thanks for that extra info Andrew. It's all new to me and your explanation will help a great deal.

I really appreciate your input

[Garyh]

I like that softer version much better!
A lovely shot for your last with your Pentax!
Enjoy your new toy..
cheers

[leon]

Your Pentax has served you well Dave and Barb, your last image run with it has turned out a very nice Omega, well done, hope the Canon serves you as well.

leon