My first attempt at M42 Orion Nebula

[jr_simpson (Australia)]

After a lot of screwing around with focus, exposure, ISO settings and Photoshop, I've finally gotten the best image out of about 30 to actually look like the Nebula. I was quite impressed with the outcome.

Using a Canon 50D DSLR attached directly to Celestron Nexstar 130 SLT via T-Ring adaptor.

7 Second exposure using no auto tracking and 3200 ISO.

If anyone has any pointers on the best exposure/ISO combination with this particular camera, I'll be forever greatful.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...27192117_n.jpg

More to follow of this ever popular formation, once the weather clears up.

Best regards,

Jason

[loki78 (Jon)]

You have the colour nicely in it Jason. I don't know how much more you will be able to get with your setup. More details are brought out by stacking multiple images to increase the signal to noise ratio in a photo. Without tracking on an equatorial mount you will get elongated images as in your photo, obviously the longer the exposure the worse this becomes and those photos probably won't stack correctly anyway. Your camera itself is capable of more but just probably not much more with the mount/tracking setup you have. Still, a good starting point which may cause the bug to bite you and have you thinking about what you can save up for next

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Good start Jason , and as Jon said the bug will bit HARD !! but take your time as the night sky aint going any where , and you will get there .
AP is fun and addictive .
Brian.