Back in October of 2012 I replaced the 1GB memory card in my camera with a 8GB card and I forgot to check what images were still on the 1GB card until yesterday, I found my lost images of the Lagoon Nebula and Omega Centauri taken in September last year.
Lagoon Nebula is 35 x 25sec subs at Iso 1600
Omega Centauri is 35 x 10sec subs at Iso 3200
12” LX 200 (alt/az setup no guiding)
Sony Nex-3 Camera
Stacked in DSS
Processed in GIMP
nice one wayne..... that must have been a nice surprise!
wayne how do you get so much info on those short exposures?
does it have anything to do with the camera because i am unfamiliar with it
the histogram couldnt possibly look right with the short exposures
great pics
pat
Thanks Laurie,
It was a surprise to find these I remember back when I took these shots I was still experimenting with spacing for the f6.3 focal reducer so every night I imaged it was at a slightly different f ratio.
Thanks Pat,
The Sony Nex-3 Camera is a few years old now and superseded by the Nex-5 and Nex-7 series which are much better. I am not an expert on these matters all I know is that the Sony Nex-3 are equipped with a 14.2-megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor (23.4 X 15.6mm), and BIONZ image processing engine.
The reviews I have read state that it has good low light level sensitivity with low noise but the Nex-C3 & Nex-7 are better but the Nex-5n is the better one.
I once tried a longer exposures of 3x5 min subs but the camera started getting hot and increased noise in the image and very messy image in alt/az setup.
I also spend a fair bit of time processing the image after stacking by using DSS 16bit image processing then lots more time in GIMP 8bit image processing stretching the tone and colour curves to squeeze the most out of the image ( I am still learning how to do this).
All I can say is the camera works very well for it being the oldest and cheapest of these models, I would say having a 12” aperture SCT with good tracking and the occasional clear dark sky makes a great difference in my shots.
The results I get are nothing compared to what Alex Cherney gets with a Sony Nex-5 and a 22” SDM Dob with good alt/az tracking and only a small number of 10 to 15 sec subs, check out his images at the link below, ……. Amazing!!
The results I get are nothing compared to what Alex Cherney gets with a Sony Nex-5 and a 22” SDM Dob with good alt/az tracking and only a small number of 10 to 15 sec subs, check out his images at the link below, ……. Amazing!!
i see what you mean wayne they are stunning.... but his aperture!!!
pat
So it seems the standard Meade f6/3 reducer works okay with the advanced optics? I asked the store where I bought my LX90 8" ACF about using the stock reducer and they said the only one that will work with the ACF is the Optec Lepus .62 Hmmm..
Cheers,
Stacy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wayne anderson
Thanks Stacey,
Thanks Laurie,
It was a surprise to find these I remember back when I took these shots I was still experimenting with spacing for the f6.3 focal reducer so every night I imaged it was at a slightly different f ratio.
Thanks Pat,
The Sony Nex-3 Camera is a few years old now and superseded by the Nex-5 and Nex-7 series which are much better. I am not an expert on these matters all I know is that the Sony Nex-3 are equipped with a 14.2-megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor (23.4 X 15.6mm), and BIONZ image processing engine.
The reviews I have read state that it has good low light level sensitivity with low noise but the Nex-C3 & Nex-7 are better but the Nex-5n is the better one.
I once tried a longer exposures of 3x5 min subs but the camera started getting hot and increased noise in the image and very messy image in alt/az setup.
I also spend a fair bit of time processing the image after stacking by using DSS 16bit image processing then lots more time in GIMP 8bit image processing stretching the tone and colour curves to squeeze the most out of the image ( I am still learning how to do this).
All I can say is the camera works very well for it being the oldest and cheapest of these models, I would say having a 12” aperture SCT with good tracking and the occasional clear dark sky makes a great difference in my shots.
The results I get are nothing compared to what Alex Cherney gets with a Sony Nex-5 and a 22” SDM Dob with good alt/az tracking and only a small number of 10 to 15 sec subs, check out his images at the link below, ……. Amazing!!
Hi stacy, they are right about that, the standard meade f6.3 reducer will not be good for the acf models the optics are already corrected and coma free, my lx200 is the older gps model with sct optics and uhtc coatings the f6.3 reducer works well on the non acf models and also flatens the field.
Thanks
