Beginner Pics - Just a DSLR

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Hi guys,

Just looking for some tips on how to tell you got a good exposure to then take home for processing.

I don't have a tracking mount. Using a stock 1200D with the Kit lens (18-55mm)

Since taking these photo's I have worked out the whole live view to focus and take pics remotely with the laptop. which should help with focusing.

Any other pointers for someone who is completely new to photography in general?

I see other pics of the milky way with single subs and they seem a whole lot "cleaner" than mine.

I have attached a pic at 12400 iso. I do have others but can't seem to get them to a file size small enough to upload and retain a decent enough picture for you to see anything.

Thanks in advance

[Steampunk (Scott)]

I would probably drop the iso down to about 800-1600. This should clear up some of the noise you may be experiencing.

How long are your exposures? You need to really find a balance between exposure time and iso. I cant remember off the top of my head how long you can expose before star trails. But try 25 seconds at iso 1600 and 3200 and compare how the photos look.

Hope that helps.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Hi Aaron. Like Scott said, drop your ISO down to 800-1600. That will clear up a lot of the noise you're getting in your shots. Since you're using a crop sensor camera, use the "400" rule to determine the length of exposure for your shots. If you had a full frame sensor, you'd use the "600" rule. As you're using your 18-55mm kit lens, that means the length of your exposures would be around 22 seconds for the 18mm setting and 7-8 seconds for the 55mm setting, for your camera/lens combo. You can extend or lessen those times, depending on conditions and whether you're on a tracking mount or just a tripod. For a tripod only setup, I would stick to those times, to reduce trailing in your pics. I would also turn off your in camera noise reduction as it can be a bit harsh in reducing noise for astropics and you can lose data that way. Just use your normal routine of taking darks and software to reduce noise. I would also suggest that you save some money to get a few extra lenses better suited to astropics. Make sure the lenses are fast (under f4, if possible). Though, slower lenses will also take good piccies, just that you'll need to expose for longer in order to gather the same amount of light as a faster lens. If you want to learn more about astrophotography and photography in general, here's a good site to goto and read. Lots of info there!!!

http://www.clarkvision.com/index.html

Here's a shot I took awhile back, of the Galaxy. I used a Pentax K-s1 and an 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm. The ISO was 3200 and the exposure 25 seconds at f/3.5.

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Thanks guys,

I must admit I have dropped back to 800 ISO for most of the shots i'm taking now. (since I took that image anyway).

As for the star trailing anything longer than say 10-15 secs I start to get some. I was using the "500" Rule but I was also accounting for the crop sensor. 500 divided by the (18mm X 1.6 crop factor) which gave me a limit of 17 secs.

What would be a good zoom lens to capture nebulosity in the pleiades or Orion, or at least make some clusters fill a decent portion of the FOV. Thinking you need something 300mm or longer for this right?

And is trying to make a barn door tracker worthwhile? I've got some stepper motors and know how to make this work i think

[renormalised (Carl)]

If you can get a 300mm lens running at f/2.8, that would be great. You won't have to go higher than that. Remember, your 300mm lens will be the equivalent of a 480mm lens on a full frame camera. However, I would also look at wider angle lenses as well. A good 15-35/50mm lens at F/2.8 and even a 50mm prime lens would be good. The Canon 50mm, f/1.8 prime lens is good for astropics, and it's pretty cheap. If you can afford it, grab the Sigma 15-35mm f/2.8 ART lens for Canon cameras. It'll do wonders for both your ordinary pics and your astropics. You can even go cheaper and get good quality lenses from Samyang and Rokinon. A friend of mine uses these lenses to great effect. Especially the Samyang 16 and 24mm lenses. For a tracker, if you really want to make one, then go ahead. But, I'd just fork out for either a Skywatcher Star Adventurer or an iOptron Skytracker Pro.

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Hi Aaron,

Mate, you seem to be well on your way and have addressed a lot of the issues needed to get a pleasing result.

I'm still undecided about the '500 rule' and crop factor as the focal length of the lens is not increased, rather that the FOV is decreased. Whatever, it is still better to be conservative with your exposure times and take multiple exposures and stack them.

If you aren't aware of the stacking process have a look here... http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html

DSS allows you to stack multiple exposures while using a lower ISO to hopefully keep your noise in check. It will also allow you to use shorter exposure times and thus reduce the chance of star trails. The theory is that multiple exposures with lower ISO and shorter exposures will allow you to capture the same amount of light without the noise and trailing.

As renormalised suggested I'd turn off long exposure noise reduction in the camera settings as all it does is take 'Darks' and process them in camera while loading up your camera's buffer and slowing down the whole process.
I don't know about Canon but my Nikon still takes dark frames at ISO1600 or higher even if I have noise reduction turned off. Like yourself my maximum ISO is now 400/800.

And as I'm sure you are aware taking the photo is only the beginning of the process.

What Post Processing program do you have? Most of them allow you to re-size your pics and I'd suggest something like 1000px on the longest side and then 'Save as' at as close to less than 200kb as you can for posting here.

If you click 'Manage Attachments' under 'Additional Options' below where you are typing, it will allow you to upload the saved shot from your computer.

Keep experimenting and keep posting for comment. While I doubt that anyone knows it all, most of us have picked up little things along the way that may be helpful.

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Thanks Kev,

Yeah I was using DSS to stack for a while till it stopped working on my main pc.... I started a thread over in the software section on these forums to see if it could be resolved.

Long story short, I have access to 3 pc's with windows 7. 2 of them work, but my best pc does not... I also can't get DSS to open on either of my windows 10 laptops.

So I'm giving pixinsight a try atm to see if that's a viable option for me long term.

I had turned off the noise reduction in the camera but I have not looked into whether it still does it automatically at higher ISO levels. Will have to investigate that one.

as for post processing been playing with photoshop and lightroom.

[Jasp05 (Aaron)]

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the info regarding the lenses. You've confirmed what I've been reading elsewhere which is great. (I always take reviews on websites with a grain of salt. Half of them being paid advertisements and all).

I have been keeping an eye out for any secondhand lenses as brand new they are quite pricey. At least for someone who's still feeling out the hobby

But you definitely added a few lenses I hadn't seen before so I will add them to my list to keep an eye out for.

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

re lens:

Don't be afraid of some of the older manual lens like this one http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Canon-FD-...MAAOSwal5YK-gz

Fully manual, would need an adaptor and probably has CA in the form of purple fringing but easily fixed in PS these days.

This is my first serious astro shot taken with the Samyang 14mm f2.8 at ISO4000 (way too high) 30secs (too long) at f2.8, single shot.

The beige version is the shot SOOC.

[raymo]

If you turn the noise reduction off, its off. Have you turned off High ISO
noise reduction? This applies to Canons, I don't know about Nikons.
raymo