Nikon 50mm F/1.8D First Light

[Atmos (Colin)]

Considering that this was the first DSLR lens that I bought nearly a decade ago, it has taken me a long time to get the first (astronomical) light under way.
It was also my first attempt at doing a night time mosaic manually and I think it shows. Would have helped if my PA was actually accurate though!

All of these were taken after moon set. 18x240s for panels 1&2. 14x240 for panel 3 and 16x240 on panel 4.

Next new moon I want to see if I can get SGP to control my Nikon D7200 manually and I'll set up the EQ6 and get it all running on auto. Get an external power source so I don't have to worry about the batteries and use a better corrected lens than the old (but very sharp) 50mm F/1.8D @ F/4.

Obligatory High Res Link.

[Cosmic (Daniel)]

Awesome Colin, loving the detail that's captured.

[RickS (Rick)]

Looks good, Colin!

[gregbradley]

Well you little dark horse lens imager you! Superb.

I have that lens. If you think later lenses are going to be better you may be in for a surprise. I use the 50 1.8g and its quite good but in terrestrial imaging its a very harsh lens giving a harsh digital look.

The 50 1.8D is more organic and useable wideopen. I'd forgotten about it so thanks for the reminder. I'll have to dig mine out.

Yu may be better off getting the first 2 panels one night and then the next ones another night to counter rotation effects. Also allow more of an overlap - 25%.

Greg.

[Atmos (Colin)]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Well you little dark horse lens imager you! Superb.

I have that lens. If you think later lenses are going to be better you may be in for a surprise. I use the 50 1.8g and its quite good but in terrestrial imaging its a very harsh lens giving a harsh digital look.

The 50 1.8D is more organic and useable wideopen. I'd forgotten about it so thanks for the reminder. I'll have to dig mine out.

Yu may be better off getting the first 2 panels one night and then the next ones another night to counter rotation effects. Also allow more of an overlap - 25%.

Greg.

I wasn't quite as far into the dark arts as to be manually guiding and using film

Some of the older lens's are very nice, newer isn't always better. The G version has a quieter focus but is slower. Sharpness wise, depends on who you ask. Mine is reasonably sharp by F/2.8 but amazing at F/4. Not complex enough optically to correct for coma though which I suppose is why people spend more than $150 on a lens

I didn't think that imaging over two nights would make a difference with rotation as long as the Position Angle remained the same and polar alignment was accurate.
Definitely need more than a guess at 10% overlap though I wasn't aiming for much and I think that shows a bit with the mismatch. Just me trying to go as wide as possible in four frames.

Originally Posted by RickS

Looks good, Colin!

Thanks Rick.

Originally Posted by Cosmic

Awesome Colin, loving the detail that's captured.

Thanks Daniel.