Nikkor 14-24 Nightscape

[astroboy]

Some pics I took last night with the new Nikon 14-24 all shots at F2.8 and 3200 ISO and 6400 ISO on the 5D mkII
Having trouble with reducing noise in CS3 anyone know if theres something better out there ? the noise seems mainly in the red.
Any thoughts on the shots are welcome .

Thanks
Zane

[Octane (Humayun)]

Zane,

Fab images! Were they taken on your property?

I must get myself that lens! It has an FSQ-like quality of picking up all the faintest pinprick stars.

Ditch CS3 and try (initial) processing the images with Digital Photo Professional.

H

[astroboy]

Thanks H
I've been using ACR for the basics and PS for noise and curves but I'll try DPP and see how I go.
The pics were taken on the property next door.

zane

[alexch (Alex)]

It definitely looks noisier than it should. What WB settings did you use? I normally set it to 3700K.

Here is one with the same lens and Nikon D700.

http://www.terrastro.com/wp-content/...the-clouds.jpg

I was checking the composition at ISO 25600 with short 5 seconds exposures and forgot to switch it back to normal ISO 3200 before taking the shot at 15 seconds, f/2.8. It turned out surprisingly good. In PP the only thing I adjusted was turning the exposure down half a stop.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Amazing images Zane, I've found that Canons own software DPP does a much better job raw file processing than ACR. If you haven't tried DPP already it may be worth a try.

I've been contemplating buying this lens for some time now, having seen your results it's a definite, from what I have read this lens performs better at 14mm than Canon's own 14mm Prime.

Is it still possible to set the aperture or are you stuck with wide open ?

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Cracker shots Zane
I use Topaz DeNoise plugin for my terrestrial shots, might be worth having a look at for your astro shots.

[astroboy]

Thanks Alex
I think part of my problem is over cooking the shots is PS ( I tend to be increasing the exposure ) also I wonder if my converting the Raws to DNGs so I can use CS3 is part of the problem .
I use auto WB I'll try 3700K
Also thanks Alex for your advice on the lens , it made my decision much easier .

Thanks Acropolite
The Novoflex EOS/NIK NT adapter has a leaver on the side so you can adjust the aperture .
Pity about ACR I like useing it but not much point if DPP does a better job.

Thanks Lacad01
I'll check out the software.

zane

[Octane (Humayun)]

Zane,

The reason why I continue to harp on about DPP over everything else is because, unlike Nikon, Canon makes their own sensor, and, in my opinion (from the results I've seen in my own output) it only makes sense to use the software they've written to decode and pre-process as well de-noise their RAW files.

I just can't handle the things ACR/LR does to skin tones especially in portraits. This naturally carries across to all types of photography.

Just my opinion, is all. Others swear by ACR/LR.

H

[astroboy]

You may have a point H , I'll try DPP and ACR PS on the same shot and see what I get , I just like the way ACR works .

A Big thank you to Adam for the DeNoise tip I finally got it downloaded ( Ohh the joys of dial-up ) seems to work well and even a simple country boy like me can his head around it .

Here's a quick redo with DeNoise , I still don't understand where the lumpy skies are coming from ,could the blue and purple lumps be coused by me trying to change the sky colour ?

Thanks
Zane

[acropolite (Phil)]

I just can't handle the things ACR/LR does to skin tones especially in portraits

It's not just raw processing that adobe haven't got right, a friend and myself spent months of experimentation and calibration trying to get consistent results from our R1800 printers. No matter what was tried we couldn't get consistent results, images too dark, poor colour balance incorrect Gamma etc.
Opinion on the various forums ranged from Epson drivers issues to calibration tool inadequacies and driver problems.

No one even hinted that it could be an adobe problem (which I believe it was).

From my observation CS simply doesn't manage the Epson output correctly, DPP on the other hand produces excellent print results after calibration and uses the colour profiles from my colorminki correctly.

I only tried DPP for printing after becoming suspicious that PS may be the culprit rather than Epsons drivers or my calibration tool.

[shelltree (Shelley)]

These shots are absolutely breathtaking mate, you've done a really great job!

[rogerg (Roger)]

Nice pics.

For noise I find Noise Ninga works miracles with very little effort.

[shelltree (Shelley)]

I use dfine, it works really well also.

[astroboy]

Originally Posted by shelltree

These shots are absolutely breathtaking mate, you've done a really great job!

Thanks Shelly .
I had a look at your web site , you have some excellent pics there , I particularly like the macro stuff.


Zane

[Vanda (Ian)]

What's the 14-24 worth and how long was your exposure time? Great results.

[astroboy]

They cost about $2000 and the exposures were about 20 seconds

[iceman (Mike)]

Very nice Zane! Where were these taken?

[astroboy]

Thanks Mike
They were taken on the neighbours property .

Zane

[hotspur (Chris)]

These are great shots-well done,I particularly like the first one,If I may say though,just a little bit too much ground showing in fore ground on picture.

RE-PP I have noticed a few mention in this thread that the DPP software that comes with Canon,seems to allow a great way to PP,I have recently got CS5,
and I personally feel most of the results I get with the Canon software seem better than what I have been getting with the CS5.

Interesting to read,some of the really advanced photographers feel the same way.

Just one question-what is a Nikor lens-is that made by Nikon or another manufacturer all together.?

I am about to buy a Canon 10-22 F3.5-4.5 for this type of work.

Thanks to the OP for posting this fine set of pictures,and a interesting thread to learn from.

Chris

[alexch (Alex)]

Originally Posted by hotspur

Just one question-what is a Nikor lens-is that made by Nikon or another manufacturer all together.?
Chris

Nikon call their lenses Nikkor

Cheers,
Alex