My First Ever Nebula Attempt - Tarantula

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by thegableguy

Ah! Then yeah, you're never going to see much with that as it's limited to 1/25 or 1/30 expsures.

You're better off using your eye to the viewfinder, but that's still very dim because of the focusing mechanism blocking part of the light as Raymo said.

You're never going to see anything with the DSLR, either through the viewfinder or the rear LCD, anywhere near as well as you'll see it through a 25mm eyepiece. Yes you'll have to refocus each time, but at least you'll actually see your target.

Hi Chris
What do you mean by limited to 1/25 or 1/30? Is that exposures quicker than this will show nothing at night on the screen? Is this limit just for astrophotography/low light photography ?

Even when I set ISO to 12800 and exposure to 30 seconds there is nothing on the screen other than the moon, Saturn, and Venus; sometimes Mars makes it to the view screen too.

I may also try connecting the camera to my laptop and see if that helps.

At the moment it's get the goto as accurate as possible and them take the picture and hope the target is somewhere in there. Then I adjust, taking note of what I did, take next shot hoping I get it closer to the centre of the pic.



Thanks
Mick

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Hi Mick,

Firstly, apologies for not answering you in my thread as I was on a mission to get my mount hardware sorted and I tend to get tunnel vision.

I've picked up a couple of things along the way that may help you. I also can't see the SCP which makes my polar scope useless. However there are apps available to enable you to get true south at solar noon by using a plum-bob, or a piece of string with a weight on it, and marking the shadow line on the ground where you set-up your tripod.

This is the one I'm going to try..... http://www.solar-noon.com/ If you get that pretty close I figure it should make drift aligning quicker and easier.

re focusing: I have given up on trying to use my camera's Live View screen and also tried some phone apps to no avail, too small, too dark and too blurry. Use your laptop as there are heaps of camera control apps available for Canon and you may even find a freebie that works. I think I tried four before I found one that worked for Nikon. Backyard EOS seems to be a popular pick for Canon.

I did a lot of research on LP filters and eventually settled on an Optolong UHC Clip-on, however fitting it was not straightforward on my Nikon and I haven't used it so can't comment on it's effectiveness, but it seems to be well regarded by those in the know.

You asked whether I thought your photos were worthwhile. Worthiness is highly subjective and will vary greatly depending on an individual's expectations. I will say that no photo is unworthy if it is used as part of a learning curve and a benchmark for improvement.

Mick, you seem to be heading in the right direction by seeking advice from those more experienced. I keep telling myself that the only dumb question is the one that I don't ask.

PS: I'm sure you are aware of these two apps for planning your shoots.

http://app.photoephemeris.com/ll=-32...840,150.983545

and http://www.stellarium.org/

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by DarkKnight

Hi Mick,

Firstly, apologies for not answering you in my thread as I was on a mission to get my mount hardware sorted and I tend to get tunnel vision.

I've picked up a couple of things along the way that may help you. I also can't see the SCP which makes my polar scope useless. However there are apps available to enable you to get true south at solar noon by using a plum-bob, or a piece of string with a weight on it, and marking the shadow line on the ground where you set-up your tripod.

This is the one I'm going to try..... http://www.solar-noon.com/ If you get that pretty close I figure it should make drift aligning quicker and easier.

re focusing: I have given up on trying to use my camera's Live View screen and also tried some phone apps to no avail, too small, too dark and too blurry. Use your laptop as there are heaps of camera control apps available for Canon and you may even find a freebie that works. I think I tried four before I found one that worked for Nikon. Backyard EOS seems to be a popular pick for Canon.

I did a lot of research on LP filters and eventually settled on an Optolong UHC Clip-on, however fitting it was not straightforward on my Nikon and I haven't used it so can't comment on it's effectiveness, but it seems to be well regarded by those in the know.

You asked whether I thought your photos were worthwhile. Worthiness is highly subjective and will vary greatly depending on an individual's expectations. I will say that no photo is unworthy if it is used as part of a learning curve and a benchmark for improvement.

Mick, you seem to be heading in the right direction by seeking advice from those more experienced. I keep telling myself that the only dumb question is the one that I don't ask.

PS: I'm sure you are aware of these two apps for planning your shoots.

http://app.photoephemeris.com/ll=-32...840,150.983545

and http://www.stellarium.org/

Hi Kev,
Appreciate the tips and links. I have been using Stellarium and it is really helping me to learn the sky.

The photographic app I have never seen before. I'll give the solar noon thing a go as well. Raymo also gave me some really good instructions for DARV method for drift aligning which I plan trying out when work and weather combination decide play ball for me. I'm having a couple of weeks off after Christmas so hope for some clear sky then too.

I have made a contraption that fits between the legs of the tripod for pointing to true south with a proper Sylva compass with magnetic declination set, plus I have an inclometer for the angels.

I will set up one day and ask it to go to sun, moon, Venus and it works reasonably well - not perfect but all targets within FOV and tracks moon or sun within FOV for an hour and goto finds things later in the evening. Then next day it may find the sun but won't do moon, so I manually adjust things until I can slew back and forth and I may have trouble locating things - the Tarantula was found by accident while looking for a supernova remnant in the same vicinity.

Doing the manual adjustments and then parking the scope has really shown me how minor errors can cause big discrepancies. The other day, the difference between my setup and adjusted setup was 1 mark on the Dec scale of my NEQ6 and such a small change on the RA scale it would be difficult to quantify. Yet enough to totally miss the moon when slewing from the sun.

I do find the errors seem to be worse for objects higher in the sky - not sure if that means much but objects - including sun, moon, Venus - seem to be located and tracked better when lower in the sky.

I know the easiest way would be to mark the place on the ground where the legs of the tripod go and mark all other settings on the mount so I can repeat a good setup, but I would rather keep setting up from scratch each time until I learn to get it right.


I have a NPB filter I have been waiting to try out - I purchased one of their seconds for a bit cheaper and can't see anything wrong with it http://www.npbfilters.com/about.html

Will definitely give Backyard EOS (or something like it) a go.

As for my pics. Personally I was/am really happy with them for my first try. I was just wondering what level you are aiming at - maybe being too hard on yourself??

Sometimes I wonder when I ask questions which philosophy I should follow:

1) The only stupid question is the one not asked

or

2) better to let people think you're stupid than open your mouth and prove it

No, I plan to keep asking heaps of questions

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

Cheers Mick,

I guess I am pretty hard on myself but I figure that if I put in the time and the effort I should get pleasing results, at least to me.

Here is my first serious attempt at astro photography. I guess I thought it turned out well enough to encourage me to get involved.

And I also found out that post processing astro shots is a whole new ball game. The shot was taken out of town but unfortunately facing back toward the light pollution emanating from Maitland, hence the hunt for a LP filter which are like rocking horse poo for Nikon.

This was a single frame with a Nikon D800 + Samyang 14mm f2.8, 30secs, f2.8 at ISO1600.

Since then I've tried stacking with DSS with lower ISO and shorter shutter times. I'm aiming at getting my ISO down to 200/400 with much longer exposure times. I'm hoping I've finally got my HEQ5 Pro sorted and can get out and start chasing nebulas.

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by DarkKnight

Cheers Mick,

I guess I am pretty hard on myself but I figure that if I put in the time and the effort I should get pleasing results, at least to me.

Here is my first serious attempt at astro photography. I guess I thought it turned out well enough to encourage me to get involved.

And I also found out that post processing astro shots is a whole new ball game. The shot was taken out of town but unfortunately facing back toward the light pollution emanating from Maitland, hence the hunt for a LP filter which are like rocking horse poo for Nikon.

This was a single frame with a Nikon D800 + Samyang 14mm f2.8, 30secs, f2.8 at ISO1600.

Since then I've tried stacking with DSS with lower ISO and shorter shutter times. I'm aiming at getting my ISO down to 200/400 with much longer exposure times. I'm hoping I've finally got my HEQ5 Pro sorted and can get out and start chasing nebulas.

That pic would definitely get me quite encouraged to keep going. What did you use to fix up the light pollution in the 2nd one?

Yes, processing the images is a whole new ballgame. All I seem to manage at the moment is to make the pics worse.

[DarkKnight (Kev)]

The first is the shot SOOC.

I think I used just about every slider in Photoshop and still couldn't get rid of the LP. That's the red/magenta glow in the bottom RH corner.

The best way to get rid of it is to find a dark site.

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by DarkKnight

The first is the shot SOOC.

I think I used just about every slider in Photoshop and still couldn't get rid of the LP. That's the red/magenta glow in the bottom RH corner.

The best way to get rid of it is to find a dark site.

You should have told me the reddish bit is ionised hydrogen - I would have believed you