M8 and NGC104 again. First night out with Megrez 102.
After taking a few shots of the moon, I thought I'd give NGC104 another go, considering last time the 280mm focal length just didnt do it justice.. This time taken at 714mm it seems to be alot bigger and better focused too.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Focusing with this scope is a DREAM!! phwoar was the first word that came out of my mouth when focusing for the first time...
Anyways, Here they are
47Tuc. 21mins total exposure (45sec subs) @ ISO800 350D.
M8, 6mins 12x30sec subs (6x @ ISO800, 3 @ ISO400, 3 @ ISO1600) - The 3 subs at ISO1600 introduced A LOT of noise. Noiseware CE was used to filter the noise out, at the same time it did damage some of the finer detail in the image... Oh well... Next time I guess..
When I used my 350D for imaging I found ISO1600 to be useless .... better to stick with 800 and 400 but ofcourse then you need a lot more subs or longer individual subs. I used to do 30 frames at a time on each object but I was limited to 30sec exposures without guiding in those days ( not so long ago ). Next investment for you may be a dedicated CCD ...... whoops just read your signature and it would appear you already have a QHY8 ....... why aren't you using that to image ?
I didnt use the QHY8 because with all the light from the moon even with settings of Gain : 0 Offset : 100 it was giving almost full white images in 30 second subs...
I'll be giving it another run tonight though, pointing it a fair way from the moon and the light pollution..
At the moment Im shooting unguided, hence the short subs..
Alex nice images. Always a bit hard when trying to image under an almost full moon. I would steer clear of ISO 1600 unless your shots are extremely short. Noise at 1600 is extreme with the 350D. Better to stick with ISO 800 and shoot a few more..
Good start with all the new gear. Dark skies aren't to far away.
The white balances for the two shots look different, camera was set to auto white balance, but then edited later.. I think the processing on 47tuc was executed a little better than on M8.. M8 i was just stoked to have a photo of a nebula.. so i rushed through it and made a few fatal flaws...
I was out tonight and collected 40 subs of M8 with the M102 and QHY8... They are stacking as we speak...
47Tuc looks very nice but the background looks slightly clipped. It is very tempting to increase the contrast on globs so you have to watch the background levels.
...... whoops just read your signature and it would appear you already have a QHY8 ....... why aren't you using that to image ?
done 20 subs of M8, M20, NGC104 is half way through its run... I'll find something else to fill some time, then NGC2070.. 
