Sagittarius 4 panel mosaic

[gregbradley]

This is an ongoing project. I used a Pentax 67 165mm F2.8 lens which is happy wide open which is rare.

Each panel is about 1:15 hours (5 minute subs) and is shot at F2.8 with Proline 16803 and Paramount ME.

I want to add to it each year and make it larger and larger.

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/144423025/large

Greg.

[DJT (David)]

What a great image

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Nice project Greg!

Some rich colours, I find it difficult to balance all these colours in wide field shots.

Cheers,

Justin.

[RickS (Rick)]

A very ambitious project, Greg. Looking forward to more

[atalas]

Nice work Greg...looks great.

[naskies (Dave)]

Hi Greg, looking pretty good so far. Did something go a little awry with the processing for one of the panels? The area directly above Trifid/Lagoon seems strange...

[RobF (Rob)]

This has potential to be amazing Greg. I can't help but wonder too if processing has been a bit harsh (or perhaps its just major compression artefacts). The Pentax 67 wide open must be one serious weapon.

[kepp]

Thats looking good hope to see more

[Paul Haese]

Looking at the original image the processing looks too harsh to me. The colours are great but the detail looks monochromatic to me. A great project for sure but one you will no doubt revisit the processing on.

[Martin Pugh]

Very nice Greg and a good project to pursue.

Cheers
Martin

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

Beautiful Greg.

[Ross G]

An amazing wide field photo Greg.

Beautiful colours. Does the Pentax lens show any CA at full aperture?

As you add to this, you will have a very detailed sky map.

Thanks.

Ross.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by DJT

What a great image

Thanks for that. I love these widefields myself.

Originally Posted by tilbrook@rbe.ne

Nice project Greg!

Some rich colours, I find it difficult to balance all these colours in wide field shots.

Cheers,

Justin.

Thanks Justin. Mosaics can be a challenge getting things to blend in.

Originally Posted by RickS

A very ambitious project, Greg. Looking forward to more

Thanks Rick. I have 5 panels and luminance for a 6th but the Milky Way needs to be up a bit more to continue.

Originally Posted by atalas

Nice work Greg...looks great.

Thanks Louie.

Originally Posted by naskies

Hi Greg, looking pretty good so far. Did something go a little awry with the processing for one of the panels? The area directly above Trifid/Lagoon seems strange...

Yes it looks like some colour got pushed too hard.

Originally Posted by RobF

This has potential to be amazing Greg. I can't help but wonder too if processing has been a bit harsh (or perhaps its just major compression artefacts). The Pentax 67 wide open must be one serious weapon.

Its a great lens and its quite cheap. Under $300. Processing may be a tad harsh and I'll look at taming that.

Originally Posted by kepp

Thats looking good hope to see more

Cheers, I am looking forward to shooting more panels.

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Looking at the original image the processing looks too harsh to me. The colours are great but the detail looks monochromatic to me. A great project for sure but one you will no doubt revisit the processing on.

Different setups seem to show it differently. Some 5D mark 11 images have the stars a nice whitish colour. Not sure what you mean about monochromatic as much of the image is the dust lanes area and there isn't a lot of colour there.

Originally Posted by Martin Pugh

Very nice Greg and a good project to pursue.

Cheers
Martin

Thanks Martin. Widefield lens imaging is a nice distraction from deep sky.

Originally Posted by rcheshire

Beautiful Greg.

Thanks for that.

Originally Posted by Ross G

An amazing wide field photo Greg.

Beautiful colours. Does the Pentax lens show any CA at full aperture?

As you add to this, you will have a very detailed sky map.

Thanks.

Ross.

Thanks Ross. Yes the lens shows a small amount of chromatic aberration but not very much and easily corrected. Its quite a gem of a lens for this sort of work.

Marc uses a nice 200mm Pentax and that works great for him. They are the bargain of the lens astrophotography plus they have a lot of backfocus so you can put a digital focuser in front of one.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

I should have explained better Greg. What I meant by monochromatic is there are patches where the colour just appears and has sharp defining edges to it. One area is just above the Trifid near the top the orange just appears and there is not a whispy transition. Another area is just to the right of the Lagoon where the dark dust lane transitions with the borwn/orange dust regions. The area just apprears with sharp defining edges.

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

I should have explained better Greg. What I meant by monochromatic is there are patches where the colour just appears and has sharp defining edges to it. One area is just above the Trifid near the top the orange just appears and there is not a whispy transition. Another area is just to the right of the Lagoon where the dark dust lane transitions with the borwn/orange dust regions. The area just apprears with sharp defining edges.

Ah yes I did notice that. I have posted a slight repro that has adjusted that somewhat. Cheers.

Greg.

[iceman (Mike)]

That's gonna be a ripper, Greg! nice work!

[gregbradley]

Originally Posted by iceman

That's gonna be a ripper, Greg! nice work!

Thanks Mike.

The Milky Way is getting to a good spot soon to continue the project.

Greg.