LMC at 135mm with a DSLR

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Thanks Troy, I used sky flats and didn't think the vignetting was that bad. But I went out last week and repeated the exercise at f2.5 so I will compare the two. I did notice that the strange split stars in the outer parts of the image changed to a more complicated type of split at f2.5 and the stars are a little tighter.
It was your image of Orion with this lens that convinced me to donate a kidney
and get this one.
Cheers,
Andrew.

Originally Posted by cazza132

Nicely done Andrew! I think you may have clipped some data though (I think anyway). The lens vignettes heavily at f2.0. At f2.5 with tracking (Astrotrac), this lens is awesome! Run some flats and you may pick up some extraordinary stuff around periphery of this field.

The Zeiss 135 on a D810A - what a weapon! You are going to have fun with that setup. I am running the same lens on my full spectrum 6D with some very satisfying results.

Yes, there is some spiral action going on with the LMC. It showed up with my all sky imaging project that I completed some time ago using the full spectrum 6D + siggy 35mm f1.4. I could hardly believe the extent, and that no one has recently picked it up. I have never posted the result of the all sky, but might just do so.

Although Orion has been quite a distraction, I am having a good go again with the Zeiss 135. I am hoping to reveal this section of sky in far greater detail. Cheering for clear skies in SE QLD - something that is quite rare this time of year.

[cazza132 (Troy Casswell)]

Split stars? A form of coma? I do get some internal reflections that can be seen around the brightest stars that becomes slightly offset towards those near the frame edge - can be seen in the Orion shot.
Otherwise, I do find the lens + DSLR runs quite well on the AstroTrac. Did you do any sort of tracking? A very good result for such short subs!
I have also had strange spikes in some stars in my shots before as a result of an unclean clip in filter (Astronomic XL-Clip 'L' filter).
I'm interested to see what these star splits look like. Can you show me an example?

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Originally Posted by cazza132

Split stars? A form of coma? I do get some internal reflections that can be seen around the brightest stars that becomes slightly offset towards those near the frame edge - can be seen in the Orion shot.
Otherwise, I do find the lens + DSLR runs quite well on the AstroTrac. Did you do any sort of tracking? A very good result for such short subs!
I have also had strange spikes in some stars in my shots before as a result of an unclean clip in filter (Astronomic XL-Clip 'L' filter).
I'm interested to see what these star splits look like. Can you show me an example?

Here you go - at f2.5 the pattern changes slightly.
These were taken on a G11 guiding at arc-second precision, the main thing that limits the sub length is the Tarantula nebula!
I've since returned to the scene of the crime and taken an hours worth of 2 minute subs. No doubt about those tidal streams at all.

[cazza132 (Troy Casswell)]

Yes - I get the same thing! Happens at the edge of frame with brighter stars. Not something that can be easily corrected either An aberration that I have tolerated as all my other lenses have worse aberrations and a problem that disappears when doing mosaics.

Looking forward to seeing the version with longer subs!