First light for canon 300mm lens - ANTARES

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Hi all. This is a 4 hour pretty much uncropped luminance (CLS filter) shot of the Antares region, shot through my canon 75-300mm lens at 300mm at f8. 10 minute subs.

I have just completed the contraption to hold the lens, as detailed here... http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...74#post1240074

Posting so that you wonderful people can critique and find things that I can't see to improve the image.

Anyway, thanks for looking.

Cheers,

DJ Scotty

[Atmos (Colin)]

Looking quite good Scott, bet it looks better in the high res over the 200kb

Out of curiosity, are the diffraction spikes around the stars caused by the lens iris or the camera shutter?

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Well that contraption is not going to win any beauty contests but I salute your engineering skills and perseverance, well done!

I look forward to seeing what you can image in full colour next

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Originally Posted by Atmos

Looking quite good Scott, bet it looks better in the high res over the 200kb

Out of curiosity, are the diffraction spikes around the stars caused by the lens iris or the camera shutter?

It doesn't really!
I am assuming it would be the lens iris as the Atik doesn't have a shutter. Thanks Colin

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Originally Posted by Andy01

Well that contraption is not going to win any beauty contests but I salute your engineering skills and perseverance, well done!

I look forward to seeing what you can image in full colour next

Maybe 9th runner up out of 10 things...

HaRGB of Antares is in the pipeline!

Thanks Andy

[AstroJason (Jason)]

Looks good Scott. The diffraction spikes are def from stopping the lens down to f/8. I really like the look of diffraction spikes in images. Have you tried imaging with the lens at f/5.6 at 300mm?

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Thanks Jason.
No I haven't but I will have to experiment.
Cheers

[Ross G]

Nice looking capture Scott.

Good detail and looks sharp right across the frame.

Your invention looks pretty amazing as well!

I have just started experimenting with a Nikon 300mm lens on a QHY9.
The 300mm focal length gives a nice FOV for a lot of objects.

Looking forward to seeing more photos.

Good luck.
Ross.

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Thanks Ross for the kind words
May I ask you how you go about focusing your lens?

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Awesome work Scott

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

looking good Scottie, hanging to see how it turns out when the colour arrives!

Rusty

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Thanks very much gentlemen.
Let's hope this weather holds out for 3 more nights

[Ross G]

Originally Posted by DJScotty

Thanks Ross for the kind words
May I ask you how you go about focusing your lens?

Hi Scott,

I have an adapter of sorts that has a T2 thread on one side to attach to the QHY9 camera and a Nikon bayonet at the other end.
The back focus distance of Nikon lenses is about 45mm. The chip to front distance of the QHY9 is about 19mm and the adapter makes up the rest, allowing me to focus with the lens' focusing ring.

Focusing is quite fiddly but ones achieved remains constant all night.

Thanks.
Ross.

[DJScotty (Scott)]

Aaaah ok. Thanks for that. Sounds simple