Canon50D: First steps into astrophotography

[Manav (Yugant)]

Hi Everyone,

First of all I'd like to thank the IIS community for their continuous assistance and support especially certain individuals who spent substantial amount of their time in explaining me the basics. Thanks Guys!

So the good news is that yesterday I finally managed to drift align my scope from my balcony in suburban Sydney. Additionally, I was able to configure PHD and kick off autoguiding using my much loved QHY5. I have no doubts that there is a lot of improvement to be made especially with fine tuning the azimuth drift. But atleast I can now post the result and look at other areas to improve in before I hit the dark site next month.

So here is the 15sec exp @ ISO 1600 using a Canon50D of Orion.

http://s564.photobucket.com/albums/s...t=IMG_0002.jpg

A couple of things I’d like to hear your inputs on are:

1. Light Pollution - Best filter for Canon50D with futureproofing in mind.
2. The nature of the star shapes top right (i.e. making a 6 shape)
3. Egg like shapes; pronounced in the left corner (I’m assuming I need a MPCC for coma)

General feedback on anything that can assist me in improving my current skills feel free to PM me.

Once again thank you for your support in a majestic hobby that is astronomy.

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's actually very good. Focus, guiding are perfect. You might need an MPCC but your coma is not that bad. What you need to do now is multiple exposures and stack them.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Welcome to the moneypit that is astrophotography.

1. the less glass you can introduce between the optics of the telescope and the sensor, the better your results. The answer to this problem is to go to dark sites.
2. I think the '6' shaped stars are due to a bump in tracking.
3. I'd imagine that an MPCC will fix that, unless it was slop (was your camera tightly connected, and, is it too heavy for the focuser?).

Also, ISO-1600 will ruin your images. Drop it to ISO-400. You can already see in that 15-second exposure that Sydney's skyglow has almost killed your image.

A lot of people have the philosophy of easing into photography. I say, jump into the deep end and learn how to swim. Instead of taking one test exposure, devote the entire night to imaging a single object. As well as taking your dark frames and flat frames (both lights and darks).

H

[Manav (Yugant)]

Marc - Thanks! I'll fine tune and then procced with the 5,10,15,30sec @ ISO 400 and 5,10,15,30sec @ ISO 800 and the same at 5,10,15 @ ISO 1600.

H - I wish I could go to a dark site more often but it's not feasible and the chances I do get are limited. With this in mind, I have sadly come to the conclusion that a substantial amount of my astro work will be in Sydney and I need to make the best of that.

I noted that the 6 shape in the right corner as its not apparent in the other side. I took two shots and its present on both so not sure what it could be. I have a feeling it may be me pressing the camera button with 10sec time delay beacuse I couldnt get the canon remote application working fully on my laptop. Will investigate further hopefully this weekend.

Camera connected tight as and the focuser was locked again I'll investigate further. I'm reluctant to buy a MPCC at the moment until I improve my current skills with the equitment at hand. By the way are the exp/iso range I suggested to Marc okay? I intend on upping the ISO to limit exposure time required. I will take your advice and devote the entire night to imaging a single object as you suggested

Thanks

[AlexN]

Yugant - That looks good mate.. Guiding looks great, and the focus is spot on..

Yes I think a Coma corrector is worth investing in.. Newtonian reflectors really require coma correction..

As for light pollution filters.. I recently acquired a IDAS LPS P2 filter off the forums, I was amazed at how well it controlled light pollution from my home, 25km away from Brisbane CBD...

You've done well so far, The next steps are to take longer exposures and stack them together. You could essentially take say, 50~100x15sec exposures and stack those, but you will do better to take longer subs.. Even if you only go out to one or two minute exposures, you will be amazed with what you get!

Good going mate... You're on your way now!

[Manav (Yugant)]

Thanks Alex - I'll PM you regarding the filter.

I will play around with the exposures to see what is best suited for the Canon50D setup.

[AlexN]

with the LPS filter in place, I would assume 5 minutes would be fine... as for noise levels, going only by what I've seen from 50D's, I'd say 5min ISO800 should be ok providing you take darks..

We'll cover testing of all that via PM if you prefer..

Cheers Yugant..

PS.. How did you go with your polar alignment? All go to plan?

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Which "Dark Site" are you planning on visiting next month?

[freespace]

Wow, your 50D does much better than my 1000D! This my 1000D At the same ISO, but 10s exposure:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2776/...80f74fc7_o.jpg

While I am also in suburban Sydney (near Strathfield, that counts right?), I appear to have much less sky glow.

I think your pictures will come out great once you stake them It certainly improved the quality of my pictures, took away much of the noise.

GLHF.

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Freespace, what part of Suburban Sydney near Strathfield? Im in Croydon Park.

[Manav (Yugant)]

Hi All,

First of all have a safe Australia day in advance!

Alex - I needed to thank you of all the help with the alignment. It was great and I got hang of it quite quickly. I'll PM you regrading the IDAS filter since I have a couple of concerns about future proofing. I've got a plan to capture one object and dedicate as much time possible to capture darks@ ISO800 5min + data mentioned above by H.

Trevor - There is a regular public gathering at Katoomba Airfield. It's posted in the star parties section of IIS. You can also check out Hargreaves Point at Katoomba. PM me if you need more details buddy!

Freespace - Thats a pretty good image too, you also are blessed to have less sky glow. You might want to check out fringe killer filters. But apart from that its all good. This may sound silly but I think Nikon/Canon DSLR and the variation between prosumer/consumer/pro models don't make much impact. Seeing conditions + data collected and PSE skills do There have been cases of people with Canon DSLR getting picture of the month at IIS.

[freespace]

Originally Posted by tlgerdes

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Freespace, what part of Suburban Sydney near Strathfield? Im in Croydon Park.

Near Concord West, pretty close to you actually. IIS thinks we are about 12km away

Originally Posted by Manav

Hi All,
Freespace - Thats a pretty good image too, you also are blessed to have less sky glow. You might want to check out fringe killer filters. But apart from that its all good. This may sound silly but I think Nikon/Canon DSLR and the variation between prosumer/consumer/pro models don't make much impact. Seeing conditions + data collected and PSE skills do There have been cases of people with Canon DSLR getting picture of the month at IIS.

I will def. checkout the fringe killer filters, even if only for normal astronomy The purple'is colour always throws me off a bit. The baader fringe killer looks particular suitable.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Yugant has this wonderful source of LP called Parramatta CBD immediately to his NE.

From my place at Castle Hill and again at Glenhaven the direction of Parramatta is still the worst source of LP, with Norwest/Blacktown/Penrith coming second.

For Strathfield and Concord West I'd expect the worst LP to come from Homebush when something is on at Olympic Park. Parramatta Rd should be enough grief the rest of the time.

[Manav (Yugant)]

After almost 8mths I finally revisited Orion this time with MPCC and LPS filter and as Marc suggested multiple shots. Here are the results -

http://s564.photobucket.com/albums/s...=Redux3JPG.jpg

Feel free to comment

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Huge improvement

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Whoa, quick learner .

Wish others had the nouse to improve that much betteen the 1st and 2nd pic post

[Manav (Yugant)]

Thanks Guys!