A classic duo with some dust

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Dear all, after a loooong rest from any activity I found eventually some time to process one of the several images patiently waiting in my hard disk.

http://www.astrosurf.com/lorenzi/ccd/aw_centauri.htm

It is a very classic couple, Centaurus A and Omega Centauri, however this is the first time I believe I saw the whole area permeated by a very faint dusty nebulosity. For sure almost 5 hours of expositions under the pristine sky of Coonabarabran helped a lot

Pentax 67 300mm f/4 EDIF lens, Proline 16803, LRGB 160:40:40:40, Warrumbungle Observatory (http://www.tenbyobservatory.com/).

I recommend to see the high res version clicking on the link at the end of the text in the page above.

Clear Skies
Marco

[renormalised (Carl)]

Nice shot, Marco

Stars are pinpoint and the colour is excellent. Very widefield!!!!!!.

Those Pentax 67's are great lenses, just so damn hard to pick one up!!!.

Not cheap, either!!.

[blueskies123_89 (George)]

wow! beautiful shot. I love the star colours and the dust that you have managed to capture.

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Very nice and interesting fov

[erick (Eric)]

Now that is PRETTY!

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Thanks guys!
Marco

[multiweb (Marc)]

That's a beautiful field. Some serious equipment behind that shot.

[TrevorW]

I rememeber another Marco that went to China I hope you are having as much fun

top shot by the way

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Thanks Trevor and Marc for the nice comments. Actually "that" Marco went to China long long long before me and produced much more effects than I will ever do, however it is nice to consider that, at least, we left from the same port (Venice)

Clear skies from Shanghai
Marco

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Very nice, I always like an image that brings something new and unexpected.

[richardo (Rich)]

Lovely wide field and very well processed.
Love the dust you've collected. Can't beat pristine skies!
You'd never know these dusky areas were there, but these days with large chips and some very nice lenses about, think we'll be seeing a lot more dust we've missed before.

Thanks for sharing.

Rich

[John Hothersall]

That is an eyeopening shot with the dark dusty clouds and Centaurus A is huge and seems to have an even larger halo than I first though and have seen in other large chip images.

John.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Marco Polo alright! You are an explorer that's for sure, fantastic image Lorenzo . It is very rare to see the oposing extensions around Centaurus A not to mention the galactic cirrus dust, aren't our cameras just great?! I would love some pentax lenses

Mike

[gregbradley]

Magnificent! I just acquired some Pentax 67 lenses for my PL16803.

Although the 300mm F4 is not the ED version which seems to be very rare but the one to have. I also
got the 165mm F2.8.
You have inspired me to get the approriate adapters made up to use them.

Where did you get your Pentax 67 to PL adapter made from?

Do you use any other of these lenses, they seem very very good and cheap (not the ED though).

Greg.

[marco (Marco Lorenzi)]

Thanks Clive, Richardo, John, Mike and Greg for your appreciation!

Yes, the 300EDIF for 67 series is the lens to go

Mike, the Proline 16803 is an outstanding camera, it never let me down once and, as you are seeing with yours, the raw frames are extremely clean!

Greg, I made my adapter in a friend's shop back in Italy. I started from a Pentax 67 extension tube. Attached are some pics of the adapter and the adapter mounted on a custom made dovetail I designed. On one side you can also see the robofocus and belt system.
Let me know if this can help. About Pentax lenses, so far the only one I have used is the 300mm EDIF, using my telescope remotely I have no possibility to change lenses as I want..

Clear Skies!
Marco

[gregbradley]

Thanks Marco. Nice looking setup you've got there and what incredible results.

Only thing for me is my FSQ106Ed with reducer is 330mm and ED as well. So they are very very similar.

Even so I would like tohave choices and of course there are many Pentax 67 lenses that go relatively cheaply on Ebay.
Greg