Just 35 minutes - Belt and Sword

[jgs001]

First time out in far far too long.... Used the Astrotrac with my 150mm Macro lens... it's quite a nice fit for Orions belt and sword... I think it worked rather well... even 2 minute and 45 second subs are too long for the trap with this setup...

I think the 150mm lens is pushing my polar alignment with a 3 way tripod head... I was only just about getting away with 2 minutes and 45 seconds, but at f/2.8... that's not so much of an issue

Sigma 150mm Macro, Unmodded Canon 450d. Mounted on my Astrotrac. Focused using dSLR controller on my droid tablet. f/2.8, 13x165 seconds, ISO800. Darks and iPad flats.

If I'd captured the two hours worth of data I'd wanted (clouds put paid to that), I'd have taken more time on the processing, as it is, this took less than 10 minutes.

[knobby]

I like that! Nice job

[Pete Presland]

Thats turned out very nicely, well captured.

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[baggywrinkle]

Very nice

[WaveSoarer]

That's a great image.

[Ags]

Very nice! Oddly I just added the sigma 150 macro to my Gear Roadmap...

[jgs001]

Thanks all... 

Agnes, this it the older, non stabilised version, of the 150mm macro lens. Got to say though, I'm really impressed with the flatness of the field, considering it was wide open at f/2.8.

[sologuitarist61]

Nice to see 'the sword' relative to Orion's belt and not just on its own - very good!

[jgs001]

Thanks Richard.

I posted it to astrometry.net on flickr, and the amount of objects in there is far more than I'd have expected ...

Full screen on my computer, there's a lot of very faint red in the background, that if I'd managed at least the 2 hours total exposure time minimum I'd wanted, I'm sure would have come out. 

[Alien 13]

Great work you have inspired me to have another go at this with my 135mm lens.

Alan

[jgs001]

Thanks Alan. Go for it.

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[PeteC]

Nice capture. 135 or 150 makes for a nice composition with this subject. I tried 200mm a few weeks ago and could frame Alnitak and M42 but the other 2 belt stars wouldn't quite fit in.

[Daniel-K]

thats a really nice wide field shot great job

[Mr Bergman]

Nice image! 

[Sleepy Kiki]

That's a great image! Shows what can be done with just a standard lens. I'm inspired too and will try my 100mm macro at this 

[twintin]

That is nice, so vast

[Mr Spock]

Hmmm, I have a Sigma 150mm f2.8...

Nice image you have there - it's making me think.

[jgs001]

Thanks all..

Michael, it has a very flat field, I got someone I know to test it. Go for it.

[Xplode]

Very nice.

You should definitely be able to get more out of this with editing.

I'm very impressed by the sharpness of that lens wide open.

[jgs001]

Thanks xplode. In hoping for a chance to have another bash this week with the moon out of the way.

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[swag72]

This is a super shot John, and no wonder as it was you who started me on this road to decline a few years ago!!!

[jgs001]

Thanks very much Sara

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