Milkyway from the Dordogne (2014)

[mikehab]

Hi all,

I've just got back from my annual sojourn to the Dordogne where I managed to grab a couple of shots of the Milkyway with just a basic (non-modded) EOS DSLR with no tracking - just a fixed tripod - hence subs were kept necessarily short.

The first one was taken with the standard Canon 18-55mm kit lens, 19 x 10 sec subs @ ISO 2500 with lens set at 18mm f/3.5...

Second was taken with the same Canon EOS 60D body, but with a very old Olympus OM 'nifty-fifty' 50mm f/1.8 lens attached (I think it was stopped down to f/2.8 actually) - 16 x 6 sec subs @ ISO 3200

(The dark shape at the bottom is actually the chimney of the house we were staying at...)

Quite chuffed to see that it's possible to get some reasonable pics with just the most basic of kit and no tracking what-so-ever.

Cheers,

Mike

[Pete Presland]

excellent especially for 6 sec subs!

[mikehab]

Thanks :-)   The dark skies in the middle of no-where in the Dordogne certainy helped... easily visible with the naked eye.   I did try to get longer exposures with a barn-door tracker but my turning the winder by hand just introduced shaking to the whole setup, so I ditched it and just went for a direct mount, high ISO and short subs.

[mikehab]

Heres another one from the same holiday ... this time 6 x 30sec subs, ISO 6400, using the standard 18-55mm kit lens @ 18mm...

Cheers,

Mike

[happy-kat]

Great images

Not sure the 30 seconds is giving more then say a stack of either of the first images.

I can't wait to try again at this

[TimBarber]

really enjoyed this post! great to see someone with the same set-up as me but getting far better results! it gives me some hope.

May i ask which software you used to stack your images?

I tried a shot last night with a 60d on a fixed tripod but went for a single exposure of 30sec with lens at 18mm 3.5. It seems to me that stacking in the way you do captures far more detail!!

One question...the last picture 6x30secs...why hasn't the Milky Way moved? and why isn't there any trails?

Great work

[mikehab]

really enjoyed this post! great to see someone with the same set-up as me but getting far better results! it gives me some hope.

May i ask which software you used to stack your images?

I tried a shot last night with a 60d on a fixed tripod but went for a single exposure of 30sec with lens at 18mm 3.5. It seems to me that stacking in the way you do captures far more detail!!

One question...the last picture 6x30secs...why hasn't the Milky Way moved? and why isn't there any trails?

Great work

Thanks - much appreciated.   I used DeepSkyStacker to stack the photos.

Stacking multiple shots will certainly produce better results - plus the inclusion of darks also makes a huge difference (I used 6x30s lights + 6x30s darks).

As to why there's no trails ... I think that's probably because I was pointing quite high in the sky - so the earth's rotation is reduced (relatively speaking).   I have another 30s shot which was pointing towards the horizon and there it definitely more noticable trailing in that one.   Try taking a 30s shot @18mm pointing at Polaris, and another pointing at the horizon and you should  easily see the difference...

Cheers,

Mike