the lemming

4 hours ago, AstroMuni said:

If you are trying to explain the scale of our solar system this short video does it quite well. EDIT: Replaced video with one from YouTube as it has more info.

 

 

 

That was really enjoyable

Cheers

4 minutes ago, the lemming said:

I have a pet project but I'm not sure how I'd go about it. Bit of a thicko with maths.

Would anybody be able to tell me the scale of the Sun compared to a child's marble, if it was for example 13mm diameter?

I could then try and work out how far away the earth would be making a simple map on the ground by trying to work out the scale of 150,000,000km from the Sun in my marble scale.

 

Cheers muchly

Edit

To make lifer more easy for me, please make the marble a more easy 10mm.

Sorry

I have a pet project but I'm not sure how I'd go about it. Bit of a thicko with maths.

Would anybody be able to tell me the scale of the Sun compared to a child's marble, if it was for example 13mm diameter?

I could then try and work out how far away the earth would be making a simple map on the ground by trying to work out the scale of 150,000,000km from the Sun in my marble scale.

Cheers muchly

On 25/09/2022 at 12:59, the lemming said:

I have a GH6, which is great for video work but very poor at night time astro photography. It produces a shocking amount of Hot Pixels that are hard to eliminate in post production.

If I was to get a different MFT camera primarily for night time shots such as the Milky Way, which models would produce the least Hot Pixels?

I would prefer to stick with Micro Four Thirds as I have a lot of excellent glass that are f2 or faster.

 

And if I was to get a Full Frame camera for astro images what older gen, second hand, cameras are worth considering please.

This is to keep costs down as its a hobby that happens in winter months with clear sky's. 😀

Just in case anybody is interested, I bought a second-hand Panasonic G9 from MPB.com and took a punt on night time photography.

This is my first test shot with a 7.5mm lens at 20 seconds ISO 800. I chickened out and used Noise Reduction. I am staggered at how little noise there was and how well the camera performed at increasing exposure in post production.

I am very happy and have restored my faith in Micro Four Thirds. I'm now looking forward to trying to get the Milky Way now. And I will never do any more night time stuff with my GH 6 camera.

What do you think of my test shot?

Am I being an over eager parent or does the G9 have potential?

Its Orion, Mars and Paladies in the shot.

Thank you everybody.

And those images are spectacular.

17 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Will you be looking for a very portable tracker, or is it for use mainly when at home?

I would like a tracker to fit my camera tripod please

There does seem to be a bewildering range of trackers out there and my brain hurts trying to pick one and would very much appreciate any advice.

I would like to take landscape images, including Milkyway landscapes, some occasional telephoto images of stuff like Andromeda and other interesting subjects.

I have a MFT camera with lenses going from 7.5mm to 400mm.

I have a photographer's tripod with a self levelling head which is primarily used for video but I'm happy to adapt or change when required.

I'd also like  Tracker that is idiot proof but not so simple that I will outgrow it in one season of image taking.

Cheers 

Hopeful bump

Anybody got or used an Olympus e-m1 mark iii ?

And is the Starry Sky auto focus any good or just a gimmic.

Cheers

16 hours ago, wulfrun said:

Before writing it off as no use, try using "Pixel Refresh" in the settings menu (the spanner symbol). 

EDIT:  I found this, might be of interest (not your camera but similar):

https://www.mu-43.com/threads/lumix-g9-for-milky-way.100248/

I’ve tried pixel refresh many times and it does not make a jot of difference, sorry.

as for the G9, this camera is on my wish list. It may be old but it is still an excellent Stills camera.

16 hours ago, Clarkey said:

Hot pixels are difficult to avoid really - the best option is dithering. If you use a decent stacking algorithm you should be able to negate the hot pixels though.

What software would you recommend for stacking please?

I have a GH6, which is great for video work but very poor at night time astro photography. It produces a shocking amount of Hot Pixels that are hard to eliminate in post production.

If I was to get a different MFT camera primarily for night time shots such as the Milky Way, which models would produce the least Hot Pixels?

I would prefer to stick with Micro Four Thirds as I have a lot of excellent glass that are f2 or faster.

And if I was to get a Full Frame camera for astro images what older gen, second hand, cameras are worth considering please.

This is to keep costs down as its a hobby that happens in winter months with clear sky's. 😀

On 06/09/2022 at 11:01, 900SL said:

What software do you have? For MW I use lightroom, affinity photo and starless++ 

At the moment I have:

DxO Photolabs 5 (Free Trial at the moment) It is awsome for Noise Reduction and killing Hot Pixels

Lightroom 5.7 because I refuse to pay monthly for Adobe software.

Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise

Luminar 4 and Luminar Neo

Gimp (Not so good at killing Hot Pixels)

Sequator

Starstax

I’ve got my RAW image, what can I do in editing to make the image look good both printed and displayed on a screen?

I’ve had about five or six attempts to try and capture a Milky Way landscape and a couple of days ago I got an image that I am pleased with.

All I need to do now is edit the image as best as possible. Here is my attempt at the image however I’d like to improve on my edit.

I love my Panasonic GH6 but I just have to accept that its meh, when it comes to astro images.

So if I was to buy a second hand Full Frame camera from somewhere like MPB.com, what would the lovely people of the parish suggest?

I'm thinking of a few hundred for the body and happy to go old pro camera.

I took this last night, and I love it but the noise just spoils the image for me.

First off, thank you everybody for your help and advice on creating Star Trail images. That advice was exceptionally helpful.

However I would very much appreciate help and advice to create Time Lapse Star Trail videos. And if possible I very much would appreciate advice on how I could improve my first ever attempt at creating a video. Its only a minute and a half long.

Th create the effect of the moving stars morphing into a Star Trail I used StarStax. I went half way through the photos I took and got Starstax and used it to create the blended images. I then added the unblended and the originals. Id be grateful for any advice on how I could improve on this idea.

Cheers

I solved this problem on another thread.

In the menu find spanner icon. From there choose Pixel Refresh.

This should get rid of most hot pixels.

I've got a Panasonic GH5 which I really like for video work, however it is shockingly bad with hot pixels for night time subjects such as star trails and the milky way.

I'm very happy with the Micro Four Thirds camera system and I have invested quite a few pennies into MFT glass.

I very much would appreciate recommendations of MFT cameras that can take good night time photography shots.

I have no desire to go full frame.

Cheers

I have a MFT camera and an assortment of filters for it. I mainly use my ND filters for video work during the day, but a filter that greatly reduces light isn't a good idea for night time photography.

What useful circular "screw on" filters would be a good for simple subjects like the moon, landscapes or time lapses of the stars?

I have a 1/4 Pro Mist filter for video work and it does a very good job at enhancing sunset videos by giving the sun an extra glow and pleasing colour vibrancy. Probably not so great for pin point stars.

I finally got out to play near Chorley and bagged this at Rivington Pike. I'm most pleased with my second ever attempt.

3 hours ago, Spaced Out said:

As mentioned above, I find starstax is good. For timelapse I use LR Timelapse but you also need adobe lightroom for that.

I use a Canon DSLR and I don't use in camera NR, I find it can soften things, with long exposures and lowish ISO and stacking I don't think its that important + you can always do NR when processing the final image if required. Not sure about your camera tbh.

Length of open shutter time, I go for as long as possible on my locked open intervalometer = 30secs for me, it doesn't matter if the stars start to trail in the individual images. Longer open shutter = lower ISO = less noise.

For ISO I just take a couple of test shots and see. For my Canon 6D I find 30 secs at 500 ISO gives pleasing trails, less than that and they are a little sparse, more than that and the sky gets busy ! Depends on the effect you are looking for I guess.

Easiest way to check all of these things is just to try a range of different settings for some short test runs and then stack them into a star trail to see what the result is. I did this and this is how I ended up with my go to settings for most star trails = 30 secs & 500-1000 ISO depending on the situation.

I have a few star trails here along with the settings used for each one

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132427272@N04/albums/72157655067298718/with/31468538285/

Good luck !

Some great advice there.

Unfortunately my Panasonic GH5 got very noisy photographing the Milky Way this year when I turned off NR creating hot pixels. It spoiled all my images as I could not get rid of all the hot pixels. The shutter was open for 25 seconds. Maybe the ISO at 5000 was the problem. 😥

I've had a couple of attempts at Star Trails and Timelapses with mixed results but I'm not exactly sure how to get the best results and what software to use in post production.

I have a Panasonic GH5, 7.5mm lens (f2.0), sturdy tripod with a fluid head as I mainly do videoing stuff in daylight.

I would appreciate advice on stuff like:

• If I should turn on or off Noise Reduction.
• How long I keep the shutter open.
• What ISO to use. My camera is practically ISO invariant but I never know where to keep the sweet spot.
• What software is novice proof with good enough results to keep me happy.

This is my first and only attempt last year and I can't remember what I did, however I did use some software to stack the images. Doh!

I have a Sky Watcher 130p and I'd love to take some images with my phone attached to it.

Any good recommendations for an attachment that will provide good results for an Android phone?

I bought a cheap and nasty effort last year, which went straight in the bin because it was useless.

Cheers

Hello

What is a Median Filter please, and will it be in Lightroom 5?

Cheers

A couple of nights ago I went to Llanddwyn Island, just off the Isle of Anglesey to capture images of the Milky Way and Perseids meteors.

I had a great night with my Panasonic GH5 and Lowa 7.5mm manual prime lens. I have included two sample shots of the night which show the Hot Pixels in the dark areas. I tried to experiment with ISO Invariance to see if this would help. I don't have any Dark Frames for the simple reason that I forgot to take any. The shots may be a bit soft. It was a very windy night with a lot of sea spray in the air and I forgot my lens cloth. Doh!

I would be grateful for any help, tips advice or software that will help me to eliminate the Hot Pixels

Shot one was taken at ISO 5000

Shot two was taken at ISO 800

Both images were edited in Lightroom 5. Yep the old version because I'm a cheapskate and won't pay monthly for Lightroom.

15 hours ago, pete_l said:

You should do at least one dry run. Experiment with different ISO settings and exposure times. Remember that while dim stars show up better on longer exposures, that doesn't work for meteors. They are literally gone in a flash! Check that the battery in your camera will last long enough. Taking continuous images drains the battery quickly.

Another thing, make sure you have a large enough card in your camera. My set up (using a Raspberry Pi) takes over 3,000 images in a night. Not only does that need a lot of storage, but it's a pain to have to inspect each one for meteors.

Doing a dry run before a meteor shower is a bit tricky, as there won't be any meteors till showtime, for me to do the dry run.

I've done a few timelapses of stars and have a good understanding of the settings, however I am after any further tips or advice on how to get the best of a meteor shower.

If you can help then, I'd be very appreciated.