Gina

Why only 30sec for the 1100d gina? I would lower the iso and go 5 or more min

I did. I went with ISO 1600 and 1 minute. In tests I've found no benefit in going below ISO 1600. I started off with 30s without guiding to make sure of getting something out of the night's imaging. I went over to my standard ISO 1600 when I'd got guiding going.

Good point

We actually have clear skies here now. Overcast earlier but clear at 10:30pm.

I bought a mono 314L+ rather than destroy any more DSLR sensors - it was cheaper! 1100D still makes a reasonable large sensor OSC though. I'm running one ATM with 200mm f4 SMC Takumar telephoto lens covering the Flame via horsey to M42. 30s at ISO 3200. Astronomik CLD CCD filter to clean up the LP. I'm also running my 314L+ on my ED80 running 5m subs in 5nm Ha and 3nm OIII covering the Flame and Horsey. I may increase the exposure to 10m or more.

Very nice neat job

Those are nice neat little connectors you got from RS I've aready bought all my connectors - I had a good search for small latching connectors but didn't find those and went for XLR connectors. I've got replacements for my NEQ6 but having replaced the original cable with my own and new right angle connector to fit the SW socket I have had no problems at all. So it's a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

Very interesting From a theoretical point of view, as far as I'm concerned

Good luck I suggest testing the sensor after removing the glass but before going any further.

That's great - particularly for a first attempt

I might need to pad that out a bit if changing the focus doesn't do it. Some lenses focus by moving the whole insides.

Thank you Paul - deal done

314L+ 13.5mm optical backfocus

EFW2 21.0mm

54-T2 1.3mm

Adapter 7.0mm

====

............ 42.8mm

Is this the kind of thing you're after?

http://www.teleskop-...objectives.html

James

Yes. That's it - thank you

Heard the sad news on the radio news and it brought tears to my eyes. I have watched "The Sky at Night" since it began (and hardly missed an episode) and Sir Patrick was an instiration. He seemed almost like a father figure to me though regretfully, I never met him. The world has lost an icon

R.I.P. Sir Patrick

This is silly but I can't seem to find how to combine Ha and OIII stacked images in PS (CS5). I've done it before with my wide field images (as Ha, OIII, OIII mapped to R, G, B ) and now I have Ha and OIII from my new 314L+ mono CCD camera I'm blowed if I can see how I did it I've searched all over the place both here and Google with no joy.

Can someone put me out of my misery and frustration, Please?

Anyone know if there's anywhere selling M42 to T2 adapters? That is - for using M42 lenses on astro CCD cameras or filter wheels. There's plenty the other way round - for T2 lenses on M42 camera bodies. If I can get the right adapter I think there's a chance that I could use my old M42 thread lenses with my Atik 314L+ and Atik EFW2 filter wheel. Or does anyone know if there's an adapter that will fit the EFW2 directly to take EOS (EF) lenses? I have M42 to EF mount adapters that allow infinity focus.

Yes, interesting - thank you I'm sure the cover glass on the 1100D sensor is epoxied on. The only way to remove it is to break it.

Yes, the resolution is 3MPx as only a quarter of the pixels are used as has been said. But that's still 2061 x 1383 which is not bad. The sensitivity suffers too so you need more exposure time. Fortunately many nebulae are very rich in Ha and that helps.

NB filters help reduce the affects of moonlight and light pollutuion but with 12nm this is limited. Still a bit helpful though. Another benefit is reduction in star brightness. I think Astronomik clip filters are worthwhile for wide field with lenses particularly with a twin setup with two cameras and two lenses like I have. With a scope I think filters in a filter wheel are a better bet and, in fact I have been working towards this. I decided to reduce cost by going for the minimum size of filter that will work witth a DSLR viz. 36mm unmounted. But I'm still waiting for the OIII filter which has been on backorder for some time now.

Yes, I agree, for that price there is no much point in doing it as a CCD is cheaper but I was wondering if it would be possible to buy a canon compatible monochrome CMOS at an affordable price to assemble it into an existing DSLR such as the 450D. Is it possible?I was wondering.

No idea I'm afraid but I very much doubt it.

By the way Gina, how do you find your astronomik 12nm H alpha filter? Does it work nicely with your DSLR? I am thinking about getting that filter to add a luminance layer to my images (and possibly imaging with the moon around). I also have bad LP in my area and I was thinking about using the H alpha filter to get the details and then the astronomik LP clip filter to 'colour' the picture. Will it work?

I haven't yet tried using Ha as a luminance layer but others have I believe with good results. I have had quite good results with the Ha clip filter for wide-field imaging using an old 200mm f3.5 telephoto lens both alone and combined with OIII as a bi-colour NB image.

Here's some examples :-

1. Cygnus Loop in Ha with image converted to greyscale
   
2. Heart Nebula in Ha with colour retained
   
3. Cygnus Loop bi-colour with Ha and OIII combined in Photoshop
   

You can get debayered Canon cameras but they're very expensive and in the price range of decent proper CCD astro cameras which include cooling. I think there's a link earlier in this thread.

Edit.... Found it :- http://www.maxmax.co...amera_order.asp

Very good start Nice

Good first shot There's more data in that image than is immediately apparent but get more data and you'll have a great image

Here's a quick stretch of the posted image using Photoshop - hope you find it useful

Very interesting - thank you

The fire fighting equipment for unattended electronic equipment "sheds" is CO2. I was involved with remote controlled equipment many many years ago.

What a brilliant start! Well done

Well it was an excellent try and I congratulate you :icon_salut: Is the variation in grinding depth really that bad? Does it really ruin your images? I too have concluded that I shall eventually want a mono CCD but can't manage the 383L - I plan to get the 314L+. As a pensioner it takes me quite a while to save up for things but I don't want to wait too long at my age. Meanwhile, I have plenty I can do with my three 1100Ds including NB. I'm planning to get better NB filters first, they'll be useful when I get a mono CCD anyway, but will improve my DSLR imaging in the meantime. Oh for some more nice clear nights

v6.7 isn't compatible with cs5, v6.3 is the latest version for cs5 that works

Thank you

I've just done a run with alternating ISO 1600 and 6400 in both Ha and OIII of the Cygnus Loop. Subjectively, the ISO 1600 subs are smoother with less noise. I'll do a quantitative assessment tomorow. The ambient temperature is higher than when I did my noise run by about 3 degrees C. Present conclusion is what I found in practice in the past - that 6400 is going too far. I'll do a test with ISO 3200 and 1600 later. The Cygnus Loop has gone out of sight from here.

Oh yes they are you need to update the camera raw software to about v6.7 that will allow PS to see the file.

Thank you - I'll look into that