alan potts

Considering that is a crop and I feel quite an aggressive one, it shows how good those scopes of yours are. Still trying to work out a way to buy one and stay alive. Great image!!!

Alan

Francis, I don't feel that is overdone but I do see some images on here that really do hit you in the face. Personally I find it difficult to control, I am constantly keeping this in mind but many time go what I feel is over the top. I guess we also have different monitors which show peoples images different and what we see may well not be what others view.

Great image though.

Alan

Keep looking at this, so so nice, one of the best images of this I have seen!!

Alan

A really nice image Francis, could maybe use a tad more saturation in my view.

Alan,

Nice image Ivo, don't much like this snow we have here, 26c last week zero this.

Alan

Very nice, snow here so no chance at the moment but want to get onto this target.

Alan

That is a lovely shot Alan, one I should try and get closer up on with my longer scope. Like the way you have framed it too.

Alan

That is very nice indeed Dave, very nice. There are a lot of galaxies in that capture.

Alan

That's a very nice capture there Mick, it is not one I have tried, I tend to feel galaxies apart from M31 & 33 are a bit on the small side for my gear. However I keep thinking about wheeling the LX 200 12 inch out and banging off a load of 10-15 second exposures at F6.3, could have legs even though it's not equatorial.

Alan

Very nice indeed, have a good few clothes with that emblem on.

Alan

Very nice capture Francis, lots going on there, I did this a couple of weeks back, not well placed for me as it's over the house, which is fairly big.

Alan

A very nice image Goran, and not one I have seen before, considering the speed you used it is clean of noise as I see it, I never pushed my old 40D about 1600, but it is an antique

Alan

I'm not exactly in love with reducers. I have a reducer on the back of my Borg 77EDll, this seems to make it a nightmare to focus at F4.3. I also have a TS Red .79 reducer I use with my bigger APO, which even at the exact 55m backfocus is not that great at the edges. However the flatener I got from FLO, Hutech, is absolutely spot on.

Alan

A lovely image you have there, I was doing this last night though much more of a close up, sadly weather stopped me short. Really like this target.

Alan

4 hours ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Cheers, Alan. I need to get a load more data to be able to get more colour, I feel. I might be able to triple the amount of data coming night, we'll see. 

I lost a load of time last night with Thor's Helmet, over 3 hours, cut it in half and it was such a good sky. Life for you, was sure it was in the right place😂.

Alan

A lovely image Brian but I have to say I prefer the top image, for me the other is over saturated, which is of course only taste, something I don't have.

Alan

Yes agree Michael, very much better, apart from mine having a bit more red in the cigar, it almost looks the same as my effort the other week. Nice image.

Alan

Very nice image, not one I have seen done before, guess you need that longer F/L to stand any chance of seeing things like this.

Alan

I actually re-processed this for saturation only before I posted. I often feel people spoil an image with too much in your face colour, but struggle to stop myself doing the exact same. So I am very pleased you picked up on my efforts and thank-you for saying.

Alan 

As I have two cameras I must try and use them. This shot is taken with the Zwo071, of course a OSC. Still having a slight spacing issue, or tilt, with this camera that I don't see on the 183MC, maybe because of the small chip. This Messier 42 is 15 x 4 minutes lights, all frames used with Darks, all at minus 5 on a reduced APO to 635mm, this give a reasonable FOV.  There are no Flats, I should take time to do them but I am always changing camera position and indeed camera.

I spent 3 hours last night on Thor's Helmet only to find I missed the target and cut it in half with the 183mc, back to the drawing board.

Hope you like it, I thought is was fairly well detailed for only 1 hour, with this rendition holding the core back was almost impossible, at least with my skill level.

Alan

I recall Olly who has a place down in southern France has said in the past that one of his visitors can and did 7th mag stars. Though he openly admits he couldn't see these stars the guest could, Olly's site is very dark. I too have seen very difficult objects from here in Bulgaria , many times seeing M33, it's almost overhead in Autumn.

Alan

7 hours ago, astro mick said:

That is a cracking M42 Alan,you must be well chuffed with that.I know I would be.

Exerllent.

Mick.

Kind of you to say Mick, I didn't think that much to it at first, it was one of those nights where little went right, had a lot of guiding issues, maybe it was just a poor night. I feel I processed it better than I normally do, I always find this stage very hit and miss, maybe I need to be more disciplined.

Alan

1 minute ago, carastro said:

Really great result Alan, you stuck at it and it's all coming together now.

Carole 

You helped along the way, still not happy with that Borg 77EDll, I am getting a new Stellamira 85mm early next month so something else to play with. Sound a bit over the top the amount of gear I have but we do get a lot of clear sky here so at least it gets used. However now I am hooked on this the other scopes are dust collecting, I would sell a couple but there is just no market here compared to England.

Alan

I am a little surprised how good this 183mc is at these tight crop type shots on this reduced 115mm APO which is normally 805mm. I have to say after buying it i was seeing a few on site that didn't really seem to like the camera, maybe even Zwo didn't as we now have a sort of replacement model. Amp glow often criticised but with darks I don't see a problem in my images,. I think I will put the 183 back on tonight and have another go at Thor's Helmet with the same scope as M42 above. The very small pixels 2.4um just work at 635mm with .79 reducer in the mix. Thor's head gear looked rather lost with the 071 so looks clear again later for the night..

Alan 

Your all so very kind, just think I hit the right buttons processing this time, tried a few of my own moves in PS on this one. To go back to David's statement, stick with what you know, Dave has given me loads of help and at times kept me going. He is right though this scope really out preforms my others, and after owning it for 10 years and even dropping on concrete once, I sort of love it. It's not that though the other scopes can give good results and I will keep banging my head against the wall and maybe one day i will be as good as some of you are, there are some class imaging acts on SGL.

Alan