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darthvader

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Everything posted by darthvader

  1. I agree, I'm a bit impatient so that combo sounds good to me ! I just downloaded the trial version of Backyard EOS - its cool that you can control the camera from your laptop although my camera doesn't have wifi so I think I'd have to trail a VERY long USB cable from the camera to inside the house (not keen on using my laptop outside, it cost a lot of money !)
  2. thankyou, I don't mind spending a few quid on some software if it's good (I object to these software monthly subscriptions mind 😬 e.g. photoshop ! )
  3. thanks for all the info, much appreciated. more questions ! 😃 What image software do you recommend to use for editing astro photos? GIMP ? (I do have an old copy of Photoshop Elements if that's any good?) I'm fairly IT savvy but useless at photography 😃 if that influences choice of software) Can chromatic aberration / coma be corrected in the editing phase? not sure I even know what coma is ? ( I used a Canon zoom lens EF 75-300 which I bought a few years ago fairly cheaply, I guess higher quality lenses would have less chromatic aberration?) 2. Some of the red stars appear a little artificial? is it just me or is there an issue with the photo/camera/setup Some are artificial, to the left your have an aircraft trail, a diagonal of red navigation lights That did make me laugh, I thought they looked a bit odd 😝, i thought if it was an aircraft there would be a line, but thinking about it, if the lights are flashing then that's not the case !)
  4. Took a few more pics tonight, seeing wasn't great I don't think, seemed to be a lot of misty clouds about round here. Anyway, I think my polar alignment was a bit off tonight as the stars appear to be a trailing slightly, although the focus appears a little better. I've got loads of questions ! 1. If I'm uploading a picture onto this site should I load the .jpg or the RAW file? 2. Some of the red stars appear a little artificial? is it just me or is there an issue with the photo/camera/setup 3. I noticed the camera lens was misting up a bit, how do you folks keep it clear, 12V hairdryers or is there a better way? 4. A lot of the stars appear to have shadows of themselves - is this just because of the tracking not being quite right? 5.... not gonna ask any more for now, I don't want to take liberties with your kind help. (I've attached one of the photos - from the constellation Cygnus (I uploaded it to Astrometry.net which was recommended previously, great tool for identifying objects -> I'd never heard of the Foxhead Cluster before !) I bought the every photon counts book about a year ago but have never really looked at it, must dig it out from the bookcase, I'm sure there must be some good advice in there... thanks again folks for your advice and help 👍😃
  5. Hey, I made myself very happy getting the Adventurer to work at all 🙃😝 even the Mrs. was impressed with the galaxy and she don't impress easy 😜 mind you the dog didn't seem too impressed he was more interested in my packet of wotsits 🤣
  6. just found the little hole next to the battery cover for the cable do go through. Never realised that was even there 🙄😝
  7. it was set to 800, do you think 400 would be better for a 3 min exposure?
  8. is this the sort of thing you mean? https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACK-E8-Adapter-Replacement-Coupler-Battery-Single-USB/dp/B07C21NT92/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=dummy%2Bbattery%2BCanon%2Beos%2B700d&qid=1603445503&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1 I already have a couple of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B076KS92ZT?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title which I assume would be OK to power it?
  9. thanks for all the kind words and the tips about the batteries - I shall look into that, I do have 3 batteries, but like you say it's a bit of a pain to keep changing them.
  10. definitely a case of beginner's luck catching Andromeda ! I literally just pointed it vaguely upwards away from the house lights and hoped for the best 😀 I expected to see bad star trailing but was pleasantly surprised as the tripod was on soft grass, not the most stable base 😐 Also need to take some spare camera batteries out next time as the camera battery ran out really quickly.
  11. cool, I managed to locate M110 in my image thanks to that 👍
  12. definitely still a beginner 😀 although I was quite impressed with myself that I got the setup to work on the first attempt ! (mind you I did read the manual about 37 times and watched a couple of youtube videos too! -> thanks to Kamil Pekala) Fingers crossed for clear skies this weekend so I can have another go
  13. that's a very clever tool, will add that to my list of astro bookmarks 👍
  14. thanks, am I right in thinking the tracking looks like it's working ok? there doesn't seem to be any obvious star trailing, although it's difficult to tell because it's so blurred 🙄 I was a little concerned that I had nudged it out of alignment when attaching the camera and then loosening the clutches to re-direct the camera. I think next time I won't tighten the clutches so much as I struggled to get them undone without moving the whole assembly.
  15. Took my first photo this evening with my new Skywatcher Star Adventurer... finally got round to working out how to polar align it ( it turned out to be not as complicated as I thought it would be - i'd been putting if off for weeks as it looked so complicated in the manual !) I think I messed up the infinity manual focus on my camera (Canon EOS 700D) so it's a bit blurred but I did grab a galaxy in the bottom left (no idea which galaxy it is as I was just pointing the camera at a random spot in the sky to see if the tracking was working). Definitely need to adjust my camera manual settings too (exposure was approx. 3 mins) - seems a little 'bright' - less ISO ? any tips very welcome ! 🙃
  16. until

    Awesome, gonna give that a go, cloud permitting !
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