FenlandPaul

Thanks Lee, mate. I’m using a Canon 6D at the moment, to keep things simple (and cost down!), as that’s the camera I use for all my nightscape stuff. I have an Astro-modded version too. I’ve been struggling to get good stars so far, which I think might be a product of being unguided, but it’s still very early days. I suspect I’ll start guiding before I upgrade camera, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be someone who has the patience to shoot mono and combine RGB etc. But maybe a cooler one shot colour camera at some point if I can justify the outlay. Hope all’s well with you. ☺️

I prepared an update video now that I’ve been using this for a few months. Hope it helps anyone looking to build one of these!

Superb, Paul. 👍

That’s a lovely scene. 👏

Nice, Paul. I like the warmth from inside the barn in particular. 👍

Looking forward to seeing your results; unfortunately as a DSLR-only person I’m no help here whatsoever!! Good luck!

Lovely composition. 👍 I get really quite cross about the fact that so many dslrs have such dreadful intervalometers on board, if any at all!!

Plenty of Astro in that, Paul! Love the natural star glow from the high cloud. And really good work on the blending around those tree branches - amazing how you’ve got that looking so good.

Lovely image and a fun story to go with it (well, fun if it’s someone else being chased!!).

Well worth it! I really don’t understand how ICE gives different outcomes depending on weather / mood / date / what the operator has for dinner. But glad you managed to get it to work. Panos can be enormous files, especially if you’re stacking the individual frames!

Thank you, Malcolm. ☺️

That was worth waiting for, Jody - exquisite! Not a lot you can do about the Bristol light dome, but it actually balances the MW core in the image so I’d say it’s still a very successful pano. ☺️ Good idea to use an unmodded 6D for the foreground. I’ve recently acquired an unmodified version for that as well as time lapses. Getting the right white balance with the modded version really is quite challenging (if you’re me!).

The added hassle factor is definitely real, but I’ll give it a go a few times and see whether it’s materially detracting from the overall experience, which is the most important thing for me. It’s impossible to do in high winds, that’s for sure!

A few weeks ago I took a trip up to Hunstanton in NW Norfolk to take some nighttime shots. I'd had in mind to shoot over the lovely zig-zag groyne sea-defences and hopefully get Orion setting over the Wash. It was during that week when we had clear but quite hazy skies. It wasn't the best night for shooting, and Hunstanton itself has rather more light pollution that I'd like! I also decided to record my first vlog out in the field. I really enjoy watching other people out in the landscape taking nightscape shots, but there aren't that many people who seem to do it, so I thought, in my own clumsy way, I'd try to add to the videos out there! Anyway, here are my images from that night, and the vlog I recorded. I think I'll be making future videos a lot shorter - maybe less than 15 minutes - but it was fun to do (although it adds a lot of complexity to a nighttime photo shoot!). Hope you enjoy, Paul

Lovely, Paul. Took me a while to find you!! 🤣

Yes, I use MS ICE. Sometimes I find I have to stitch 2 or 3 panes at once and then stitch those “sub-stitches” together. Usually I find ICE works better than LR, but I’ve had some instances in which LR has pulled off what ICE couldn’t. People who do panos regularly rave about a piece of paid-for software called PT-GUI. I’ve never used it but the consensus seems to be it’s very capable.

Good luck with that! It’s very satisfying when it comes together, but can take some patience getting things to stitch nicely! I do love the 6D and 24mm, although my lens has a slightly loose focus ring which means I have to be careful that focus doesn’t slip between frames. Looking forward to seeing your image; with your eye for composition I’m sure it’ll be spectacular!!

Very nice indeed. A lot of people may have done it (although I’ve not - would love to!) but it never gets dull - beautiful. 👍

Looks like you were joined by some others. Stunning capture!!

That’s very kind. Thanks Lee, mate. 👍

My main objective up on the Norfolk coast last weekend was to capture a MW arch panorama over the iconic Happisburgh lighthouse in the pre-dawn hours. I’d intended this to be a tracked, stacked pano but I was fighting fast-moving clouds and high winds, so I though that stood a high chance of failure. I opted instead for an untracked but stacked version. Excitingly, as I started, the aurora started to show up on camera to the north east, giving a nice purple-pink hue to the left of the pano which balances the light pollution-lit clouds to the right, which unfortunately obscured the MW core. 📷 Canon 6D with Samyang 24mm f/1.4 lens at f/2 🔧12 panes, each comprising 5 to 8 shots (kept losing count!!) of 20s at ISO6400 🎞 Panes stacked in Sequator. Stitched in Microsoft ICE, edited in LR and PS

Wowsers, There’s a lot going on in that!! 🤩

A week ago I had an exciting confluence of forecast clear skies, a new moon, a Friday night and no early start on the Saturday for kids' activities etc. So I headed a couple of hours up the road to the Norfolk coast to a location I'd only ever seen on photographs but which I was desperate to get to - the very lovely Happisburgh lighthouse - and spent the whole night there. The strong wind and occasional snow flurry took me a little by surprise, and it was bitter, but I had one of the most enjoyable nights of astro I've ever had, finally arriving home at 7am. Here's my first shot from the evening. I'd worried that the clouds were going to ruin the view, but in this case I think they've enhanced it nicely. 📷 Canon 6D with Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/1.8 🔧 6x 6s exposures at ISO6400 (sky) and 2x 20s (one at ISO6400 and one at ISO3200) (foreground). Kase Starglow filter used for sky. 🎞 Sky stacked in Sequator. Edited in LR and PS.

Love that @Rustang - the Rho Oph region is stunning. I bet that was a fun adventure. Looking forward to some un-light-polluted core action in the next few weeks.

Lovely, well-balanced image. Those winter stars really do offer a beautiful alternative to the Milky Way!