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MarsG76

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Everything posted by MarsG76

  1. MarsG76
    Some photos of the camera with the copper plate, PCB dew insulation using a hot glue gun, than the final version of the mod... By the way, don't forget to remove the IR cut filter from m the sensor to increase your Halpha sensitivity...
  2. MarsG76
    Hi Peeetr, Before you mod your camera remember that my mod draws 4 Amps of current for the two peltiers and effectively renders your 40D useless for everything other than astro photography. The other thing I want to warn you about is that I destroyed 4 PCBs during my adventures in modding the cam, but mostly because I didn't protect the electronic from condensation. I used a copper sheet that is only 1mm thick and it fit in the space between the sensor and the main PCB, it was a tight fit, but it fit. Make sure that you insulate your PCB from condensation, fill out the gaps with some foam sheets and insulate as much of the camera entry point as much as possible... I used expanding foam... I'll attach some pictures from my final version of my camera that worked well now for around a year.... Good luck.... but when you get it working, the difference in subs quality is worth it with almost no noise and much cleaner stacks.
  3. MarsG76
    So basically you won a beast with the eye of a beast image... imaged using a mini beast of a camera...
  4. MarsG76
    I just looked up your astrocam.... that's one hell of a beast....
  5. MarsG76
    Deservingly so...
  6. MarsG76
    Excellent image.... welcome to SGL.
  7. MarsG76
    Do you think that there will be much difference between the 2600MM and my DSLR?
  8. MarsG76
    Thanks... if you do holiday down here... go to the outback on a moon less night and have a look at the sky... you'll {word removed} yourself with joy at what you'll see.... literally the star light casts shadows!!
  9. MarsG76
    Thank you.... You guys have plenty of objects we wish we had down here too...
  10. MarsG76
    Hi all, My current image, still WIP, but I'm sharing this Hydrogen Alpha image as I thought it looked ok... This is NGC3603 and NGC3576 (AKA The "Statue of Liberty" nebula), a massive H-Alpha region containing a very compact open cluster, located in the constellation "Carina" about 20,000LY away. I took this photo on the night of 19th February 2021 using my cooled and full spectrum modded Canon 40D DSLR attached to a 80mm f6.25 refractor on a CGEM equatorial mount. Exposure time was 3 Hours and 50 minutes (6x600sec, 6x900sec and 4x1200 sec subs), using a 7nm Hydrogen Alpha filter. I'm still working on the narrowband color image, but this image is quite possibly my last image that I'll produce using just the DSLR before my ZWO2600MM arrives. CS, MG
  11. MarsG76
    Super imposing the QE graphs from few different types of camera states that the 2600MM should be a performer.... In theory exposure times should be 12 time shorter with the 2600MM than with my 40D for equivalent amount of photons captured... 3X the QE and another 4X the speed due to no bayer matrix... Am I missing something?
  12. MarsG76
    Beautiful image... well done...
  13. MarsG76
    I don't think that you'd be a "early adopter" as CMOS technology has been around for ages in astro cams and even longer in DSLRs, and proved to be a very successful technology. I have been imaging using a 40D with a APS-C sized (OSC) CMOS sensor and love it... I'm very happy with the images it allows me to produce... and this is with a 13 or 14 year old camera tech/sensor.... and the 2600MM has a newer tech chip, is much more sensitive and mono, so it has to be an improvement. Either way, I have one on the way, it'll be in my hands in 1-2 weeks and I'll do a full comparison and report between it and my full spectrum modded and active cooled DSLR, using the the same scopes imaging the same object, so this might help you in your decision.
  14. MarsG76
    Add to that.... I want to say, I wish that the camera would get here already so I can test, but as we all know... it's been mostly cloudy since I ordered it and when it arrives, it'll be solid cloud for another 2-3 months... and unlike now.. with no break in the weather what so ever...
  15. MarsG76
    Ultimately I'm hoping for a major improvement... There are reports (or opinions) that the 2600MM will "change the game" or "change everything" as stated by a fellow (Astro Backyard) who reviews astro gear... Modding the DSLR is night and day to what it did to sensitivity, especially in HAlpha... and looking at the graph attached, taking the (deeper) cooling, read noise and no bayer filters, gives me hope.... Comparing these graphs... I should capture HAlpha signal 9.6X faster and SII 14X faster with the 2600MM compared to my 40D?? I imagine that DSLR QE would be similar across the board.... so your 700D should be similar. My skies are around Bortle 4-5....
  16. MarsG76
    The QE is still higher on this graph than, in theory, on a full spectrum modded DSLR.... (by a factor or 3?) added with the lack of the bayer matrix, this theoretically should cut exposure times by 12X for equivalent subs brightness/photon collection.... but theory and practice hardly ever match up.
  17. MarsG76
    Hi Steve... I'll definitely be doing a full comparison... Currently I'm imaging NGC3603... the "Statue of Liberty" nebula in between cloudy & near full moon lit nights. I'm getting more than my fair share of cloud covered nights lately, but it's early in the season and if I get another two or three clear nights in the next 2 weeks than I'll complete this Cooled full spectrum DSLR version just as the 2600MM is due to arrive... than I'll still have enough time do the same image, using the same scope and filters with the new astro cam... this would be my first head to head comparison.
  18. MarsG76
    The cooled camera seems to give you very clean images, but, even though a DSLR is rougher, overall, I think that a cooled DSLR is not that much worse... I'm now hoping that with the cleaner subs, I'll be able to capture the same about of photons in much less time due to being the camera being mono and has a QE of 91%... surely no bayer filters and 3X the QE should result in considerably faster captures.
  19. MarsG76
    Hello All, Can I pick your brains for info? After a long resistance, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a dedicated astro camera... the ZWO 2600MM-P.... which will be in my hands in around a month... But I have some reservations to whether I just spent a heap of cash for minimal or no improvement in my images. Basically I have been using a full spectrum modded and peltier cooled Canon 40D, cooled using two peltiers on opposite sides of a cold finger, and the cooling works very well.... I have a temperature controller on the system with a thin temperature probe sitting between the cold finger and the sensor, this way reporting an accurate sensor temperature. I limit the cooling to 4 degrees C (it has reached -4.7C during a test, but the sensor hazed over)... I find that down to 4 degrees (with a heat strip wrapped around the front of the DSLR/Filter wheel connection) I do not have any condensation issues on most nights and at 8 degrees or lower, my ISO1600 subs are noise free, even if I'm exposing up to 1800 second subs. Now to my dilemma, when I try to look up if anyone has compared a DSLR setup similar to mine to a dedicated astro cam such as the ZWO2600MM out on the field (as opposed to tech spec sheets), there aren't many comparisons and the two posts that I found that are the closest to comparisons show that there is not that much difference in the overall images... one camera was a cooled 40D compared to a QHY OSC camera and the images of the Rosette nebula (featured/tested/compared) were very similar and a image of M31 actually looked better taken with a modded Canon 5Dmk3 to the one imaged with a ZWO1600MM by the same imager, using the same scope!!! Would anyone be able to answer whether I should be bracing for a disappointment? Once I get it, I'll do a direct head to head comparison on the same object, same focal length, and compare both RGB and Narrowband imaging. (And I was having success in Hubble Palette style narrowband imaging with my DSLR so the statements, that are quite frequent or forums, that NB imaging with a DSLR is a waste of time are simply not true IMHO). Thanks in advance. MG
  20. MarsG76
    Still makes it the first completed image of the season....
  21. MarsG76
    The Witchhead - IC2118 9-15 Jan 2021

    From the album: Deep Sky Astrophotography

    The Witch Head Nebula, aka IC2118 & NGC1909 in the constellation Orion, near the star Rigel. This object is very large in the sky, being 3°×1°, so I had to use my smallest telescope to deliver the wide angle and low power needed to image all of the "Witches" profile. This is a very difficult object to image using a DSLR, and a dark sky is needed to capture it in it's full glory. I thought that I'd give it a go with my DSLR, and see what I end up with... I'm happy that the end result in my image shows the shape of the "Witch Head" but I think that the overall image will not be winning any awards. This image has been exposed through a 80mm refractor @ 500mm FL, using my cooled and full spectrum modded DSLR for a total exposure time of 12 hours and 34 minutes, in a semi-rural, Bortle 5 (maybe 4) sky.

    © Mariusz Goralski

  22. MarsG76
    M78/NGC2068 6-11 Feb 2021

    From the album: Deep Sky Astrophotography

    I managed to bag another object, this time the reflection Nebula M78 in the constellation Orion. I was planning to capture natural color subs than add some HAlpha and OIII narrowband data to emphesize the image details and reveal deeper matter, but after processing the OSC/RGB subs, I decided that adding the narrowband data is not necessary. This image was taken across two nights (juggling clouds), 6th and 11th February, and I managed to capture 3 hours and 18 minutes worth of useful subs (21x60 sec, 19x120 sec, 18x180 and 17 x 300 second subs). The telescope used was a 80mm refractor, at 500mm FL using my full spectrum modded and cooled 40D DSLR.

    © Mariusz Goralski

  23. MarsG76
    Hello all, I managed to bag another object, this time the reflection Nebula M78 in the constellation Orion. I was planning to capture natural color subs than add some HAlpha and OIII narrowband data to emphesize the image details and reveal deeper matter, but after processing the OSC/RGB subs, I decided that adding the narrowband data is not necessary. This image was taken across two nights (juggling clouds), 6th and 11th February, and I managed to capture 3 hours and 18 minutes worth of useful subs (21x60 sec, 19x120 sec, 18x180 and 17 x 300 second subs). The telescope used was a 80mm refractor, at 500mm FL using my full spectrum modded and cooled 40D DSLR. Clear Skies, MG
  24. MarsG76
    First image of the season, and what a way to start a season.... well done.
  25. MarsG76
    Excellent image.. something to be proud of...
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