Nigel G

@Ken Mitchell You have captured a beautiful image, and a great bonus capture of PGC 13696. 315 million LY's away.

10 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

... another one bites the dust!

I think the point of this thread has been achieved. Those who say that an EQ3 mount is unsuitable for astrophotography are demonstrably talking rubbish.

It's an ideal route into learning the ropes with the expectation of being able to get images you can genuinely be proud of.

Having now got a little experience with the HEQ5 I can honestly say that the differences are chiefly that the EQ3 needs more frequent tweaking, as it is less tolerant of being out of adjustment than the HEQ5, particularly in DEC, and that the aluminium tripod is inferior to the stainless steel type.

The EQ3, on a steel tripod, matched with an astro-modded camera and a 130P-DS is a relatively affordable and rewarding route into deep sp[ace astrophotography.

Its a great thread, visual proof that the EQ3 is worthy of excellent images. And hopefully will continue to guide other EQ3 users.

There will be others along. I have sold my EQ3 now so can't post new images, spent the money on a 200PDS  

So a few of my favourite EQ3 images for the thread too. 

Nige.

With Star Tools, are you binning at least 50%. It will run very slow without binning unless you have a powerful computer.

Just a thought.

On 01/06/2018 at 00:02, Goldigger said:

Is there certain features that I should he lookong for in a DSLR, pixels, CMOS type/size, extended ISO, F stop?

Have noticed that the canons can be controlled from an Android device. Which will make taking hundred of snaps easier without bumping the scope.

Canon EOS 1300D?

I have a standard Canon EOS 1300D, not a bad camera, not great when it comes to long exposures over 5 minutes  quite noisy but that can be dealt with during stacking and processing. Can be fully controlled by tablet, phone or PC by usb or wifi.

Find and disable long exposure noise reduction on Canon cameras if you get one  

Nige.

On 29/05/2018 at 09:38, Goldigger said:

Sorry if it's been covered in the 124 pages already. 

Any recommendations on a new DSLR please?

Of the people I know and images they have produced, I'd say Nikon D5100 is a great choice, very low noise and quite sensitive to red light, compared to my Canons.

Nige.

21 hours ago, emyliano2000 said:

Saturday night I went for the Sadr region in Ha with a Canon 200mm f2.8 stopped at f4

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. 24x600sec ISO1600 with my canon 600d full spectrum modified. I'm loving this little mount. Subarcsecond guiding, couldn't belive it.

 

Stunning !

3 hours ago, Peco4321 said:

My take on M13, almost exactly the same composition as yours @Nigel G  

90 x 50 seconds ISO 1600 plus 20 darks and 20 bias, no flats. I love clusters, they seem to give so much, especially without flats. Couple of bonus galaxies as well.

 

Nice Peter, you have caught more stars in the cluster. Good job

Nige.

2 hours ago, emyliano2000 said:

 

This is the result I got from that night of testing the mount with PHD2

Unfortunately my dslr was runing at 28C as the whole setup has been sitting all day in the sun, under a telescope cover. Big mistake.

This is all I could process out of it.

 

 

Its a lovely looking image, nice and clean. 

A very good guiding graph too  

Nige.

3 hours ago, Filroden said:

Nice cluster! Did you take any shorter exposures for the core? If not, amazing amount of detail resolved for 6 min exposures.

Will be interested to hear how the move to the bigger mount goes and what extra it gives you (other than a bad back!).

Thanks Ken, All lights were 6 minutes. Star tools HDR works wonders on globular clusters, although if you zoom in close you see its not that sharp to be honest.

I have had 1 try with the new mount, not good seeing but just wanted to get it guiding to see how it performed. PHD2 has an easy job now  I'm also doing the Rowan belt modification to it. It is heavy but I only need to move it 10ft to set up & after our house move this year, it will have a permanent position. I am amazed how quiet it is when slewing too.

4 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Wow im pretty impressed with how many actual stars you have resolved!

Im also looking hard at other mounts at the moment, but still saving up.

Cheers  keep saving.

Nige.

Probably my last post of an image here although I will always be a follower. I have moved to the darker side of EQ mounts. NEQ6. Its a smooth beast.

M13 80ED 30x360s ISO 800, darks flats and bias. 1300D. Stacked in DSS64bit processed in Startools. 

Had problems with the new DSS, would not stack a good result. Turns out a windows update was needed.

How about that for a bit of EQ3 work. 

All about space mag.

Shame they didn't mention that bit, but I'm chuffed to bits  

3 images published.

Nige.

17 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Well a long time since I posted anything here, but not because I haven't been dabbling, I just haven't been satisfied with the results I was getting.

The last 6 months I have used a dark corner at the back of my house for my imaging spot, but it has a very limited view of the sky.

This has been problematic for me, in getting lots of time on an object, and in finding objects to image as a whole.

 

I have now moved to a new spot in front of my house, I have built some screens to take the worst of the direct light from my neighbouring building (a small cinema).

Coupled with a "new" 2nd hand astro modified EOS 600D, a CLS-CCD clip in filter I feel like I can now enjoy AP a little more, while I save up for en HEQ5.

The new camera does not like the BPP script in PixInsight at all, but if I follow a manual workflow the results are decent.

 

Here is last weekends efforts on The Rosette Nebula:

It's not perfect, but I feel like it is my best work yet. I would love to add more data to it, but it is getting low in the sky now.

 

 

Stunning image, great detail and depth, well done. 

I haven't posted here for a while due to clouds, its over 6 weeks since my last imaging session, in that time there has been 1 night where it was clear but I was unable to setup and image.

I'm saving for a HEQ5 and Astro CMOS camera, but thinking if I spend £2000 for a hand full of nights that are clear in a year ???

If I get a mono, will I ever get a full set of data ???

6 hours ago, matt_baker said:

 

Celestron 130SLT, Mirror moved 2 inches up the OTA, Nikon D3200

Took this just last night. It was clear enough for me to stay out there for a couple of hours.

This time I took 85 lights @ 15 seconds, 800 ISO, 15 dark's and 20 offset frames totalling for about 20 minutes exposure

Stacked them in deepskystacker and processed in startools, although unfortunately I couldn't save the file due to me not having the full licence.

I've just ordered an intervalometer so I don't have to press my quick release shutter every time.

Just one question: When the camera takes the 15 second exposure, it will take another 15 seconds for me to be able to press the shutter again. Is this due to the camera processing and is there anyway to cut that time down?

 

Thanks all,

Matt

 

Very nice image, nice core.

I think the reason for your camera taking the same time to process the shot is because you have long exposure noise reduction switched on, you need to locate this on your camera and turn it off. There will be instructions on the web how to find and deactivate it

Nige.

A result from last nights amazingly normal guiding  just 44 minutes. 11 x 240s ISO800. Modified 1200D and CLS filter.

Clouds stopped play. Hopefully continue tonight.

M81 - M82 & NGC 3077.

Nige.

18 minutes ago, Filroden said:

That's about 3 times better than I'm getting out of the AVX at its best!

 Hi Ken.

Its all an elusion. 

I had setup a new profile in PHD2 for EQmod, just changing the mount from on camera to EQ and saved as new profile. 

I used that profile changing back to on camera last night. PHD had thought this to be a completely new profile and had not carried the guidecam and scope details over.

Once the clouds came I investigated the cause, switching back to my original profile the graph was normal, peaks to 4" but the guiding was the same regardless of which profile I used. So I might keep using the new one as it looks so good LOL.

Nige.

I wonder if PHD2 has made a new profile and needs the guidescope FL and cam sensor size etc ?

Would having the wrong info or no info in that department be the reason.

20 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Wow! Certainly not what im getting at the moment.. Did you sacrifice many goats to get such great guiding?

6 minutes ago, mikey2000 said:

!!!! that's amazing!  Interesting that the Dark and Cal indicators (bottom left) are red and yellow.  What does that mean?

 

Seriously though, you have to work out what you did differently and tell everyone.  Are the scales on the graph and scattergram in arcseconds or pixels?

I had connected the mount via EQmod to try pulse guiding but could not get the mount and EQmod to sync correctly so I went back to ST4, in PHD I only changed from EQ to on camera guiding. I am not currently using dark offsets in PHD, and have slewed the mount a bit since calibrating PHD which is probably why cal is yellow and dark is red.

Nige.

How about this for a bit of EQ3 guiding ?

Don't know what I have done but this is great, never had anything like this before.

Nige.

1 hour ago, Art Gecko said:

Don't worry guys, I'll still come visit!! I'm just too lazy to strip down and calibrate the declination gearing on the eq3 for autoguiding... along with modding the handset for the st4 cable... I'm impressed with all your results but it's not for me!! 

New job.. new laptop.. may as well get a new upgraded mount as well.. it's the one I always wanted and I can afford it now!

Good luck Art, go for it  

Nige.

Looking good Neil, liking the Ha filter ?

First go at wide field with my Ha filter.

Not bad considering the poor conditions.

Flaming star region.

22x300s ISO800 with darks, flats & bias.

135mm F3.5 lens.

Cheers.

Nige.

750mm focal length 

One I have been trying to get N/B data on. 

Finally got just over 2 hours Ha 13x600s  Hopefully tonight I can carry on with the OIII, only have 2x600s so far. Might be a bit of cloud dodging tonight though.

Soul nebula & a crop.

I have left a reduced red in the image, I think it looks slightly better but thats my preference  

Nige.

22 minutes ago, MeyGray3833 said:

Sorry, another question.

Can I link to my image as I try to keep all my images in one place or do I need to actually put an image in here?

Thank you.

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/235-imaging-challenge-9-rgb/ 

Just start a new topic in the RGB challenge forum here.  

Further experimenting with darks, a short clear spell Sunday evening allowed me to take 90 minutes of data on the Soul Nebula, I have added some good dark frames too.

So far 9x600s (not enough yet ) ISO 800.  Flats darks and bias.

Certainly reducing the bands which is a positive result.

I also processed a Luminance and a red version then layered them in StarTools which has almost got rid of the bands completely.

At least there are ways to tackle the banding, lucky I like experimenting ☺☺

I have a feeling that the camera is going to survive 

Slight banding visible in the Lum image.

Cheers 

Nige 

1 hour ago, Thalestris24 said:

I hope the problem isn't terminal! Any updates?

Louise

Me too  I have the 1300D to fall back on if it is.

Haven't had the chance to do any more yet, clouds.

But have started a funds box for a new camera, hopefully by next festive season I will be shooting with a proper AP camera. No idea where to start with that but plenty of time to read and research  I did start saving last year, got halfway there and had to use the funds for life's little surprises.

Nige.