davew

Oh thanks. I knew the water was there of course but I didn't know if it would look good or not. Dave.

Most of my attempts to get some motion photos have been thwarted by the weather. I managed to grab this one last month at the Kelling star party and now I've run out of time to do more ! I have a half finished timelapse but that must wait. It's 120 x 30 seconds and produced in Sequator. This has become my favorite bit of software and does almost everything well. It has a star trail feature that seems to work as well as, or even better than, the long established software. Nikon Z6 and Sigma 14mm lens runnimng at f 1.8, ISO 1600. Dave.

Wow. That looks really good. I presume you used a static tripod ? Lovely result from only 15 second frames with your kit lens. They work quite well I see :) Dave.

That's a well presented video with most things covered I think. As a Nikon Z user myself I hope to see some more if you get the urge :) I don't use mine on a scope but only with lenses and not where I need filters. I find the layout of the body way better than any other camera ( DSLR ) I've used. Dave.

Thanks Martin Rumour has it that I walk round with a bucket of water to ensure I get a reflection no matter where I image ! With mosaics I always use the No Parallax Point these days. I get the measurements in my garden at home using two sticks ( ! ) and then transfer that info onto a piece of masking tape that I stuck on the top of my nodal plates. Note the plural. With very wide lenses the long nodal plates can just show so I have a short one specially for the Sigma 14mm. Experience tells me that if mosaics can go wrong then eventually they will. The NPP allows single and multi row stitching without errors showing up. I believe you have a suitable device ( if I remember correctly ) but I have to make the up / down settings by eye. If I'm just doing up and down then I can set the top of the ball head at 90*. I should get a proper multi row pano head ! Dave.

Thanks Carole, It's even darker down there than the main field so if you fancy a go, watch where you walk :) Dave. Cheers Ron, You made it a pleasure to post, Dave.

I do like that car headlamp trail ! Sets the whole thing off nicely. Nice focus and great Milky Way, Dave.

I love this ! The direction of light looks perfect for the memorial and the whole thing is so peaceful. I was wondering ... does the memorial look good from the other side too ? Is there a chance of a really low shot and a clear background sky ? Just don't get a reputation for lying down in grave yards ! Dave.

I wasn't going to post this as I think the best images are already here but that's not the spirit, is it ? Myself and two friends walked down to the fishing ponds at Kelling last month and had a go at the Milky Way. Surprisingly non of us got in the way of the others ! The image was processed as four distinct areas. The Milky Way sky, of course, the water, trees and the yellow bush to the right. Trying to process the image in one sweep messed some areas up as others improved. The yellow bush is blurred due to a slight breeze that was blowing and wouldn't tighten up ! The trees had no obvious form to them so they were lightened a bit to show what they were in fact trees ! 10 images shot at 20 seconds each f1.8 ISO 3200 ( not 1600 as I've said elsewhere ! ) on a 14mm Sigma and Nikon Z6. Even at those exposures there was black clipping in the bottom right corner but it didn't matter in the end. All put into my favourite stacking software, Sequator We have two bites at the night sky because much to my surprise, the Milky Way seems to show up in the pond too, Dave.

Nice first light Francis. You really must be quite pleased, Dave.

I did notice the lack of October challenge but assumed, possibly correctly, that the Star Party was taking your time. Is the bulk of the time taken with the voting system ? If so then try the challenges without votes maybe. Or would that just make them normal photo posts ? I enjoy seeing how other people go about these themes and it would be a shame to stop but quite understandable. Dave.

Cheers James, For those that don't know, James is referring to the fact I always forget a vital piece of equipment when ever I go out. Yes, even my camera once ! It is in line with Holt so I used a touch of Orange reduction and it seems to have worked. It is nice down there and very quiet other than the deer and owls :) There was hardly a breath of wind in the trees so the reflections worked very well. Sequator goes from strength to strength. It looks cleaner than both StarStax and Startrails. Thanks Mark, I think some of the stars look brighter than they should because of the very thin cloud up there. I'll be at Kielder so I'm looking forward to seeing you there. Dave.

I've returned from this Autumn's star party and have now done a little processing. Myself and a couple of other campers went down to the fishing ponds in the woods. The weather was ok Thursday and Friday although you can see a few thin high clouds in the images. As I can't see too well at the moment I think I've over done the processing, but it's hard for me to tell ! 🤔 The Milky Way shot is the bottom pond and is 10 x 20 seconds, f 1.8 at ISO 1600. Processed to lift the shadows and sky. The stars are what I feel I've over done. The other straight image is the top pond and more or less the same settings but just 3 subs. Both run through Sequator and even though I only used 3 subs the noise still dropped significantly. The star trail shot is 120 x 30 seconds. This was also run through Sequator as it has a trails and motion feature. It worked out better than the other two main apps I used to use. Sequator doesn't brighten the image as it stacks ( if you don't want it to ) Dave Edit - forgot to say ,,, Nikon Z6 and Sigma 14mm lens

Hi Mark, I don't know of a way to get the raw histogram in camera and as far as I'm aware most cameras are the same. The only way I can suggest you check for clipping is to run your camera at various ISOs and then check. 200 and 400 have been advised in the past and a few in the USA are using the 5300 at low ISO values ( 400 I seem to remember ) But whether it's in a very dark sky or not, I don't remember. I know that my camera is fairly universally recommended to be used at ISO 800 but I found 1600 was better in a dark sky. I found that out by experimenting for a couple of hours Dave.

At ISO 1600 the Photographic Dynamic Range is near 7 stops. At ISO 3200 the PDR is near 6 stops and as the change is quite linear you can soon work out the rest. The read noise change from ISO 1600 and up is fairly flat so no real advantage to increase. One stop of PDR drop sounds significant but I doubt you'll see much difference in real life if you stack your subs. I've tested this on other cameras and the difference doesn't jump out at you. However. If you're using the screen's histogram then remember it is showing the Jpeg conversion histogram and not the Raw. Try a few settings, especially down with the Sony chip, and see what happens in your processing app. Dave.

A similar argument could be put forward re the term " Full frame ". Common usage on this and every other Astro forum is wrong as " Full frame " has nothing to do with the size of chip. The word on the street is that particular ship has sailed and people like me need to get over it 😆 The term crop factor has also sailed so ... Dave.

Agreed ! However I think this guy should be applauded for having the guts to apologise for his mistake and do it very quickly. How many other YouTubers do that ? 😎 Dave

This might sound odd Alan but have a look at some microwavable heat pads that are designed for knees and elbows. Also the wrap round ones that are good for the lower back. They dissipate heat slowly over time and warm the whole body. If you get the lavender scented ones you can look a cool guy and smell gorgeous at the same time 😎 Dave.

Lovely ! You've pulled out one really nice image from all the others. Very skilful. Dave

I think your skill set is quite adequate thank you ! I like the stones and the tree in the middle finishes it off nicely. A good advert for your skies, Dave.

OMG ! That's frightening. I didn't even register that ! Either word blindness or stupidity I imagine the view is incorrect anyway because of the cloning, Dave.

http://nova.astrometry.net/upload Quite simple really. Give it a go, Dave

This thread may give you an idea because it has two examples at the bottom. I do realise you need much more data so try and gather as much as you can. Dave.

Now that just made the image look even better. I take it a rocker is a Dob mount ? The only thing I can suggest is you try and increase the exposure time until you can just start to see some trailing. Every little helps Next, try not to make the background so black. Dave.

Hi Anthony. A quick request, could you give a bit more detail about what equipment you are using ? I can't necessarily help but someone may be using the same gear as you and it would be handy to know. A few setting may help too. Dave.