UberStar

4 minutes ago, geeklee said:

Start with this 👍🙂

50mm will be a big jump in FOV again.  The NAN (NGC 7000) will be small.  If you have the clear skies, perhaps try both lenses and see what you get.  Just try and maximise the amount of data you capture - if that's possible.

I found an example on Astrobin with a modified DSLR and 50mm lens.  Even at that speed and FOV, things are faint.

https://www.astrobin.com/119548/?page=3&nc=user

Good luck!

Thank you for the advise

I also have a unmodded Nikon D750 with a 300mm Lens so i may give that a go instead but its again a min F5.6 but i will try the more data theory and see how it goes tonight

Really appreciate the advise  

I have just checked and on the light polution map i use its coming in as a bortle 3 and my Lens was at 5.6 as its lowest i can go at 110mm

Im guessing a lower F number longer exposures and many many more images would get better results from what you are saying ?

Sorry for the image if it was bad i really am new to this so i will search more guides before trying to edit next time

I will go try the North America Nebula tonight with my 50mm at 1.8 and see what this produces, hopefully i will end up with something decent as i can do longer exposures with the reduced lens size so no star trailing.

4 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Hi, for sharing in a post saving your tiff to jpeg makes it easier to see and get comments, especially if mobile browsing. 

No all nebulas are the same, for example orion m42 is bright and can be captured with an unmodified camera but the heart and soul are I think strong with ha so less easy to show up with a unmodified camera. There are many targets up there to aim at and you've got the double cluster in your image.

Thank you for the reply i understand a bit better now  so i chose a hard to capture nebula with unmodified camera. I will do some research and find ones that are much like M42 and go from there.

I changed to jpg also, thank you for the suggestion.

Hi GeekLee

My A7iii is not astro modified yet. My settings were iso 800, it was only 5 stacked images as i had to set off home but they were 2mins 30seconds long on a star adventurer and the skies were very dark it was in mid wales with little to no light polution in that area. I am very confused as i see other astrophotographers on youtube and they make it look so easy when editing the images and out pops a nebula on unmodified cameras so i was getting real confused why i can not do the same but with the CLS filter it works great although produces too much red and i have to set the custom white balance with a grey card when i have the filter installed and it sets it around 9000K

Here is a stacked image with the CLS filter below but i am still confused as to why in a very dark sky my camera is barely picking up nebula without the filter ?

Hi all

Been trying with astrophotography for past couple months now and not having much luck with my images, I was convinced it was my skys so went and purchased a CLS filter for my sony A7iii and went to a semi dark sky and was amazed i could actually see the heart and soul nebula right on my camera screen but when i use the camera with no filter i am struggling to bring out the nebula. I went to wales last night and really dark skies got a few pictures and stacked them with no filter and can not bring out detail. I am sure its something i am doing wrong and want to be reasured its me and my editing so was wondering if anyone could have a quick go and see if you can bring any detail out in the image attached to this post ? It would be greatly appreciated and would allow me to then problem solve what i am doing worng. 

Heart&SoulNebulaNoCLS.tif

Thank you for the replies all i will try to use flat frames next time and yes the moon was out about half moon showing so i will wait some time and try some without and see what happens with some flats. I can see this can be quite unforgiving but trying to stick with it.

Nikon D750 with 300mm lens but i can take images on any of my lenses and they look like this when auto stretched.

Tracked on star adventurer pro in a bortle 5 - 6 with ISO 400 for 80 seconds at f10 for better star rounding as wide open the stars are not so great

Like i say i can take this on a 50mm prime and still end up with some red distored stuff in my images. 

So most nebula images i take end up link the following picture

This is about 40 x 80 second  images stacked in Sequator then i tried to auto stretch the image in pixingight and also manual in photoshop but they end up turning out roughly the same.

Sensor noise ? I am really unsure what im doing so wrong. I am new to this so please any advice would be welcomed.

Hi guys thank you for the replies

I have finally got the horse head nebula after quite some time and in a bortle 4, i will continue with the advice given by you all and hopefully on the next  clear night will have some results.

Just took an untracked image from my back door for 90 seconds on D750 on 50mm lens at F3.5 and ISO at 620 and you can see how bright the sky looks its almost like a blue sky,  the WB is set to auto mind you but i think this is stilla little bright to capture nebula ?

750_5287.NEF

Thank you

Hoping for an hour tonight so i'll try what you say and hopefully have results soon.

1 minute ago, dannybgoode said:

For most nebulae you need exposure times in the minutes not seconds. When you say the images are washed out if you expose for longer than 20” what are you viewing them in? Are they auto-stretched etc?

What are your other camera settings? RAW or jpeg, are you definitely in full manual mode etc?

 

Hi Danny

Im in RAW+Fine

The images are just viewed through the camera after taking the images, the sky just looks too bright, i think its maybe a little light polution but have seen others taking nebula images through light polution in as higher and higher bortles than im in.

I guess i should maybe up the F number to 4 or 5 and aim for around a 90secondds to 2mins and decrease my iso to around 200 and then try to auto strecth through Pixinsight ?

Hi all

I am very new to astrophotography and the best i have done before is a nice shot of orion nebula but thats quite easy for a newcomer i think.

Trying to move onto other nebula and have tried numerious times to get the heart and soul nebula but each time i try to develop through Sequator then PS or Pixinsight i am not bringing any red out whatsoever and i am stumped as to why ?

I am using a Nikon D750 unmodded and tried various lenses even going down to 50mm prime lens that i 100% know i am getting the nebula im my images as double checking through Stellarium and all the stars match up but like i say i get no nebula im my images.

My settings are 20 seocnd exposures on a star adventurer pro tracker. If i go any longer than 20 seconds i find my images look washed out like the exposure is too high. I am shooting on F3.2 with around 400 ISO.

Im n a 5 Bortle in cheshire area of the UK.

Do i need light polution filters, longer exposures and higher F stop with lower ISO ?  Or is it simply i need to get under darker skys ? I really dont want to spend out £200 on clip in filters if i can help it if i can get away with changing a few settings or if someone has some wise advise for a beginner please ?

I figured it out, it was not listed anywhere that i could find. So my reticle. was spinning on its x properly it was just not straight with the 0 pointing noth it was more just off north towards north east ish, but if you unscrew the magnifier out and look close inside you see 2 notches and you can get your thumb nail in there and twist the cap off the reticle. and then twist the reticle. with your finger until you have it straight and then you can calibrate properly from there. Wish i had done a video to explain a bit better but its the best way i can explain.

I have recenly purchased a skywatcher adventurer pro 2i and followed advice on youtube how to polar allign, so i founda guy on youtube who went into some details to make sure the 0 was pointing directly up and the 6 directly south (link to video)

So when i do this method in his youtube video and set my dial to between 10 and 11 my scope is slightly out its is more wonky to the right like in this link 

Is there a way to twist the scope to the left slightly so it all matches up ?

My tripod is leveled and so i know this is not the issue its 100% the scope or the inners of the scope.

I hope i have explained this correctly for someone to understand.

Hi all

Firstly i hope i am in the right section

I have recently go into astrophotography after watching many videos i have been inspired to get a zoom lens to get some DSO images of nebula and galaxy

I have purchased the 100-400 sony GM and am quite happy with it but now wondering if i made the right choice. I do have a timeframe that i can do an exchange for the 200-600mm and was wondering if anyone had experience with either of these lenses and what one would benefit me more ?

Personally i am thinking of echanging it for thr 200-600mm but not sure if that has any issues with CA and such ? Giving that its £400 cheaper than what the 100-400 is i am thinking it would be a bettr move then i would have that extra reach ?

I dont travel much and so the weight and size is not an issue for me alt all.

I would appreciate any opinions

Paul.

I think its working

Thank you so much all. Will take this for a quick test.

Wolfie i see your videos i am sure i am subscibed just did not see your videos on this mount, just you debunking the FE's  i will take your advice when i get a little more cash.

Hi Helen

This should help i hope

Sorry for the noob question but i am totally new to this but how do i get the firmware to the mount ? I have only the app to let me connect and i do not have any extra cables.

Thanks.

Hi all

First time here so please forgive me if this question has been asked or i post in the wrong section. I have done some google seraches but can not find the answer.

I just purchased a Skywatcher Az-Gti and i am trying to mount a Nikon P1000 to it with the Skywatcher Dovetail L-Bracket, when i try to align the mount with the SynScan app facing north, my mount starts to track down towards mars but mars is up. I can clearly tell that the camera wants spining around so that it is towards the left side of the mount but my bracket is too small to fit the camera on the oposite way. Is there a way to make the mount flip so i can use the camera as if it was on the right side of the mount ? Sorry if that sounds confusing its the best way i can explain my problem without images.

Many thanks for any help in advance.