wesdon1

@Simone_DB Hi again Simone. My friend, I don't have time to go into detail, as there is a lot to answer here, but i'll do my best! One big issue that stands out to me is you say you used NR for Lights? If yes, DON'T. All the NR is done in post processing with Photoshop, Lightroom or whichever astro-processing software you choose to use! ( as a side note, I too found Siril a headache to use, so I gave up eventually! I use Photoshop now! ) Plus, the NR settings will potentially negatively affect your ability to manipulate/process the light frames in post processing ( it might actually be the reason you couldn't get Siril or photoshop to work with those Lights Files?? ) Your light frames should be taken with your DSLR settings in RAW, NO NR, white balance set to "auto" or "daylight", Metering Mode set to "evaluative", picture Style set to "standard" and your shutter set to "Bulb" ( I recall you are already experienced with daytime photography so I am sure you will know how to set all these settings ) 1 - In astrophotography it's always a balancing act between getting as long an exposure as possible to maximise signal to noise ratio, while also avoiding light pollution effects and star trailing. In your individual circumstances that could mean anything from 5 seconds exposures to 10 minutes exposures! Then we want to get as many of those long exposures as possible to stack and process later on in post processing. 2 - Yes Dark frames need to be shot with matching ISO, exposure length and crucially at the exact same temperature. It is actually rather difficult to match DSLR dark frames temperature to Lights temperature, so some people myself included ) don't bother using them! With a dedicated cooled astro camera, you can easily match the temps with the settings in the software you use with them! 3 - I'm sorry but I can't adequately answer this question because I don't use my cameras histogram for lights, I simply do my Flat frames 5-9 seconds, depending on whether the daytime sky is cloudy, totally blue or something in the middle, like scattered clouds. I must point out though, this is just what personally seems to work for me, other people might well disagree with my methods! Sorry! 4 - Bias frames are simply the fastest shutter speed possible, in preferably a darkish room at home, with lens cap on but also crucially cover your cameras viewfinder with black Sellotape/insulating tape! People forget that stray light can find it's way through here and onto your cameras sensor! I really wish I could have gone into more detail but as you will learn with experience in this hobby, there is a LOT to learn and there are so many variables depending on a multitude of factors, that to write it all down you'd end up with a short novel for an answer!! haha! ( that is the reason why in my first message to you, I recommended you start watching Astrophotography YouTube videos, you will learn so much faster actually seeing a person doing whatever it is they are talking about, which you won't get with just the written word! ) Best Of Luck Simone! Wes

@Simone_DB Oh well thats a huge advantage you have, already having experience with cameras/photography! Hopefully you'll find solutions in Lightroom for image aberrations my friend! best of luck with your new journey in photography. Astrophotography is a steep learning curve but it really is so rewarding when you reach little milestones! Clear Skies! Wes.

I'm STILL trying mate!! LOL. I have had my DSLR camera set up on my camera tripod, staring at the area of sky where Moon is, waiting for a gap in clouds, but it's just not happening mate! So frustrating! LOL. Lovely pic you got yourself mate! Regards, Wes, Liverpool

@Cosmic Geoff Jeff i was/am gutted, because i was hoping to get some lovely daytime images of the Moon and Venus but YET AGAIN the damn clouds stopped me!

@Simone_DB Hi and welcome Simone! Beautiful pics Simone! Much better than i managed my first time taking pics of space! In answer to first question - I am 99.99% sure that your camera sensor is absolutely fine and does not need cleaning. What appears to be happening in your pics is a phenomena known as "Vignetting". i would suggest you google "Vignetting" to learn more about the causes and the solutions second question - There seems to be a combination of 2 things happening here...Vignetting and light reflections causing parts of your pics to have brighter patches. Light reflections can often be caused by light pollution from street lights, household lights, even stary moon light can cause this. I would strongly suggest you start watching YouTube videos about Astrophotography, because you will learn so much in a much shorter time than if you were only reading up about the hobby. here are some great suggestions for YouTube Astrophotography channels... *Astrobackyard *The narrowband Channel *Astrobiscuit *Small optics and there are many many more great Astrophotography channels besides the above YouTube channels I have suggested. best of lick Simone! and remember, this website is also a brilliant resource for advice and inspiration! Clear Skies, wes.

@ProfessorPhreak Hi and a warm welcome to SGL. You are in the best place for advice and inspiration my friend! Clear Skies from Liverpool, England.

@lunator I was trying to get some 90 sec videos of Saturn and Jupiter last night but the damn fireworks locally by my home, combined with a lot of smoke/haze, made it too difficult to get decent video data. I don't want to be a kill-joy but those damn fireworks get on my nerves! Thanks goodness it only happens for a few days once a year! 🤨

@IB20 Apparently Starlink are planning on eventually having 10's of K's of sats carpeting the entire world night skies/skies? If true, astrophotography will be a LOT harder in years hence? We will probably be able to use some special editing software to remove all the sat trails from subs? Hope so...😕 Wes.

@Mr Spock In relation to the UK weather these last few months...PLEEEASE don't get me started!! GRRRR!! ( Hahaha! We have to laugh otherwise we'd go nuts here in the UK of late! LOL ) "clear" skies...lol

Yes I almost bought a ready modded DSLR camera from Astronomiser myself, but in the end I couldn't justify owning 3 DSLR cameras, so I opted for modding one of my existing DSLR's and was super happy with the results! Wes

@Nikolai De Silva Hi Nikolai. I would suggest you point the polar axis straight up at the zenith ( above your head ) and use the scope in an Alt/Azimuth configuration. After all, you are doing visual astro, so perfect polar alignment really isn't necessary. You have a fantastic little 'scope there and you will see a lot of cool objects with it ( local light pollution allowing, ofcourse! ) Just use it as an alt/az setup and start finding your way around the sky, if possible using a mobile phone planetarium app to help you find things. Best of luck my friend! Wes, England

@carastro Yes he's still going, and he did a perfect job on my DSLR Caroline. His service was also really cheap, just £95 with return postage included, I can't find fault with the guy. I'm planning on getting another DSLR camera modified so I always have a back up camera! Wes.

@callisto Tbh Callisto i actually tried Juan ( CheapAstronomy ) but couldn't find him myself? That's when i looked into astronomiser, contacted him, and got it sorted through him. Maybe Juan isn't doing them no more? I honestly don't know mate?

LOL sorry for coming in here, but I just laughed when you two were talking about the "slippery slope" and "crazy expensive" this hobby can get! It really can get silly expensive! LOL. And no matter how expensive your latest gear was, you're always eyeing up the next big purchase! ( or should that be "Big Boys Toy!? LOL ) I must say though, it's so rewarding when you get new gear outside and get your first, second, third etc light and start seeing improvements in your images! On the first proper 'scope one, mine was a belter little 114mm aperture Newtonian Reflector (Skywatcher 114/500), and I'll never forget the first time I saw Jupiter through it! Incredible! And I haven't looked back since! Wes.

@callisto I sent mine away to Astronomiser. He's done a perfect job for me

@nickp87 Hi and welcome! You're in the best place for support and advice with all aspects of this ace hobby! Clear Skies from Wes, Liverpool

@WolfieGlos Hi Chris! So sorry for late reply, I've not managed to get on here for a few days. Yes like you i never truly appreciated what a difference the astro-mod would make, despite reading tons about it on here and other places online. Plus just like you I waited around 1 full year before taking the plunge, so to speak! And yes the L-Enhance filter is awesome, I love mine and have a lot of works planned with it in the coming months! Thanks Chris! Clear Skies! Wes

@Albir phil Aww Thanks Phil! I'm buzzing with my new toy!

@Albir phil Thanks Phil, that's a very good point. It's not helpful constantly comparing myself to other much more experienced imagers, it just makes me not appreciate my own progress. Thanks mate.

@Albir phil Thanks phil. yes it's massively improved my camera mate. When I get better at processing i'll start producing really nice images hopefully!

@Ags yes I had obviously read and been told about how much Ha light/red colours the unmodded DSLR's cut out but it wasn't until i actually used my modified camera that it really struck me just how much ha it's been blocking! I was amazed!

Hi all. So last night I managed my first ever session with my newly modded Canon EOS 600D DSLR camera, and I literally could not believe my eyes when I saw the first 3 minute sub!! I was also using the Optolong L-Enhance Filter. The difference that the modification to camera made was astounding. I have been doing astrophotography for just over 1 year with a normal unmodded DSLR and I never realised just how much of the red Ha data that an unmodded DSLR was blocking until i got it modded. If there is ONE THING I would advise any newbie to imaging, it's GET YOUR DSLR camera astro-modded asap! I only managed just under 1 hour total integration, but I estimate i'd have needed about 3 hours data to gather the same amount of Ha signal with my unmodded camera!? Plus the contrast between the Ha and the background night sky is massively improved, and alongside the L-Enhance filter, it just makes your data sooo much cleaner and easier to process in post! Obviously my post processing leaves a lot to be desired still, but i'm just buzzing with excitement about what's possible with my new setup!! *Canon DSLR astro-modded *SW HEQ5 Pro mount *Optolong L-Enhance Filter *Altair Lightwave 66/400ED Refractor *ZWO ASI 120MM for guiding with PHD2 *48 minutes total integration ( clouds...again! lol ) *Lights - 16 x 180sec *Flats - 15 x 9sec *Bias - 15 x 1/4000th sec *No darks ( difficult to match sensor temperature with DSLR cameras ) *I wasn't sure which image to post on here. They're both exact same image, just slightly different post processing. I will obviously get better with processing with more experience )

@tooth_dr Incredibly detailed, colour and contrast rich, stunning image! This has to be one the best DSO images I've seen to date! May I ask, what Bortle scale you achieved this in? Utterly stunning image my friend!

@vlaiv Hi again Vlaiv. Thank you so much for such a detailed and helpful response. Youy really know your craft! I will take on board everything you've educated me about and put that new knowledge into practice. Again thank you so much Vlaiv, I really do appreciate yours and everyone else's help and education, I'd be lost without these forums! As a side note, I do plan to invest in either a large mak' cass' with a minimum 150mm aperture, or a medium sized SCT of around 200mm to 250mm'ish aperture, specifically for my planetary work. I've seen incredible planetary works produced with these optical systems, they seem made for planetary and very small DSO's, and I've never actually own either type of optical system, so I very much look forward to getting one in the coming months. Clear Skies to Vlaiv and all who contributed!

@knobby Hi knobby, and thank you for your help and advice. Yes i forgot to mention the pixel scale part of the equation, sorry! That was one of the other major reasons I wanted to use higher power Barlow's, to achieve better pixel scale and F-number. I will give the 3X barlow a shot with the 224MC and see how I fare, thanks. Just one other question, if I may, please Knobby? Would you recommend I decrease the ROI around the Planet so my images/frames are more "zoomed in" to the Planet, so to speak? Does decreasing the ROI until it's tight around the Planet increase contrast/detail/surface detail etc?