Paul2019

Heres my first proper image of M31 40 x 30sec Lights 50 x Bias 20 x Darks No flats Canon 400d - 300mm FL - star adventurer I definitely overdid the processing once or twice, I have settled on this for now considering its only twenty minutes of data. I would really appreciate feedback on how I could improve it

Turns out it was just me being thick, heres a very roughly processed M31 i took tonight @300mm FL

I missed this one, I think you may be right, but testing this evening will determine this I reckon. Pictures to follow later on

I don't think it's zoom creep or the mirror but it's possible I guess, I'm using a hefty mafrotto tripod. I did have another play with it in daylight and seems that to achieve focus on a distant (2 miles away) object that I have to hit infinity and twerk it back just a fraction, something I didn't try last night. So possibly me just being daft in actually getting focus. If it clears tonight I'll get some images to show what's happening Great link, thanks!

Using manual focus, works fine in daylight. When I up the FL it feels like it needs to go past infinity, The stars are very very bloated and clearly out of focus. But at the lowest FL its fine? Is it a dodgy lens or am I screwing it up somehow?

Recently I bought a new lens for my 400D, its a tamron 70-300mm. I finally had a chance to try it out last night and I could achieve focus @ 70mm, this was at the infinity mark. If i add anymore length to the lens (i.e 135mm +) i couldnt acheive focus. Any ideas what im doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any help

This is noise, easily removed with Darks

Just going to throw it out there, recently I had this issue with my stacks when using no tracking. Turns out the issue was me moving the camera in between subs, I took 3 sets of 30 subs and moved the camera in between each set. If I stacked all the sets, or 2 of 3 the stars weren't correctly aligned but if I stacked only one set then it was fine. Maybe its something similar?

Well, today was the day that my package from FLO arrived. Despite the box clearly explaining there may be clouds within, the weather gods allowed me a night to play. I ordered a SAM mount and I am truly amazed at the difference in my widefield shots since. Tonight I decided to reattempt some widefield of the andromeda region of Pegasus (is it the same constellation?) and got some cracking data as follows: 50 x 30s lights @ ISO400 25 x Bias 20 x Darks No Flats I use a Canon 400d (not astro modded) 50mm aperture Processed in GIMP There's some obvious issues with the right side, which I attribute to my cheapo kit lens, but i have a 70 - 300 due any day now and cant wait to see what I can get with that. You can clearly see M31 in this one and if you zoom right in and marvel a little you can also spot M101, its definitely a major improvement on my last untracked attempt. As always your thoughts and critics are welcomed, although I'm thinking now that developing an easy way to get some flats will be the next step. Thanks Paul

Hey, Yeah 8secs is about the longest I can go without trails, I did some work on the milky way last night, aiming at sadir @ 18mm. Tried 25secs but it's probably too long. I also think I haven't put enough / anywork into processing. Good news is I have a 70-300 lens and star adventurer on order

Stunning!

Hi guys, Been a while, havent taken the camera outside for what feels like an eternity. So tonight was the night and I whacked it out and took a few minutes of data on M31, I dont have much in the way of gear so this was taken using a canon 400d (unmodded) and tripod. 20 x 8 sec subs plus 10 x darks, processed very slightly in GIMP. As ever feedback is appreciated, hoping to get some gear soon but Ill keep at it!

Awesome! What gear did you use?

Wow, thanks for the in depth reply. So my understanding is that the noise is going to limit my image and there will become a point where noise is too great? So does that mean with each additional light the noise will increase? or have I got my wires crossed somewhere? Its all so confusing. I was going to aim for around 3 hours or 1350 Lights @ 8 secs, I think it will be really interesting to compare short exposures on a short focal length compared to longer as I dont really know if there will be any difference at all. It would be amazing to image barnards loop but I feel thats not going to happen with 8 second subs. Another question I had was would I see a significant increase in quality if I were to buy a fixed focal length lens? I was debating a 50mm F/2.8 but obviously my current priority is to get some form of tracking (Hopefully an HEQ5, but I'm torn between this and the NEQ6)

Hi All, Just getting my self back into the swing of things and getting back onto some widefield with my DSLR (350D) and a tripod, Using the kit lens at 50mm F/5.6. I can manage about 8secs before I get trails. Obviously I am aware that longer subs are better than shorter ones and that a larger number of shorter ones wont provide the same image as the same amount of exposure time in larger subs. But is there a limit to the number of subs I can stack? I.e will 200 subs be too many? How about 2000? Where will I hit the limit of what is practical? I am planning on collecting some data around Orion and although the nebula is visible in 8secs, I want to try and get a bit more from it. I am awaiting this whole mess to be over so I can put and order in for a HEQ5 but for now it will have to do. But heres 3 minutes unprocessed from the other night, Thanks in advance

Yikes! Good luck with fixing it, I love my 450d even if it is old!

Its a long term problem for me! I'm hopelessly colour blind so I tend to be qyite conservative with colour otherwise my processing just tends to go blue! Heres another try (With Colours, too blue I think)

Thats amazing, maybe I should get one instead of an ED80 🤔

Hello! Looks like you have also fallen into the black hole of imaging. I dont know anything about reflectors as I am strictly a refractor man but what I do know (think I know) is that you wont nees a flatner with the reflector but may benefit from a coma corrector. My advice would be stick it on the end and give it a whirl, see what happens and enjoy!

So for starters you wont want to be using your phone for any serious photography and you would find little use with a 5x barlow too. For serious AP you will wamt either a DSLR or CMOS camera with a fast scope and a very decent mount to match. I would suggest you start with a decent visual svope such as a 6" dobsonian reflector which will cost significantly less than even a mount capable of AP and you could always have a go at some prime focus with your phone through the eye piece. In terms of eye pieces, start with the kit ones and the have a read up on thia forum to better understand magnification and the limits of both your chosen scope and the current seeing, more magnification is not always better. It may also be a good idea to have a read of the article on here entitled what can I expect to see? as most images you likely have viewed are hours of data that are highly processed not what people see through the eye piece. Hope this all helps. Paul

I hope you dont mind as I am trying to learn to improve my processing, so I had a go I also then tried to add more saturation to bring out more colour but it didnt bring much of anything out

Through an attempt to improve my processing with no data, what do you think?

Well as we are in lockdown and I'm looking to get back to things, I thought I would have a go

Very nice, i plan tonuse the same tripod with my zenithstar 66 sd once it arrives until i can afford and heq5

Ok so here it goes, This is my fifth ever picture that I have taken and I'm fairly impressed with it so I thought I would chance it. Its 29 x 20s subs @ ISO 400 from my backgarden under dark skies. Using a Canon 400d on a tripod, no tracking mounts or guiding here . Kit lens @ 18mm f5.6. The image shows Lyra and some of Cygnus and some of Hercules and some of the milky way. It was taken tonight and processed in photoshop. Your critisms are welcomed as well as suggestions on how to improve. Thanks Paul