Simon Pepper

Hi all, I was pushing the exposure time on my tracker the other day with my modded canon 750d (300s) and when I zoomed in on the milky way the stars had this red stuff at the centre of the brighter stars. Even when I put the picture to black and white they are still there. Is this an error in the mod or am I doing something wrong? The lens is a 14mm Samyang. Thanks

I have all my gear on order from FLO and in the process of converting the shed as well! Yours is looking good 👌

Thanks for feedback I will drop the exposure time to see if I can correct for the trailing. Bahtinov is not possible as I have the annoying petal hood thing on the Samyang. Also will play with WB and temp in LR! Thanks all!

Thanks it cost £75 I think so I assume I only paid for the filter to be removed. I was not fussed about autofocus either. Just on the image then any feedback you can give on whether I have perfect focus that will be appreciated. I think it looks ok, but I know some peoples eye is better than mine. Also is this colour expected upon IR removal. The North American nebula again looks as expected I think. Thanks 🙏

Hi all, I recently had my camera Astro modded IR filter removed and I immediately noticed that when attaching my Samyang 14mm the infinity focus was way off. I’m lucky to have two Canons so on the non modded camera the infinity mark works a treat (I am aware some Samyang lenses have poor quality control but mine works fine on non mod). I kind of want to understand if this is expected behaviour after modification? Would the in focus mark be completely different? I used live view in order to make Jupiter as small as possible and captured the attached. I think this was a 4 or 5 minute single exposure. I guess what I want to ask the community is is this in proper focus and also is the purple glow expected cab this be corrected with white balance any advise would be appreciated. Thanks

Thanks Ivor

Thank you I will be sure to get that focus a little better. Thats it then guiding and more exposure time is the way forward Heading over to FLO now for some extra gear!!!

I have the sky guider pro and redcat and have had the same issue! Was out the other night got perfect polar aligned then every time I position my camera to something to shoot it takes ages to locate. Once faffing for thirty minutes and moving it so much I dont dare check my alignment as I bet its completely lost! I think the issue with me is the £60 tripod just doesn't cut it! I got it for lightweight but clearly there is a trade off. Lighter is less sturdy. I wonder if you have the same issue. I agree with Victor ramp up the ISO with a few second exposures to find your target and a maybe try a sturdier tripod. Also I have heard mounting a laser pen on the side can help with direction although I have not tried that yet and be sure to turn it off if planes in the area. I just posted abut some feedback on an imaging session and I could not for the life of me get Andromeda in the centre of the frame I gave up in the end and the resulting image clipped off the smaller galaxies! Thanks

Hi all, I was after some feedback on my image of Andromeda please , but please dont be too harsh. This was my first ever imaging session which I think looks ok, but I have some questions around it to try and improve next time. Firstly the obvious its not centred and as a result I have missed the orbiting smaller galaxies. I had some issues getting it in the middle and eventually gave up as time was ticking. Next time I will get this right! I have attached the stack out of DSS and can see the top and the bottom of the image is darker because its shifted. I noticed while imaging it was slowly moving up. Is this a result of dithering or is this a result of my polar alignment not being perfect? Is my image in focus? This probably seems like a ridiculous question, but I feel I need to ask to me it does look good? Is it noisy could my calibration frames been better? My Photoshop edit appears a little out but I think this is because you need a degree in Photoshop which I dont have and I have really winged this part. Also the image is now in .jpg which has decreased its size. The Photoshop final I feel could have been much better but as I have not used it before I really struggled it looks quite green especially to the bottom left. It was 40 minutes of exposures in total. My ISO was 800 at 90 seconds subs. I used a canon 800d with skyguider pro and redcat. I used 21 darks, 25 flats, 31 bias. Any feedback or tips to try next time will be welcome. Thanks Simon

Hi all, Was wondering if anyone can recommend a good tripod? I spent £70 quid for one off Amazon, but I am already seeing why spending a lot more maybe better. Once polar aligned I dont even trust myself moving the camera too far as its ruins my alignment. I can only assume this is because I was too tight on one of the most important parts! I will be using this for my ioptron skyguider pro and 14mm lens on dslr for Milky Way shots, but I also have the redcat which I will use on it for deeper sky. Ideally I want fairly lightweight as I will be going places as my back garden does not have good nightscape options or long enough exposure time due to other houses and trees. I understand weight and sturdiness is a trade off. Ideally I dont want to break the bank either. Preferably I would just have one tripod, but it maybe that I need a lighter one just for dslr and sturdier one for the redcat? Any ideas would be appreciated. Clear skies! Thanks all.

Beautiful image. I am just starting out and have a 800d with Samyang 14mm lens. I hope I can take a shot like this. Is that Andromeda you have caught on the far right too? Was this 10 images stacked or a pano with 10 stitched? How do you do the stitching?

Hi, Did you ever get to the bottom of this? Thanks

Firstly I am new today, so please be kind I have decided to take up a new hobby and settled with astrophotography after seeing some amazing videos and images on YouTube. I hope I have chosen wisely with the equipment to start me off, so please be gentle in your responses. as I have already bought them. I opted for wide angle (as I heard that was more forgiving) and also wanted to keep it as lightweight and portable as possible as my back garden has a lot of obstructions.. I am aware that this is not going to be easy and there is a lot of commitment involved both with the cold nights, but also at the computer processing the images (darks, flats and bias). What I have bought so far. A sturdy tripod William Optics Redcat 51 Ioptron sky guider pro with ipolar Canon 800d / T7i T48 copper adaptor I have been scowering forums in order to answer a few questions and these are around tracking and guiding. Obviously the more exposures you obtain the better the final result. I often see images taken at say 66 x 2 minutes at a given ISO depending on the brightness of the object. what I am unsure of is will my sky guider be able to handle say these exposures or is this when guiding is required? I keep seeing that with a tracker thats well aligned people are saying they are getting 4/5 minute exposures with no star trails. Does this mean that they are only capturing one image at this length or after 4/5 minutes they close the shutter and can go again after a brief pause to let the sensor cool with the next exposure? I am aware that the iptron has room for guidance, but at 5kg payload I need to be careful with weight. Also as I mentioned I want to keep the weight down for portability. Also I think baby steps are better for a complete novice like me. Any help would be much appreciated. Clear skies!

Hi, Just one I picked up off Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07VMLFVRC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I also have a celestron nexstar mount I can use. Thanks

Thanks for the reply and I will be sure to check out those books. I am still unsure on the exposures so I will post this again to see if I get some more reply's. Thanks again!

Hi Everyone, Firstly I am new today, so please be kind I have decided to take up a new hobby and settled with astrophotography after seeing some amazing videos and images on YouTube. I hope I have chosen wisely with the equipment to start me off, so please be gentle in your responses. as I have already bought them. I opted for wide angle (as I heard that was more forgiving) and also wanted to keep it as lightweight and portable as possible as my back garden has a lot of obstructions.. I am aware that this is not going to be easy and there is a lot of commitment involved both with the cold nights, but also at the computer processing the images (darks, flats and bias). What I have bought so far. A sturdy tripod William Optics Redcat 51 Ioptron sky guider pro with ipolar Canon 800d / T7i T48 copper adaptor I have been scowering forums in order to answer a few questions and these are around tracking and guiding. Obviously the more exposures you obtain the better the final result. I often see images taken at say 66 subs x 2 minutes long. My confusion is coming from: Is guiding required for exposures like this or will sky guider pro be able to handle this? I am seeing mixed messages on how long an exposure for a star tracker can be (usually somewhere between 2 and 5 mins) does that mean after that you have to realign or just stop the exposure and start a new one? I am aware that the iptron has room for guidance, but at 5kg payload I need to be careful with weight. Also as I mentioned I want to keep the weight down for portability. Also I think baby steps are better for a complete novice like me. Any help would be much appreciated. Clear skies! PS I posted a similar ask in imaging for beginners but did not get an answer so posting to welcome as I see more activity.

Hi Everyone, Firstly I am new today, so please be kind :) I have decided to take up a new hobby and settled with astrophotography after seeing some amazing videos and images on YouTube. I hope I have chosen wisely with the equipment to start me off, so please be gentle in your responses. as I have already bought them. I opted for wide angle (as I heard that was more forgiving) and also wanted to keep it as lightweight and portable as possible as my back garden has a lot of obstructions.. I am aware that this is not going to be easy and there is a lot of commitment involved both with the cold nights, but also at the computer processing the images (darks, flats and bias). What I have bought so far. A sturdy tripod William Optics Redcat 51 Ioptron sky guider pro with ipolar Canon 800d / T7i T48 copper adaptor I have been scowering forums in order to answer a few questions and these are around tracking and guiding. Obviously the more exposures you obtain the better the final result. I often see images taken at say 66 x 2 minutes at a given ISO depending on the brightness of the object. what I am unsure of is will my sky guider be able to handle say these exposures or is this when guiding is required? I keep seeing that with a tracker thats well aligned people are saying they are getting 4/5 minute exposures with no star trails. Does this mean that they are only capturing one image at this length or after 4/5 minutes they close the shutter and can go again after a brief pause to let the sensor cool with the next exposure? I am aware that the iptron has room for guidance, but at 5kg payload I need to be careful with weight. Also as I mentioned I want to keep the weight down for portability. Also I think baby steps are better for a complete novice like me. Any help would be much appreciated. Clear skies!