RobST

Hi Everyone So i had a bit of good fortune on the pools and have £1000 to spend 😁 I currently use a Canon 6d and a samyang 135mm f2 lens. I have a star adventurer 2i that i am still yet to use due to it being cloudy everytime i have a night when it's possible to stay up late 😁 So i was thinking about getting a small refractor telescope that i could use with my 6d and star adventurer. Something easy to setup, reliable and preferably with good aftersales just incase anything goes wrong. Interested in DSO Astrophotography Any advice would be much appreciated

Yes i was chuffed with that as well 😁

Hey Everyone So last night i attempted Orion Nebula for the first time. Probably on the worst night because of the moon 😁 It was a last minute decision so it was on a static tripod. Canon 6d, Samyang 135mm stopped down to f2.8, iso 3600, 350 x 2sec subs. This is just a quick processing this morning but I'm quite chuffed especially with the moon being so bright. Needs more work though.

Got a star adventurer on order

Hey Ash I don't use any filters, i can't wait for orion either, i have seen it about 5.30 in the morning but unfortunately on my way to work 😃 hopefully clear skys Wednesday night when i can get out. Hopefully my tracker will come soon 😃 Cheers Rob

Hi Ash I dont really know about how the image size things work sorry. If f1.8 is the fastest your lens will go then i would dial it back to f2 or f2.8, some folks say if you use your lens wide open then you won't get the best images. I have tried 200mm f3.5 but that was an old lens of ebay and my old canon 400d so results were bigger but with no detail. I don't have a tracker so everything is on a normal tripod, i take 50 subs using an intervelometer, then 50 more, then re center the object, then do the same process again and so on.

Cheers 😃 The image above is 2 seconds subs, 200 i think at iso 6400 on my 6d with samyang 135mm at f2.8. 50 darks, bias and flats whatever that ratio is. I would normally take 300 or 400 light subs. This is a new camera so i shot 1600 and 6400 that night and the 6400 was just an experiment, going to use pixinsight for the 1600 next amd see what i get 😃

3hrs learning Pixinsight 😃

Thats how i do my processing, have the video in the background if i get stuck, once you have used the stacking software a few times it's easy, processing is not 🤣

Bit more processing today, stacked and processed with Siril mainly then a little tweak with gimp 😃 chuffed with this although might make it a bit brighter 😃

Hi Ash Yes i just do 50 darks, bias and flats as one of the tutorials i watched said it was a good number, if i was doing 1 min exposure lights i would probably do less darks and flats as they require the same length exposures, but as i am only doing 2 second exposures its quick to do 50 darks and flats. The thing with the bias frames is you can do them for an iso and use them again and again, although i do tend to redo mine 😃

Yes i find his videos very useful, although i think i probably push my images to far when using the techniques he shows 😃

Fantastic image, yes i would like a touch of blue at the edges of the galaxy 😃 i will go and watch Peters video, i have watched some of them before 😃

Hi Ash Thanks for the great comments, Bias frames are taken by setting your camera to the iso you intend to use for your light frames, then set your camera to its fastest speed , in my case 1/4000, and with the lens cap on take about 50 images, those will be your bias frames. Another great youtube channel is Nebula Photos, a guy called nico takes you through every step in great detail 😃

Thanks 😃 just waiting on my tracker now, that image i stacked in dss but then used siril to edit, but no work in an image processing program 😃

I managed to get one from amazon, all the instructions were in german, seems its a good one though, and i am enjoying using it, especially now i have my 6d 😃

I would like to tweak the colours a little, but as i said I'm not great at post processing, i usually end up doing to much and ruining the image 😫

My Latest Attempt 😃 alot less noise 😃

Thanks Folks 😁 can't wait to get out with my 6d 😁 hopefully a clear night soon 😁

Ha i never thought of that 🤣🤣

Hey Everyone Just wanted to share my progress so far 😁 First image taken 7th June this year, bitten by the bug 😁 I couldn't belive i could image M31 with my crappy setup, even though it was a little smudge, i was so excited 😁 Second Image Taken 27th July with an old 200mm lens i got from ebay and my canon 400d. Quite an improvement in size but not much detail, but could now see M110 so was very pleased. My Final image taken just a few nights ago 30 August, i finally got to try out my Samyang 135mm @f2.8 on my Canon 400d. I was chuffed to bits with how much more detail i could now see 😁. I am still very new to astrophotography and very new to post processing, I've used Deep Sky Stacker, Siril and Gimp although i hardly know any of the features of any of them. I just got a used Canon 6d and cant wait to try it with my 135mm lens. Also have a skywatcher star adventurer on the way. To be honest i could carry on just imaging Andromeda, as it still blows me away that i can image something so far away and so long ago, from my back garden 😁 I have attached my Deep Sky Stacker Result and my Siril Result incase anyone would be interested in showing me what could be achieved with the data, if i knew what i was doing 🤣 Autosave.tif result - Copy - Copy.fit Any advice is much appreciated 😁 Thanks Rob

Amazing Image, i was also out till 4am imaging M31 😁 i just love the fact i am able to image something so far away, from my back garden 😁 congrats

I have looked at 600d as well plus 700, 750, 760, 80, 70, 60 😂, lots of people seem to have the 600d, i can only really go on tests that people have done, 200d seems to be comparable to the 80d at least on dxo, people seem very impressed with the 80d, so not sure why the 200d would produce images with more noise? I'm sure all would be a major upgrade from my 400d anyway 😁

Thanks Alan, i have been scouring those sites, even looking at 6d but really would like the flip screen 😁

Hi Everyone So i have a very old Canon 400d and am thinking of upgrading, i was all set to get a Canon 200d but then started reading that it wasn't very good for astro, this new camera wont be a dedicated astro camera but if the skys are clear and i don't have to be up for work then i would like to point my camera at the stars 😁 Really would like a flip out screen and live view just to make life a bit easier. Any advice on what to get would be great, or would the 200d be fine and it's just not that great to what is available now? Thanks Rob