Hi, I am new to this group but less new to astrophotography.
Despite the overwhelming number of cloudy nights, I am trying to dive a bit deeper into astrophotography. Currently using Nikon cameras (d7100 and z6) with Nikon lenses (various, but my goto for AP is a 200-500mm, f5.6) on an iOptron Skyguide mount 3550). I've gotten OK images of m31, m42, and some poor images of bode's galaxy among many others. I have excellent experience with the Skyguide mount, taking images for 120 seconds, and getting round stars at full magnification.
I rate my images as "OK" (even when I am thrilled with them) because they lack detail & color. Longer exposures lead to bleached images b/c of light pollution although I am lucky to have a Bortle 4 sky. Sometimes I venture to dark sky sites such as Utah.
Maybe I should replace the 200-500mm lens with a telescope. But I cannot find info comparing what I'd get with a 95mm triplet to the images I am getting with the setup described above.
What would I need to get better detail. saturation & color in m31 for example?
Thanks for the reply. I understand the purpose of stacking images is to remove noise. At the presented resolution your 1st image does not look noisy. I am getting images similar to the 1st one you present. they are improved by my attempts to work with them, but I'm not getting to your 2nd image. I pasted a couple samples below. If I push farther my images look cartoonish. To make the biggest improvement, I'd get a scope if that'd help. But I don't want to buy something just for the sake of buying it. And with the increasing number of poor skies it may be that this is an impossible hobby. Thanks again, John
