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Showing results for tags 'dslr'.
Found 245 results
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From the album: Peggson's astrophotos
I shot this yesterday from a Bortle 6 backyard. Edited in Pixinsight and Photoshop If someone here knows how to remove purple stars, please help me . I tried defringing but it didn't really work. Also the date is wrong should be 9.10.2020. lol© Peggson's photo
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I have already posted my first astrophotographic session report in the telescope review thread: Tecnosky 80/480 APO FPL53 Triplet OWL Series - Review. But since that is more of a general review/diary of my experience with the new telescope, I feel some of the issues I am having are being buried and they will probably get more visibility if I post them - in a more synthetic version - in a dedicated thread. So, a few nights ago (October, the 5th) I took out my new telescope for its first light. All the photos have been taken with the 0.8x flattener/reducer and the Optolong L-Pro 2" filter attached to the reducer. The camera is an astromodified Nikon D5300. The only processing the following pictures have consists in this: - AutomaticBackgroundExtractor - ColorCalibration - Stretch Here we have a 90s shot of M31. And here's a mosaic generated with the AberrationInspector script. What I do like: - tightest, smallest, roundest stars I have gotten since I started doing astrophotography at the end of January. Obviously comparing it to what I have been achieving with a kit 70-300mm zoom lens, these can't be anything else but better by orders of magnitude What I don't like: - star shape not consistent in all areas of the image - residual chromatic aberration, especially on stars that are not round: there's clearly some red and blue edges visible I didn't expect this from an apochromatic refractor, but maybe it's just because the stars are kinda "smeared", so not all light is focused at the same spot? I don't see this around the center of the image (or, at least, the problem is less pronounced). Maybe I have some tilting in my imaging train/sensor? I have been doing some reasoning about it and it seems like a combination of tilting and/or backfocus spacing. According to the following image about backfocus spacing: if the stars are elongated radially, the sensor is too close, if they are elongated tangentially, the sensor is too far. But to me it seems I have a little bit of both: in the top right corner, for example, the stars look radially elongated, in the bottom right, they look tangentially elongated. Top left they look tangentially elongated, bottom left also, but a little less. Seems like there has to be some tilting as well, otherwise they would all have a symmetric shape on all corners, correct? How do I determine - is there even a way - if the issue is due to tilting only, backfocus only, or the combination of the two? Is there a sure proof way of checking for tilting? Like, rotating the camera and taking pictures with, say, the camera at 0°, 90°, 270° and 360°? If there's tilting, the pattern of the star shapes should follow the camera, correct? I also tried splitting the channels in R, G, and B components, doing a star alignment of the blue and red channels with the green as a reference, and recombining the channels. The blue and red edges become a lot less evident, which is good, but obviously the star shapes remain the same. In my Telescopius gallery you can also find two other images, Capella and Capella Mosaic showing pretty much the same issues. Also, one issue with the guide camera: ZWO ASI 224MC. When attached to the guide scope (Artesky UltraGuide 60mm f/4), I can't seem to get a "sharp" focus, I even tried on the Moon, and the best I got was a soft lunar disc, with some major features visible, mainly by change of color/brightness (the maria, for example), but no details. The image still seemed blurred/bloated. Is it because of lack of IR blocking filter? I tried the same camera attached to the main refractor, with the L-Pro filter (which blocks UV and IR, as well) and I could focus perfectly. Do I need an IR block filter for guiding or even if the stars appear a little soft, the camera guides just fine? Matteo -
Hello, I'm selling these 2 filters since I'm getting a mono astro cam. The filters are barely used and in perfect condition, no scratches, no fingerprints, not even dust. They are both amazing filters, probably the best investment I've made. I've attached some images taken with these filters, using a 100$ celestron newtonian, a 250$ Canon 500D and the infamous AVX. Also attached are images of the filters showing their perfect condition. Astronomik CLS-CCD Canon Clip in Filter: https://www.astronomik.com/en/filter-gegen-lichtverschmtzung-filters-against-lightpollution-lpr/cls-ccd-filter/clip-filter-eos-mit-astronomik-cls-ccd.html Original price including VAT is 155 Euros (around USD 182). I got it for around USD230 including VAT, shipping and custom taxes. Selling for USD 100. Astronomik Ha 12nm Canon Clip in Filter: https://www.astronomik.com/en/clip-filter/clip-filter-canon-aps-c/clip-filter-eos-mit-astronomik-h-alpha-ccd-12nm.html Original price including VAT 194 Euros (around USD 228). Got it for around USD 270 including VAT, shipping and custom taxes. Selling for USD 150 I am willing to ship them on my own expense using LibanPost (from Lebanon). Shipping might take time; if you would like to use some other shipment method please contact me to discuss the price. Feel free to buy one or both together. Let me know if you have any questions. You can also contact me on <private email address removed> Cheers, Anthony -
Having previously got some reasonable images by mounting a smart phone to the eyepiece. I thought I would try for a more sophisticated set up. So last night I tried to get some pictures of the moon using a Canon Eos D450 connected to a Skywatcher 130p Newtonian via a T2 connection on the eyepiece holder. As the camera has automatic focusing built into the lens I thought I would have to adjust the focuser on the eyepiece holder to manually get a sharp image. Basically the telescope acting as a manually focused lens for the camera. But no joy, I just got a bright light which seemed to fill the camera view finder. I tried various settings on the camera, adjusting ISO and aperture etc, I also had some extention rings for the camera lens so tired fitting those to extend the focal length but no better. I sure there are many palms being slapped against foreheads reading this but as you can tell I have no idea, although I do have some of the gear. Any pointers and/or advise would be gratefully received.
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Hello all, I'm new to this forum and astrophotography, and observing for that matter! I've been observing for a few weeks now, well, when the clouds allow, obviously! I thought I'd dip my toe in the water as far as imaging goes, but didn't want to go nuts in terms of budget. As luck would have it I managed to get hold of a Canon 1100D on eBay complete with full spectrum mod for £129, which seemed pretty reasonable to me given the cost of the modification on its own. The camera is in great condition and seems to work fine, however I have a couple of queries that I hope you more experienced peeps can help with. Firstly I would like to get an OWB filter and wondered if anyone had an opinion on Optolong vs Astronomik? Astronomic are a lot more expensive so if the Optolong does a good job why spend extra? Second, and more importantly, I have questions about auto focus. It seems that generally people say that if the IR/UV cut filter is completely removed then the camera will definitely lose the ability to auto focus (although some people say this isn't the case?). I checked with the eBay vendor and he confirmed that the in-built filter has been completely removed and no glass / filter replacement has been put back in place, which if my understanding is correct is what is required to retain auto focus. However, the camera seems to be auto focusing fine as far as I can tell. How can this be? Thanks. -
Can I reach focus with a DSLR and a focal reducer like with a barlow because my telescope does not have enough inward focus . -
I've recently made myself a 12v to 7.4v battery conversion for my Canon 1000D DSLR Camera. This allows you to power it using a 12v source such as a Skywatcher Powertank/Leisure battery, and ensures there's no need for battery swaps mid-imaging run. If you buy a pre-made one then these are ~£40 from Astronomiser etc.Parts, Tools and Instructions are detailed below.Note: I've put Maplin codes, links and prices for some of the parts for reference, but they can probably be obtained elsewhere cheaper. e.g. eBay, Farnell, RS Components etc.Note 2: This is a guide only and I take no responsibility for people breaking their camera!Parts List:Velleman K1823 1A PSU (Maplin VE58N) £9.99Plastic Enclosure 75x51x25 (Maplin KC92A) £2.9912v Switch (Maplin N84JZ) £1.993mm 12v Red LED (Maplin CJ66W) £0.743mm LED holder (Maplin N85AX) £1.3420mm fuseholder (Maplin CT90X) £1.0520mm fuse 1A (Maplin GJ90X) £0.21TO220 Heatsink (Maplin KU50E) £1.14Canon 1000D LP-E5 Battery (eBay) £2.1912v Cigarette Lighter Plug & Lead (eBay) £2.75Wire ~£0Zip ties ~£0TOTAL: £24.39Tools:Soldering ironSolderGlue gunDrillStanley knifeWirecuttersSmall philips screwdriverMultimeterInstructions:Open K1823 kit and complete using enclosed instructions, apart from lying the large capacitor down on its side - so it fits into the case.Place heatsink onto TM317, will have to bend the component back slightly so it fits in the case.Drill one hole in either end of the plastic enclosure for wires in & out.Make holes in enclosure lid for led holder, fuse holder and switch.Fit items into lid.Cut end off cig plug.Measure & cut wires, solder up according to wiring diagram.Carefully open LP-E5 battery case & remove battery, but retain contacts. (Can cut down small pcb just to leave contacts, if easier)Make a small hole in the battery case for wire to come out of.Solder up output wires from K1823 to contacts inside battery case.Check everything including all soldered joints.Insert fuse into fuse holder.Insert cig plug into a 12v source (e.g. Powertank).Use multimeter to check output voltage.Adjust potentiometer on K1823 board to get correct 7.4v.Switch everything off.Glue K1823 board into enclosure.Fit tie-wraps both sides of wires coming out of enclosure for strain relief.Glue battery case back together.Switch everything back on & re-check output voltage.Screw lid onto enclosure.If ok, then insert battery into camera and turn on.
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A second hand Canon 450D that has had the IR filter and anti-aliasing filters removed. This is known as the Full-Spectrum (or naked sensor) modification. This enhances the camera's sensitivity to Hydrogen Alpha wavelengths greatly. Ideal for shooting emission nebulae, as well as making it a great candidate for Hydrogen Alpha filters. The camera has been modified by myself. It includes the camera body itself, body cap, battery, charger, plug, strap and I'll throw in an EOS-T2 T ring. Bit of cosmetic wear to the camera as to be expected. Note: removing the IR filters means that you'll need to add an astro-friendly IR filter back into the imaging train. This is usually achieved with filters like the Astronomik CLS-CCD filter (for example). Just check the description and make sure it has UV/IR cut. £150 + £11 Postage (Royal Mail Special Delivery)
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The Horsehead , The Flame and Alnitak - HaO3RGB JanFeb2020
MarsG76 posted a gallery image in Member's Album
From the album: Deep Sky Imaging
I managed to get some time to process another of my images exposed in January/February 2020. This was the last image when my USB port on my Astro40D failed. This happened while imaging this scene but it happened toward the end of the imaging plan so I got almost the subs that I wanted. The total exposure time was 16 hours and 16 minutes in ISO1600 for all of the subs, RGB, (OSC through the UV/IR Cut filter), HAlpha and OIII. Imaged through my 8" SCT at f6.3, 1280mm FL.© Mariusz Goralski
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Hello! This is my first post on stargazer’s lounge, so forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask. I have a SkyWatcher AZ-GTi mount (with a firmware update + eq wedge so that it can run in eq mode). I also have a Raspberry Pi 4 with INDI, KStars, and Ekos tools. I don’t have a guidescope (and my budget is extremely limited), so I was wondering if there was a way to polar align my DSLR using just the software running on the Raspberry Pi. I’m also competent in Python, if that could be useful for anything. -
I've been having another crack at DSO imaging lately, and I've managed to produce this from 6 hours of integration: I'm quite pleased with it but I'm very new to image processing, so I'd be incredibly grateful if someone wouldn't mind having a go at processing my data! Image Info: Lights: 46x4min + 66x3min Stacked with Dark, Flat and Bias frames Stacked in DSS and processed in GIMP Taken under Bortle 7/8 skies Gear: SkyWatcher ED80 0.85x Reducer Astro-Modified EOS 600D ZWO ASI 120MM Mini Guide Camera with 9x50 Finderscope HEQ5 Pro Mount There's some dust bunnies and other artefacts on the image that I know I could spend more time removing, however I'm wondering if I'm doing my data justice in processing! Thanks, Tom NGC7023 (2).TIF -
Hi guys, So on Tuesday night I spent the evening imaging the moon with my Celestron 9.25 SCT and DSLR as shown below and am happy with the images I collated (I only took images as I did intend to take capture video but I got carried away and time was getting on). I have approx 350 jpeg (and the equivalent in raw) images and have used the Microsoft image composite editor to stitch the frames together without editing them first etc but I wonder if I'm going the images an injustice? I'm not ready to pay for editing software as I know there is a lot of very good free downloads out there and I'm asking for recommendations. Should I be processing the frames before/after stitching and what software would you recommend? Please offer any advice you have. I will post the resulting image once I'm happy with the outcome Thanks in advance!
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Hi all, My last imaging for this season resulted in 11 x 10 minutes on M51, but I already had 23 x 15 minutes from previous seasons so here is some 7 1/2 hours of data. The 23x15 minutes subs were taken under a pretty dark sky (SQM-L = 21.65), while the rest were approx 21.5. Used a modded Nikon D7000 in a 8" Meade LX200-ACF on HEQ5 Pro, guided with NexGuide. I am still amazed that stars were pinpoint in all 23 of the 15 minutes subs. I guess it helped that the OTA was pointing near zenith so flexure and mirror lock issues should have been minimal. Nowadays I stick to max 10 minutes subs. Ragnar
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With so little time left of this season, I pointed my Meade LX200-ACF to Coma Berenices so I would get as many galaxies as possible in one single frame. Used a Nikon D7000, HEQ5 Pro and NexGuide. Two nights gave a total of 6-7 hours of 10 minutes subs (1600mm F/7.8 iso200). Ragnar
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With 15 hours of 8-10 minutes exposures from different locations, this was my last trophy for this season. Captured with my modded D7000 and Meade LX200-ACF on a HEQ5 Pro, guided with NexGuide. With the reducer I used that was approx. 1600 mm FL @ F/8. Ragnar
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Hi all, I am hoping someone might be able to help with a possible way to shoot dark and bias frames on a DSLR (canon 700D) without the need to cover the scope or camera, ideally using APT scripts My thinking is that the camera, has a noise reduction mode where it will take the light shot, then with the shutter closed it will take a dark frame and subtract it from the light. So could you take a series of dark frames on ATP and lock the shutter down? If anyone knows I would love to know. Would be great to automate the lights, park the scope and have it run darks and bias, without the need to go out to it and cap up at 3.-4 in the morn Thanks Matt @astro_pics_uk -
Hello! I have a question on how can I mount my camera to my Sky-Watcher Starquest 130P telescope? I’ve watched so many videos about it and there’s so many different answers on what I need to do that. At the moment, I have 2x Barlow lens and a DSLR. I know that a T-ring is also necessary but is there anything more? Any help is highly appreciated, thanks! (I’m really new to telescopes and astrophotography in general so I hope I don’t say anything dumb)
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From the album: Marci’s Astropix
7x20s@ISO1600 (EOS1000D FSM) with 18-55mm kit lens -
From the album: Marci’s Astropix
2hrs with EOS650D at 18Mp shooting visual colour range (240s subs @ ISO800), 1.5hrs with EOS1000D Full-spectrum-modified (no narrowband filters) at 10Mp (120s subs @ ISO800 as core blows out VERY easily in full spectrum). 5x dark frames and 20x bias frames for the EOS1000D session. No flats. Stacked in DSS 64bit with 2x drizzle, processed in Photoshop CC 2018 (very little needed doing to it to be honest, just pull the saturation up a bit to bring the colour out). This is a heavy crop hence the apparent low resolution of the final image. This was the last outing for the EOS650D before I killed it, hence no darks / bias applied to the subs from that camera - it died in process of taking it off mount to shoot darks etc whilst I packed everything else away.© M Coyles
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From the album: Badgers - Astrophotos
A half moon mosaic taken using a Canon 40D and a 2x Barlow via the EOS movie record program© Anton Enright
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Hi, I'm totally New to this hobby and i'm having trouble understanding something in stellarium. I have ordered (not recieved) a Sky-Watcher Explorer 150PDS, which has a 25mm eyepiece 50degrees FOV as a default. I also have a Nikon D810. I wanted to get an idea of what my field of view would be with the 25mm eyepiece (30x on 750mm focal length), and also what it would be With my Nikon D810 mounted shooting prime Focus - no eyepieces. What surprised me was that it wasnt much difference between the frame and size of the object i get with 30x magnification (25mm eyepiece), and what i get with the Nikon D810 mounted. I dont get this. What magnification do i get With my DSLR mounted with no eyepiece?
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Hi All, So I am new to astrophotography and was looking for some advice on what to buy, mainly the mount as I don't have a huge budget. I am currently using a SkyWatcher 102mm Telescope (500mm Focal Length) with a Canon 550d along with a EQ2 mount, so no motors as of yet. Any advice on what mounts to get would be great. Thanks
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Went out on Sunday night to try and get some OIII for the Veil Nebula Bi-Colour Mosaic I’m currently working on. It ended up being a largely frustrating night though as I was fighting a big, bright full moon (in hindsight not the smartest decision I’ve ever made in fairness, lol). Factor in just enough intermittent clouds to exacerbate the issue even more, and when it finally set behind the neighbour’s house at 03:30am I was feeling pretty glum and was about to pack up for the night when I suddenly thought, what the heck, let’s try for a quick capture of 21P! As it was fairly low to the East, I had to disconnect all the cables and carry the whole rig to the other side of the house and re-do Polar Alignment, PHD calibration and focus. I did think about not guiding, as I knew the exposures were going to be short, but it just feels wrong not to guide these days so I decided to do it anyway just for peace of mind if nothing else. So I started capturing around 04:15ish and as astro-dark was due to finish shortly after 5am I decided to just do 40 subs of 90s each using the IDAS-D1 filter (we have streetlights nearby). Went in to grab a quick 60 mins of shuteye, except I overslept and didn’t wake until 06:30, so was then in a mad rush to pack up and get ready for work! Which meant I forgot to get Flats, but thankfully I was able to re-use the master Flat from my M13 image from a few months back and it seemed to work just fine ? Processing this one was interesting to say the least. This is my first comet, so I had to do some research beforehand. These days I always do my stacking in APP, but I had to go old-school and use DSS for this one due it’s special Comet-only stacking mode. So I did 2 stacks, a regular Median one just for the stars, and a 2nd Kappa-Sigma one aligned on the Comet (and using the same reference frame as the Median stack). Some subs were badly affected by intermittent clouds, so I could only stack 33 out of the 40 subs (and tbh 33 was really pushing it, quality-wise). I processed each one separately in PS and then layered in just the comet on top using the ‘Screen’ blending mode. I actually wasn’t aware there was red nebulosity in the background until I started stretching, and it certainly would have been easier to process had it not been there, lol. As expected, I have had to use quite a bit of NR compared to my normal amount, due to the pitiful amount of exposure to work with. Hopefully it doesn’t look too bad but let me know if you think it needs more or less of anything in particular. Of course, there’s only so far you can ever go with just 49 mins of data at hand. As the capture was done in such a rush, I didn’t bother worrying about the framing. I just input the co-ordinates into SGP and let it centre on the object for me. But having now worked out where in the sky this is, and looking at the FoV, I can see that had I rotated the camera 90 degrees then the Cone Nebula would have been in the frame. I actually haven’t imaged the Cone before, so I think this winter I will make a point of imaging it in it’s own right, and then I can re-use it to make a much more interesting version of this image with a much better background. Fun times! C&C welcome as always. And thanks for looking! ? Edit: Decided to make a few changes, so here's v2:- 19 replies
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Hi all! Few days ago i tried imaging a deep sky object for the first time, so i tried m13 as an easy first target, I used took 7 lights, out of witch i selected 3 for stacking, and used 5 darks. DSS only selected 1 frame out of the 3 and stacked that. The result wasn't that good but then again....it's the first time i'm doing this. Settings were iso 6400, 15 second exposure, auto WB. I have also been having this problem, when my telescope slews to a target, it's always to the left of the frame and that was a bummer since i had to crop my picture. Please give me your advice and feedback, Clear skies!
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Hi, Some old data from last November; before my camera was modded. The original image was processed with DSS and GIMP, the new version with DSS and StarTools. I'm still quite noobish when processing with StarTools. but its a really fun program to learn. On this image I forgot to desaturate the sky background to remove the LP colour glow--when I do a reprocess I will do that. I'm hoping that there will be some clear skies around November-December this year to get some better quality data. The streaky noise is caused by the rather noisy CMOS and no dithering--I didn't start using APT until the New Year. The gradient is caused by the secondary being not quite centred under the camera up/down the tube. Around 1 hour of 2-3 min subs, ISO 800 EQ5 and 130P-DS, guided with PHD2 & 50mm finder/guider EOS 1000d and MPCC Mk 4 + Cheap LP filter Old: (GIMP) New: (StarTools--Still a lot of work needed) John
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