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M31 short exposures


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Inspired by Laser Jock, I had a go at M31 from my back garden on Thursday night.

I've never used DSS before and to be honest I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I'm really pleased with the result.

Combined 13 x 6 second exposures at f2 50mm, ISO 1600, I've read about darks on here before, so I threw 4 of those in too for good measure :)

post-23756-133877681597_thumb.jpg

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Looking quite good, you shuold be proud of that! Can even see at least one of the rings in the galaxy clearly. :)

You seem to have missed a thiny thiny bit on the focuse though? Can be seen on the start shape an colour.

Remember to refocuse while/after the camera lens have cooled down. I focused my 50mm 1.4 before i started the night, and had to refocuse it 3 more times within 2 hours, as an examlpe... :(

what lens and camera did you use?

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You seem to have missed a thiny thiny bit on the focuse though? Can be seen on the start shape an colour.

Yep I agree, I got the camera back inside hooked up to my laptop and thought hmmm, I've missed focus by a "smidgen" :(

I used my canon 1100d with the canon 50mm 1.8 (which never seems to leave the body, love it :)), I double checked the exif and the ISO was actually 800 not 1600. I also think I should have stepped down a stop from 1.8.

I think I might be ever so slightly hooked on this, but plan to get the most out of the camera and tripod. I got an eq-3 earlier in the year, so I think that may be the next step.

Thanks everyone for your comments :p

EDIT: This was enlarged 2x with the custom rectangle in DSS, I kept getting "out of memory" messages when I tried to process the whole frame. I think this has contributed to the softness of the final image.

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hi rob

i have a 350d and loads of lenses and wireless shutter release could you tell me the settings please i have tried iso 800 just need to understand what f stop and times please have taken some nice shots of orion ect but not nebulars many thanks for any help.

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hi rob

i have a 350d and loads of lenses and wireless shutter release could you tell me the settings please i have tried iso 800 just need to understand what f stop and times please have taken some nice shots of orion ect but not nebulars many thanks for any help.

Hi Tony,

This was my first attempt at this, so I'm a long way from an expert :)

I don't have a bulb release, so I set the camera to delayed shutter release and set the exposure to 6 seconds. (I did try 10 to begin with but the trailing was quite noticeable).

I set the aperture to F2 and the ISO to 800. Then I literally just took shot after shot with no adjustments or realignments.

Then I put the lens cap on and repeated to grab some dark frames.

The miraculous bit is when you put the individual frames though Deep Sky Stacker.

Good luck, Rob.

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That is a really good start.

To get the best out of stacking you should aim to take as many exposures as you have the patience for and at least 30 Darks. If you get your EQ3 fairly well polar aligned you should be able to use the full 30s onboard timer without trailing. You will be amazed at the extra detail you will be able to get.

Keep at it.

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I couldn't be sure where that gradiant is coming from, but you can eliminate that artifact if you use PhotoShop Elements or a similar photo editing program.

Make a layer of the image, blur out all the stars using gaussian blur, and recombine the layers, making the copy layer without the stars a "difference" layer. The gradiant will disappear and the sky will turn a nice dark shade.

I can play with it, and show you what I mean, if you wish. Otherwise, experiment and have fun !

Jim S.

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Hi very nice image, i am looking into buying a 1100d for astro work, how are you finding it? do you have the image stabilisation lense?

Hi Ben,

I love the 1100d, my wife got it for me as a birthday present back in May!

I went for the body only, and picked up this 50mm prime which has hardly left the camera. I've done very little astro photography with it, the image above was my first serious attempt. But as an all round lens I think it's a belter and great value for money.

Really makes you think about composition and is great for creative use of depth of field.

It doesn't have IS which is a shame, but you wouldn't want it for astro work anyway.

Rob

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Hi Ben,

I love the 1100d, my wife got it for me as a birthday present back in May!

I went for the body only, and picked up this 50mm prime which has hardly left the camera. I've done very little astro photography with it, the image above was my first serious attempt. But as an all round lens I think it's a belter and great value for money.

Really makes you think about composition and is great for creative use of depth of field.

It doesn't have IS which is a shame, but you wouldn't want it for astro work anyway.

Rob

Thanks Rob glad to hear you like your 1100D, i have pretty much decided now that i want A DSLR probably the 1100D ,but might stretch my budget to the 550D.

I will be watching out to see what other widefield pics you get with the camera in the future.

Regards

Ben

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Inspired by Laser Jock, I had a go at M31 from my back garden on Thursday night.

I've never used DSS before and to be honest I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I'm really pleased with the result.

Combined 13 x 6 second exposures at f2 50mm, ISO 1600, I've read about darks on here before, so I threw 4 of those in too for good measure :icon_salut:

Nice image- I hope you are equally amazed as I was when you stack a bunch of very short exposures. Good work!

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Nice image- I hope you are equally amazed as I was when you stack a bunch of very short exposures. Good work!

I was amazed yes :icon_salut:

I've picked up a cheap M42 thread F2.8 135mm and adaptor off ebay, I'm itching to try it out on the EQ3-2.

Supposed to be clear here tommorrow night, but I've heard that plenty of times before :D

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