Orion Constellation (first pic without telescope)

[Tommy B]

Hello all,

I was'nt sure where to post this pic as its a widefield shot showing a deep space object and it needs advice!

This is Orion, taken using just my Canon Dslr on a Neq6 mount without guiding.....just a polar alignment and the mounts basic tracking. I have seen widefield shots of this constellation before that show lovely features like the horsehead nebula, barnards loop and M42 and have wanted to give it a go since I started this hobby over a year ago.

I was just using the 18-55 canon lense that came with my 1000D, I know this lense is not really ideal for this kind of work but its all Ive got for widefield stuff so I thought I'd give it a go and see what it can do.

I was shooting 2 minute subs at F/6.3 as this seemed to reduce the coma a bit and I am happy with the result considering I did'nt really know what I was doing.

I would be interested in hearing peoples thoughts on good canon compatible lenses that are suitable for widefield astrophotography and dont break the bank too much at around £200-£400?

Thanks for looking

Tommy B.

[Virtual Cold]

Not sure about any of your queries, this shot is lovely though. I've just bought a 450d to begin my foray into astrophotography and would be chuffed with a pic similar to this!

[Carbon Brush]

Very nice picture. I only play around with lenses on my 1000D. Nothing worth printing. But I have had pleasing results from old M42 thread lenses with a few quid of M42/Canon adapter stuck onto them.

If the coatings are still good, the old lenses can perform well and are cheap. Nobody (non astro) wants them as they are heavy and don't have auto focus, etc.

[kris h]

That's a beautiful image you done there

the only lens i can think of is Tokina 11-16 mm f/2.8 , got to use one

a few weeks ago nice lens well built .

[Beyond_Vision]

It's a great Constellation shot Tommy but it should really be in the widefield section. Although sometimes really deep widefield images showing lots of objects may get posted in the DSO area. So I can sympathise with your quandry

Regards

Kevin

[Tommy B]

Thanks for the comments guys and thanks kevin for putting this in the right place

I'd really like to take longer exposures of this but it sits between 2 street lamps where I am and although my neodymium filter works very well it just can't cope with that proximity.

[Gonzo]

Nice picture, how many pictures did you take please?

[Tommy B]

I took 17 2 minute subs for this gonzo. I had more but orion seems to lie right on a busy flight lane from my postion

[Gonzo]

Thanks for the info

[Zul]

Beautiful image!

[Digz]

I think that is a cracking shot. As for what lens, Im not sure, you could keep testing your current lens and see how that goes. Was this shot at the wide end or not?

You could maybe look at a wide lens maybe as wide as 10mm or go the otherway and look for a zoom lens, maybe upto 200-300mm it depends whether you want to go wide or zoom in?

One thing I have always wondered is how you get nice large stars for the main constellation and smaller star for the rest of the star field. Ive never been able to manage that.....

[Steve777]

that is super!