Heart's Heart

[ultranova]

Hi everyone, Took another gamble last night on the clouds and ended up with the best sky conditions I have had for several months, just a tad to windy really but must not complain.

This a combination of 19 x 4 minute subs and one 10 minute at the end, Total of 86 minutes.

when I was loading these through DSS I could have kicked myself as I left the camera on iso 3200, I normally shoot at iso 800 I thought straight away that I had wasted the whole night as I was plagued with silly user errors setting the gear up, but I don't think its come out to bad considering.

The usual set up Quattro 8 inch cf, now modified Canon 1100d with cls clip filter,

neq6 pro mount , Mppc coma corrector,qhy5 auto guider with Phd.

Processed in DSS, PI and Ps Elements.

Thanks for Looking Paul.

[nmoushon]

For iso3200 that is actually very little noise. Nicely done!

[Gina]

Very nice images

[ultranova]

Thanks Guys, Much appreciated

[Uranium235]

Great result there, one of the best DSLR versions ive seen of this. Maybe you can add some more to average out the ones you took at the wrong ISO?

[Andy P]

Hi Paul

Do you always use iso800.?

Just I've recently started imagining with my canon D600 through my Skywatcher Skymax 180 Pro with setting it at iso400.

Would you say that 800 is the route to go.?

My first attempt was the Ring Ned the other week getting me this image.

[Andy P]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Andy P]

Sorry here it is...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[nmoushon]

ISO 800 is a very common setting. Its obviously inbetween iso 400 and 1600. Where 1600 gets the same amount of data but for a shorter exposure but also has incresed noise. While 400 has very little noise you hvae to increase your exposure time a lot to equal the same amount of data. So iso is a good medium of noise and data.

[Andy P]

Thanks for that info.

I'll try setting it up at 800 and see how it goes. What would be an ideal sub time at iso 800.? 2, 3, 4 mins or even more.?

[nmoushon]

Depends on what your mount can achieve and the target. Longer is always better...to a point. But thats not like you get to like 30+min subs. Which also depends on your target. Bright targets dont need as long subs as the fainter ones do. i.e. M31 you could only do 3min subs and be set but if you go for a small fain object like a distant galaxy or really fain nebula you'll want 10+min subs to pull out as much as possible.

[Andy P]

Very interesting stuff, I guess it's trial and error then.

For now I'm going to try iso800 and 3min subs.

My kit is

Canon D600

Skywatcher Skymax 180Pro

HEQ5 mount

9x50 guide scope with HQY5 camera.

Should if setup properly get long subs if needed.

[ultranova]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to your question,

iso 800 in my normal setting, but if the seeing is good and my equipment allows I sometimes knock it down to iso 400 for half the exposures and increase the time of each exposure to around double.

Take plenty of exposures, as this will also help to cancel the noise to gain ratio on most occasions.

And as the other Guys have kindly said, Take Darks as well this will help cancel out the over active pixels.

Hope this helps Paul.

[Andy P]

Thanks Paul

It has helped a lot.

When the sky's become clear again I'll try with new settings.

My next target is M45, any suggestions.?

[ultranova]

My main suggestions is plenty of exposures around the 20 to 30 mark at around 3 minutes each if your set up allows.

You will need most of the exposure time to capture the nebulosity around the stars.

Try and keep your iso at 800, its always tempting to crank it up a bit to 1600 , which is ok if you are able to get rid of the noise with the Darks.

And Take darks I have a bad habit of not taking them then struggling with the image after to get rid of the noise which can be very tricky, aim for at least 20 darks if you are taking 30 exposures, even better is to take the 30 darks if you have the time.

This can be done at your leisure just make sure the temperature is the same or near as possible to the lights you have taken and the exposure time is the same IE:30 lights at 3 minutes at iso 800 , then 20-30 darks at iso 800 for three minutes.

Hope this helps Paul.

[Andy P]

Thanks Paul

I'll give that ago when alls clear next time out.

Regards Andy

[Coco]

If I dont own an 8" Quattro by end of december I'm a Monkeys uncle..

very nice images indeed..

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Very nice image. Ill have to try ISO 800, i never really understood ISO if im honest, but your little explanation helped.

And shooting at a higher ISO isn't that bad.. I shot about 120subs of the Moon the other night to find my camera had reverted to JPG, so i had 120 JPGs of the moon lol.

[sologuitarist61]

Lovely

[ultranova]

Thanks guys,

CoCo, I did not think I would ever use any other scope for imaging, as I had always used my trusty sw 80ed pro with reasonable results

the only reason I moved over to a newt was for the Quicker imaging times, being an f4 scope but I do find the scope a bit twitchy, by

that I mean you should never take it for granted that its always collimated, I have made that mistake a couple of times,

When I first got the scope I sort of treated it as my refractor, stick the camera on /focus and your ready to go, (not what you do with a newt) its been a big learning

curve for me but worth it.

Hope you get your newt coco,

Paul