A couple more from my camera and lens - M81/82 and M31

[Eddy_]

Took these last night with my camera on the sophisticated mount of a gorillapod mini tripod on my patio table. A step up from the litte tikes car I used for my Orion nebula shot

Still deciding on an EQ mount, looking forward to longer exposure times! These were both about 50 shots, 75mm f1.8, 3s exposures, plus darks and bias in similar numbers.

[klytus]

Nice work Eddy_

[Chucknorris1975]

Goes to show that you can still get great photos with minimum equipment.

[glowingturnip]

very good, can clearly see the supernova

[Langy]

Very nice.

[Gomtuu]

very good, can clearly see the supernova

Was about to remark the same. Really hope the skies give me a shot at that.

[TractionMan]

Really cool! Didn't think it was possible to get results like that without a tracking EQ mount.

[Alien 13]

Very good images If you are a DSLR and lens man then even an EQ3-2 would work well but the Astrotrac, Vixen Polari and the Ioptron skytracker are very good.

Alan

[andrew63]

Yes the supernova shows up well - so does M110 and M32 -  perhaps you should lengthen the title !

andrew

[happy-kat]

Thinking wow and you found the right direction to point at.

I can't see anything of use on the screen I would have to take a picture look at it to try to work out what the camera was pointing at move out and try again.

[Eddy_]

Thinking wow and you found the right direction to point at.

I can't see anything of use on the screen I would have to take a picture look at it to try to work out what the camera was pointing at move out and try again.

Yes I roughly pointed the camera in the right direction, took a high iso test shot and moved around until I found what I was looking for on the test shots.

[Astrosurf]

Amazing shots for such short subs! And such a simple set-up. Excellent job.

Alexxx

[PorkyB]

Thinking wow and you found the right direction to point at.

I can't see anything of use on the screen I would have to take a picture look at it to try to work out what the camera was pointing at move out and try again.

A red-dot finder bodged into the camera's flash hotshoe helps.  I am trying to make a proper bracket so i can use my 6x30 finderscope.

[Delboy_Hog]

Lovely shots and interesting to know a gorillapod will do the trick!    We've got one at home and the Mrs has just acquired a cannon 1100d, so I'll have to see what it can do!

[Astrosurf]

A red-dot finder bodged into the camera's flash hotshoe helps.  I am trying to make a proper bracket so i can use my 6x30 finderscope.

What did you do to attach the red dot finder to the hotshoe?

[happy-kat]

Good idea I have a spare hot shot blanking plate I suppose I could fashion a join using that.

[TractionMan]

What did you do to attach the red dot finder to the hotshoe?

With this: http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p5641_Lacerta-adapter-for-mounting-red-dot-finders-to-camera-flash-shoes.html

[PorkyB]

What did you do to attach the red dot finder to the hotshoe?

I am planning to make something by mating a standard finder bracket to one of these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Camera-Pro-1-4-20-Tripod-Mount-Screw-to-Flash-Hot-Shoe-Adapter-Black-UK-/350699954537?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item51a758a169) probably using epoxy glue if it works.

The quick and nasty solution, if you don't want to use the finder for anything else, is to take a hacksaw and a file to a cheap red dot finder to cut the foot down until it slides into your flash hotshoe.

[Pete Presland]

Excellent! They are quite inspiring images, 3secs exposure is so short you would not expect much at all. It shows what a stack of images can reveal 2 galaxies and a supernova! A great reward for your effort!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Astrosurf]

Thanks both. Mine's a William Optics finder so I'm not sure how to fit it! No worries. I'll sort it out.

[PorkyB]

I am planning to make something by mating a standard finder bracket to one of these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Camera-Pro-1-4-20-Tripod-Mount-Screw-to-Flash-Hot-Shoe-Adapter-Black-UK-/350699954537?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item51a758a169) probably using epoxy glue if it works.

And here is the finished article

[TractionMan]

And here is the finished article

That's an interesting solution! Have you been able to try it out yet?

[PorkyB]

So far, just a test on distant buildings to make sure the finder and camera line up.  As the camera often ends up at an awkward angle I also have the option of using a right-angle finder.  The bolt does look a bit flexible, should be OK with the small finders, if I was going to use a 9x50 then I would have cut the bolt down first.  I also have to see how the glue holds up, an alternative would be to drill the finder shoe and use a nut to hold it on.  Considering the while project has cost me £1.49 so far (I already had a spare finder shoe) I don't mind experimenting.

[Tommohawk]

hi Eddy - nice pics! I never thought it possible to get M81/82 with just a camera. Couldnt see from you post what camera you used - would be interested to know. And 75mm lens.... seems very short! I guess that's 75mm not taking inot account crop factor. Maybe not?

[Eddy_]

hi Eddy - nice pics! I never thought it possible to get M81/82 with just a camera. Couldnt see from you post what camera you used - would be interested to know. And 75mm lens.... seems very short! I guess that's 75mm not taking inot account crop factor. Maybe not?

Thanks. It's an Olympus Pen E-P5 (micro 4/3 format). It has a 2x crop factor, so equivalent field of view of 150mm with the 75mm lens. The galaxies were very small in the shot, the picture is basically a 100% crop from the stacked image.