Project Widefield

[TractionMan]

Although I'm more interested in visual astronomy, I still think it's fun to try some basic astrophotography every now and then. However, I don't think I have the time or patience to get into "proper" prime focus DSO stuff (ordered Making Every Photon Count out of curiosity anyway, you never know, right!?). At least for the time being. But I do want to get started with some widefield work this year, both still images and time lapse videos. I'm currently investigating the various options when it comes to tracking platforms such as iOptron SkyTracker/Skyguider, AstroTrac, Vixen Polarie and so on. Still not sure which way to go with that just yet.

Anyway, I've started to put together some other various bits and pieces to get going. Just recently got an adapter to mount an RDF on the camera using the hotshoe to better be able to  aim it where I need and want:

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

Also have an intervalometer that I bought last year, but havn't used much so far:

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1464_Programmable-SLR-Remote-Control-for-Sony--Minolta.html

I will, when the weather improves, try some basic shots with the camera on a fixed tripod (Manfrotto 190 PROB) just for fun. I've see some very interesting results here on SGL lately.

[Langy]

Not sure about the tracking options etc.

However if you are doing wide angle your exposure times can be quite long without start trailing. At the other end on a 300mm lens I expose for about 1.3 seconds. Try and take as many as possible, plus some bias and dark frames. Finally these all get stacked with a free piece of software called Deep Sky Stacker. You will be surprised the results you can get.

[TractionMan]

I did play around a bit with DSS last summer. Didn't spend that much time with it though. I'll look into it in more depth once I start to collect images to work with.

[hobsey]

I have that same remote. Very good and most importantly, very cheap.

[bogdog]

you can have some good fun with a dslr and the night sky,and never know what you have captured

until you come home and sift through the results,here is a pic i did using autopano pro (microsoft ice works same way)

was about 20 pictures @ 5 seconds with a super takamur 55mm lens on a nikon 3100,summer last year

i didn't think the programme would be able to stitch stars together and was expecting a mess

didn't go widefield lol i went long

[Pete Presland]

Its come out quite well. The good thing about the digital age is you can snap away and if they are no good just bin them and try again!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[TractionMan]

I have that same remote. Very good and most importantly, very cheap.

So far I'm happy with it. Works very well and as you wrote, it's very cheap.

[TractionMan]

you can have some good fun with a dslr and the night sky,and never know what you have captured

until you come home and sift through the results,here is a pic i did using autopano pro (microsoft ice works same way)

was about 20 pictures @ 5 seconds with a super takamur 55mm lens on a nikon 3100,summer last year

i didn't think the programme would be able to stitch stars together and was expecting a mess

didn't go widefield lol i went long

longfield.jpg

Really cool! Did set the camera up last year during the Perseid peak. a couple of hundred photos and all I got was one meteor and a satellite. Good fun to browse the images though.

[glowingturnip]

Really cool! Did set the camera up last year during the Perseid peak. a couple of hundred photos and all I got was one meteor and a satellite. Good fun to browse the images though.

yep, did the same, caught a decent meteor, but didn't realise until the day afterwards that I'd forgotten to focus....   delete.

[TractionMan]

Getting closer and closer to a decision on which tracking mount to invest in. I think. For the time being it looks like it will be the iOptron Skytracker V2 as it seems to be very easy to set up and use plus it's very portable. Sure I'm tempted to get a mount with more loading capacity, but then I'll lose some of the portability I'm after and I'm likely to need an external power source.

Another thing is that, since it's widefield work I want to try, I'm most likely to use my Tamron17-50mm f/2.8, Minolta 50mm f/1.7 and Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro. I seriously doubt I'll try the Minolta 100-400 APO zoom.

Just started to read Making Every Photo Count today as well. Going to read it at least once before I buy anything.

[TractionMan]

Just been outside for about an hour armed with my DSLR on a fixed tripod (Manfrotto 190PROB), intervalometer and my nifty fifty to see what can be done. Tried various exposure settings and made sure to shoot darks as well using the same settings as for the subs. While the camera was doing it's thing, I had a blast scanning the beautiful clear sky with my binos. So, tomorrow I will try to dabble a bit with DSS.

[Eddy_]

I've been looking into tracking mounts too - i've considered the polarie, skytracker (and guider), astrotrac, and EQ3/5 mounts.. The cost when you add in tripod, head, ball heads etc certainly spirals (although you already have the tripod so that helps).. I've now decided to build a microcontroller/stepper motor driven barn door type tracker instead. I get to combine hobbies and keep the cost down, should be interesting! Looking forward to seeing your results.

[TractionMan]

I've been looking into tracking mounts too - i've considered the polarie, skytracker (and guider), astrotrac, and EQ3/5 mounts.. The cost when you add in tripod, head, ball heads etc certainly spirals (although you already have the tripod so that helps).. I've now decided to build a microcontroller/stepper motor driven barn door type tracker instead. I get to combine hobbies and keep the cost down, should be interesting! Looking forward to seeing your results.

I'm not capable of building such things as my DIY skills are... Well... Not so good.

Anyway, I bit the bullet just a few minutes ago and ordered an iOptron Skytracker V2 (black) and I'll be using  my Benro A4570T tripod and Benro B1 ball head with 25kg and 12kg load capacity respectively.

I decided to try to dabble a bit with DSS yesterday, but it just kept crashing. Probably have to reinstall it or something. The images I got a couple of days ago weren't good anyway, but at least I thought they would allow me to start experimenting and slowly starting to learn how to use DSS. So, no success with stacking so far but here's a single unedited sub, only converted from RAW to jpg and downsized:

ISO 1600, f/2.2, 3.2sec. Probably should have stopped down the lens a bit more as well as using a slightly shorter shutter time.

At least, I found out that using an RDF on the camera does help quite a bit when trying to aim and frame the intended targets.

[TractionMan]

I recieved the iOptron Skytracker yesterday and of course the weather sucks and I won't be able to try it out for a while. But I shot a silly little unboxing video since I didn't have anything better to do.

[TractionMan]

Ready to go for a spin! Oh right, it's raining and judging by the weather forecast, it will continue to do so for a few days...