Initial DSLR shots

[szymon]

Outside our bungalow here in Grado, Italy, I have this really irritating light:

Actually they're everywhere here, hard to find a truly dark spot.  But, the skies are great anyway!  So I thought I'd take a couple of photos, all taken on my Canon 6D.  First, here's Cassiopeia hand-held with a 40mm f/2.8 wide open 0.4s at iso 128000:

and a hand-held plough (obligatory), 1 second handheld at iso 6400:

I then put the camera on the ground set at iso 3200 and let it go for 10 seconds:

Next I switched lenses to a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM, wide open at 70mm f/4 for 20 seconds iso 3200 on a Redsnapper tripod pointed up at the Keystone (2/3 of the way between Arcturus and Vega):

and then zoomed in to 300mm for a shot of Arcturus (f/5.6 5 seconds):

and zoomed out again, don't recall exactly where (name that sky?) f/4 15 seconds:

Finally I pointed up at Danab and got an interesting interloper - I wonder what it was that cut across the image like this?  (30mm 20 seconds):

-simon

[Coco]

This is how the hobby starts, it gets expensive from here on

[Pete Presland]

some good shots there, the streak in the last image will be a satalite crossing the field of view. have you got the stock 18mm-55mm lens with you? it would interesting to see some widefield shots.

[szymon]

With me I have the 17-40 f4/L, 24-105 f/4 L IS USM and 50mm f/1.8 II as well as the lenses mentioned above, I also have a 2x TC and a 50D. I'm going to try a mix tonight, see what I can get. Will probably try connecting the cameras up to the scope too (80mm f/11 refractor, prime or with 2x barlow).

[szymon]

Still fighting the local lights, a few shots from last night on the 6D.

The shark of local light pollution eating the Plough:

(EF17-40mm f/4L at 17mm f/4 iso3200 10s)

Cassiopeia:

(EF17-40mm f/4L at 40mm f/4 iso1600 10s)

The summer triangle:

(EF17-40mm f/4L at 17mm f/4 iso1600 10s)

A satellite cuts across a fast-moving star field:

(Celestron GTL80 prime focus, iso3200 15s)

Followed by a few wide-open images, mostly ruined by the ingress of the local lighting.  I've tried to tone down the harshness of the LP in post-processing, but really I need to take a walk to somewhere a little further away (hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow).

-simon

[szymon]

Whoops, that old copyright logo got stuck in there by mistake.  Guess I should update or remove it at some point ;-)

[D4N]

Nice shots.

That lamp goes against every LP regulation there is, more light is going up than down!

I hope you have some nice dark site nearby.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[Pete Presland]

they are getting better all the time! milky way looking very nice.