M51 first light with mono cooled Canon 550D MKII

[Luis Campos]

Hi all,

After months of frustrating weather I finally got the chance to go to my dark(ish) sky site and spend some peacefull quality time under the starry skies

How I missed listening to the frogs and crickets singing all night long with a plethora and other nitghtly creatures joining in a symphony of plesant sounds, the Ouls were particularly active maybe looking for country mice for dinner join all this to a beautifull sky with warm temperature and very low humidity and one can be in heaven, today I feel much better for sure, a ton of stress of my back!

Well, I had finished my new camera for more then a month now (TEC cooled and mono Canon 550D) but I haven't been able to test it yet due to the everlasting clouds and general bad weather, this time I also took my 600D to make a LRGB image, unfortenately M51 is now riding very high at night fall and there's not much time to get it before a meridian flip....and I'm allergic to that! Anyways, I managed to get 17x 5min. subs with the mono 550D working at 9cº and another 10x3 min. subs with the 600D reading 25cº on the sensor.

I also did some "selfies" astronomical selfies that is, that's me seating at the controls wile my 8" f/4 newt is drinking starlight

Hope you like these images, I just wish I can go out some more!!!

M51 LRGB, 8" f/4 newt. with Baader MPCC (first generation), Baader moon & sky glow filter, Canon 550D Mono & TEC cooled (@9Cº) and another 10x3 min. for color with Canon 600D RGB:

And here a 50% size crop:

And here the amateur astronomer "selfie"

Cheers,

Luís

[toxic]

very good image (cooled 350D) wow not to many of them about.

[bluedandelion]

Nice work!

[Thalestris24]

Very nice - and what a lovely sky you have!

Louise

[lensman57]

Yes I agree, it looks exactly like the one in Manchester except mine is grey .

Regards,

A.G

Very nice - and what a lovely sky you have!

Louise

[Luis Campos]

very good image (cooled 350D) wow not to many of them about.

Hi Chris,

Thanks!

This was with a mono converted and cooled 550D, but I also have my trusty mono and cooled 350D

Yes, these are in fact ones of a kind

[Luis Campos]

Very nice - and what a lovely sky you have!

Louise

Many thanks Louise

I really can't complain about the sky, this is as good as it gets near a big city like Lisbon (about 40 kms).

If I drive for 2,5 hours I can get to Alentejo and this...oh my gosh! It's hard to make out the constelations with the sheer amount of stars visible, see here:

http://www.darkskyalqueva.com/por/

Cheers,

[Luis Campos]

Yes I agree, it looks exactly like the one in Manchester except mine is grey .

Regards,

A.G

Hi A.G.

Don't despair my friend

cheers,

[Thalestris24]

Many thanks Louise

I really can't complain about the sky, this is as good as it gets near a big city like Lisbon (about 40 kms).

If I drive for 2,5 hours I can get to Alentejo and this...oh my gosh! It's hard to make out the constelations with the sheer amount of stars visible, see here:

http://www.darkskyalqueva.com/por/

Cheers,

I'm lucky if I can see a dozen stars here

Louise

[Coco]

Looks terrific to Me Luis, so is this Mono Lum with 550D and RGB over the top 600D? 

[Luis Campos]

Looks terrific to Me Luis, so is this Mono Lum with 550D and RGB over the top 600D? 

Hey Guy!

Correct, 85 min of lum. with the mono cooled 550D and another 30 min. with the RGB 600D just to "paint" the scene

Very happy with this

[toxic]

how the heck did you manage to cool you eos cameras

[Luis Campos]

how the heck did you manage to cool you eos cameras

Hey Chris!

By now I've converted more then 25 cameras not only cooled but also debayered for many budies, it's one hell of a job for sure...see here a 450D example: 

Now I have a way to integrate all the electronics that feed the TEC cooling system and also power the camera inside a battery grip, this way there's no controls box in separate it's all included in camera, I'l post a pic of it for you to see later

[toxic]

wow well done indeed great job 

[ollypenrice]

This is good. The outer halo is showing all its main components and these are very faint.

I'm off to Portugal shorlty so please don't tell me the weather is going to be lousy! (I love your country.)

Olly

[Luis Campos]

Thank you Olly!

The weather is not so bad but it´s so variable it's just weird, now it's 30cº but with high clouds, for the rest of the week is like heat, rain, wind, all in the mix...you name it.

https://www.ipma.pt/pt/otempo/prev.localidade/index.jsp

Don't forget to eat some good old roasted bacalhau with baked potatoes all with olive oil and garlic (Bacalhau à Lagareiro) delicious! Wish you a very nice time here in (not so now...) sunny Portugal

Cheers,

[sharkmelley]

Excellent result!

You put some very hard work into those cameras and you deserve a good result like this.

Mark

[Thalestris24]

Hey Chris!

By now I've converted more then 25 cameras not only cooled but also debayered for many budies, it's one hell of a job for sure...see here a 450D example: 

Now I have a way to integrate all the electronics that feed the TEC cooling system and also power the camera inside a battery grip, this way there's no controls box in separate it's all included in camera, I'l post a pic of it for you to see later

Hi Luis

Do you by any chance sell the cameras?

Louise

[Luis Campos]

Excellent result!

You put some very hard work into those cameras and you deserve a good result like this.

Mark

Many thanks Mark!

[Luis Campos]

Hi Luis

Do you by any chance sell the cameras?

Louise

Hi Louise,

PM sent.