First attempt at Orion Nebula

[nmoore6]

single 30 second exposure through a 5" reflector, alt az mount, no shutter remote. A little fiddling in Lightroom. Im really happy with this, not perfect by any stretch at all, but it came out way better than I thought it would, especially without a shutter remote! I'll be using friends' bigger better scopes and EQ mounts soon, so hopefully I can hone my skills and learn stacking. Thanks for the advice from all of you going into trying this shot!

[Pompey Monkey]

The important things are that you started and that you are happy with the result.

If you don't start somewhere, you have no skills to hone! Welcome to the dark side

[Tommohawk]

Thats a good start, especially for a single sub on an AZ mount. As you say, if you can beg/borrow/steal an EQ you can get big improvements really quickly. Its a big learning curve - enjoy the ride.

[nmoore6]

Thank you both! Excited to keep improving

[Astrosurf]

Excellent start! Enjoy the fun. Oh, please do warn your bank manager that you're going to start on a spending spree now the bug has bit! And it won't stop . . . . . . . . . . 

Alexxx

[Astrosurf]

Also, do buy this. It's the imagers' bible!

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

 

 

[PeterCPC]

Welcome to the dark side. It would be worth investing in a remote shutter release or taking images with a timer delay because I think you have a bit of camera shake on that.

Peter

[MARS1960]

Well done, still much better than my attempts.

Amazon do a great "Aputure" intervalometer for about £15, it's dead simple, got a few features and works a treat, and about £100 cheaper than the very similar canon alternative.

[nmoore6]

3 hours ago, Astrosurf said:

Also, do buy this. It's the imagers' bible!

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

 

 

 

2 hours ago, PeterCPC said:

Welcome to the dark side. It would be worth investing in a remote shutter release or taking images with a timer delay because I think you have a bit of camera shake on that.

Peter

 

1 hour ago, MARS1960 said:

Well done, still much better than my attempts.

Amazon do a great "Aputure" intervalometer for about £15, it's dead simple, got a few features and works a treat, and about £100 cheaper than the very similar canon alternative.

thanks guys! The shutter remote just came in last night. I'll be trying many more times once the clouds are gone

[cjdawson]

That's an excellent result from an Az mount.   Before going nuts on getting lots of kit, try the shot again, but use a cable release.  If you don't have one, buy an intervalometer.  They're less than £20 on amazon/ebay.  Use that in conjuction with the mirror lock and the 2 second self timer built into the camera.     Whilst you are limited with the exposure time, you'll still be able to help control those pesky vibrations, which will help reduce some of the star trailing that you are getting.

If you do that, you'll be able to see what real star trails are like as opposed to camera shake.

In addition, turn the ISO up as high as you can.  Then take lots of frames and try to stack them using Deep Sky Stacker.  It'll be interesting to see what comes out the other side of that.

Great image, fantastic start, and there's some easy wins

[cjdawson]

4 hours ago, nmoore6 said:

 

 

thanks guys! The shutter remote just came in last night. I'll be trying many more times once the clouds are gone

YAY, just saw this after pressing submit.

[hitmanh]

Not bad at all. If you don't have a shutter release, see if you're camera has a self-timer (normally 2 or 10 seconds delay), which is very handy for avoiding motion blur...

[Mr Spock]

It's a tough task getting an image with an alt-az mount, you've done well.

[nmoore6]

8 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

It's a tough task getting an image with an alt-az mount, you've done well.

 

8 hours ago, hitmanh said:

Not bad at all. If you don't have a shutter release, see if you're camera has a self-timer (normally 2 or 10 seconds delay), which is very handy for avoiding motion blur...

 

8 hours ago, cjdawson said:

That's an excellent result from an Az mount.   Before going nuts on getting lots of kit, try the shot again, but use a cable release.  If you don't have one, buy an intervalometer.  They're less than £20 on amazon/ebay.  Use that in conjuction with the mirror lock and the 2 second self timer built into the camera.     Whilst you are limited with the exposure time, you'll still be able to help control those pesky vibrations, which will help reduce some of the star trailing that you are getting.

If you do that, you'll be able to see what real star trails are like as opposed to camera shake.

In addition, turn the ISO up as high as you can.  Then take lots of frames and try to stack them using Deep Sky Stacker.  It'll be interesting to see what comes out the other side of that.

Great image, fantastic start, and there's some easy wins

Really appreciate the feedback, guys. I'm so glad I found this site, a lot of helpful and nice people. And being from the US, it's cool to chat with people from mostly the UK!!

[tomato]

Nice first time shot, you have a well framed, bright image of M42, I can't remember how many attempts I took to get there! A big +1 for the remote shutter release or use the delayed exposure feature on the camera. Try as you might there will some judder if you are pressing the button at the camera and the mirror moving out of the way in the camera can cause a hefty tremor.

[Ruud]

You recorded the light from the nebula well, though the stars show some camera shake during the exposure. Maybe the shutter release cable will solve that. Mirror lock-up might help too. The camera's self timer may provide a further improvement. A black piece of cardboard in front of the lens that you remove once everything has come to rest will help as well. It'll give you a very manual and shake free control of the exposure time.

You made a good start!

 

[nmoore6]

19 hours ago, Ruud said:

You recorded the light from the nebula well, though the stars show some camera shake during the exposure. Maybe the shutter release cable will solve that. Mirror lock-up might help too. The camera's self timer may provide a further improvement. A black piece of cardboard in front of the lens that you remove once everything has come to rest will help as well. It'll give you a very manual and shake free control of the exposure time.

You made a good start!

 

 

20 hours ago, tomato said:

Nice first time shot, you have a well framed, bright image of M42, I can't remember how many attempts I took to get there! A big +1 for the remote shutter release or use the delayed exposure feature on the camera. Try as you might there will some judder if you are pressing the button at the camera and the mirror moving out of the way in the camera can cause a hefty tremor.

Thanks for the advice guys! I have been fiddling with the remote shutter now that I have it and am already noticing a difference. Also saves me from standing in the cold! I'll definitely look into the mirror lockup, and I think finally using an EQ mount will make a difference. Appreciate the feedback!