Orion widefield with nikon d3300

[Victor Boesen]

So the weather here in Denmark is as always trash, but when the sky is clear i try to image when i can.
Yesterday i got 180x10sec shots of orion at 35mm, 10sec exposure, iso 3200 at f/4.5 with my kit-lens 25 flat, bias and dark frames. I think i am pushing my "setup" to its limits, with my gorillapod and kit-lens as you can see below in a picture taken with my iphone.

But somehow Deep sky stacker wouldn't want me to have a 180 frames stacked giving me 30mins of exposure, NO NO! It took away ONE frame just to give me that 29min and 50sec OCD freakout.
However i am pretty happy with the results, but i am highly considering to buy the nifty fifty nikkor af-s 50mm f/1.8, as i think this would perform better. 
Here is the pictures of the setup for the night and how much light pollution there was according to the sqm readings.

And now to the picture of orion itself. I know it is nothing to party about, but tell me what you think.
In the picture i think i caught the orion nebula, the flame nebula and M78.

Clear skies!

Victor Boesen

[johnfosteruk]

Nice image Victor, and get the 1.8 - those extra few stops make all the difference and it's a beauty for portraits and everyday carry during the day too, sharp, very sharp.

[Victor Boesen]

27 minutes ago, johnfosteruk said:

Nice image Victor, and get the 1.8 - those extra few stops make all the difference and it's a beauty for portraits and everyday carry during the day too, sharp, very sharp.

yeah i will. Actually it was after seeing your "quick and dirtier orion" that i wanted to give orion a try, and when i saw the price of the nifty fifty, my jaw dropped.

[happy-kat]

Great start, good to see having a go with what you have. It's fun identifying what you captured.

Theoretically I would expect you to comfortably get images at 10 seconds without much evidence of star trails. Was that 35mm actually 55mm on the lens? Being really conservative 400/35 = 11.4 so did you sit at the table surfing while the images where being taken? Did the table transmit vibration or maybe is the grillopod vibrating with the mirror movement on each exposure? To test this set the lens at 15mm or what ever is widest for 5 second exposure are you still seeing trails?

Hope you don't mind me commenting. 

[Victor Boesen]

It is because i cropped it to about 200%. The focus was also a bit out even though i checked it several times and it put a piece of tape on the lens so it wouldn't get out of focus.

[happy-kat]

Hadn't realised it was a heavy crop. When focusing if possible try to use a star on a third intersection rather than the centre.

Hope you have a clear sky soon, I've forgotten what one looks like here. I have a gorillapod too very handy tripod.