Anyone want to see the (probably) worst ever first AP image posted? I'm still very happy with it, because...

[MKHACHFE]

Hi all, 

Long story short, I bought my first tracking mount yesterday ( a Star Adventurer Mini Wifi) and cheap, crappy tripod to learn the ropes. Never taken an single image of the sky in my 45 years of life. Since we are facing another month of lock down, I went with the most cost effective setup for my limited budget. Unfortunately, my Nikon DSLR is in a storage unit in town, and i have not had a chance to get it yet (that qualifies as essential travel right?) 

So my wife gave me her old lumix dmc-t220 which is a compact camera I bought her many moons ago to at least get started.  Anyway, after easily polar aligning from my Bortle 6 garden, I managed to take 14x15sec exposure pics at 200 iso on the crappy camera. This was really just to see if the tracking was working. And after a quick layering in PS and some levels adjusting, I'm happy to say that yes...its all tracking nicely so far. The camera has a bit of trouble focusing so the stars are a bit big, but I don't care. I'm happy as a can be with this crappy image I took this evening. I only had an hour of play time sadly otherwise I would have done more. 

So there you have it. I know this is not in the slightest bit impressive, but since you fine folk are the only people I have to show who care (my wife lovingly feigns interest..bless her) I thought I would post it. Note, i have halved the image size. 

 

I'm so looking forward to the next month and learning more once I get my DSLR. My wife says she has not seen me this happy in a long time. I know I will not achieve the INCREDIBLE images posted here, but as long as I can get a wide field or even M31 image in the next month, that will do for me. 

Waiting for my copy of "every photon counts" as well. 

 

Thanks for reading this boring, unimpressive post. 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[MarkAR]

You have dipped your toe into a very large deep ocean. Get the DSLR and dive in.

Well done for a first attempt.

[MKHACHFE]

1 minute ago, MarkAR said:

You have dipped your toe into a very large deep ocean. Get the DSLR and dive in.

Well done for a first attempt.

Thank you. I am aware that its really not impressive, but with a 30 quid tripod and an old lumix the only things at my disposal at the moment (other than my SAM), i'll take this TINY victory, along with the excitement of whats the come.  

I know its so stupid to be so happy with such a rubbish pic, but for some reason, I am. 

Knowing the amazing advice and support I will get in the future for this community really helps feel excited about learning more. 

 

Cheers

[MKHACHFE]

It will be interesting to see just how good my polar alignment really is once I get into the 50+ images, which I'm hoping to do tomorrow. I only had it all set up about 10 mins before I had to come in this evening. 

Cheers

[MKHACHFE]

I just realized I wrongly labelled Capella as Castor....D'oh!