NEOWISE- DSLR versus Compact Camera

[michael8554]

Me and the wife took some images of NEOWISE last night around midnight.

Her with a Panasonic Lumix TZ70.

Great camera daytime, with a useful zoom.

Set the focus to infinity in Manual Focus

We tried 15 secs exposure, couldn't see a thing on the Review,

Went to 30 secs, same again.

Took it indoors and PaintShop Pro'd it.

ArcSin 300 and black level raised a tad.

Quantizing is quite noticeable:

 

 

Then I had a go with a 600D and 18-135mm lens at 35mm focal length.

ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure.

A touch of noise reduction was all I did.

 

Both of us are pleased with our respective results.

Michael

[KevinPSJ]

Very helpful Michael. I'm hoping to catch the comet tonight and was wondering what settings to use on my Nikon DSLR. This will give me a good head-start! And a nice image too. I'm planning to shoot wide angle first with the camera lens and then try with my 6in reflector at prime focus to see what the comet looks like close up. 

Did you use a tripod or a tracking mount? 

Thanks,

Kevin

[michael8554]

Thanks Kevin.

Tripod for both cameras.

As always, try to get the best balance between ISO and noise, and exposure/focal length with star shape.

I will try with lower ISO next time.

Michael

 

Michael

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, KevinPSJ said:

Very helpful Michael. I'm hoping to catch the comet tonight and was wondering what settings to use on my Nikon DSLR. This will give me a good head-start! And a nice image too. I'm planning to shoot wide angle first with the camera lens and then try with my 6in reflector at prime focus to see what the comet looks like close up. 

Did you use a tripod or a tracking mount? 

Thanks,

Kevin

A telescope might be a bit much, I got data two nights ago, and at 100 mm on my Canon EOS 80D the tails didn't fit entirely in the FOV. On a crop-sensor camera, a 50 mm has a good chance of picking up the entire comet

 

[Tenor Viol]

1 hour ago, KevinPSJ said:

Very helpful Michael. I'm hoping to catch the comet tonight and was wondering what settings to use on my Nikon DSLR. This will give me a good head-start! And a nice image too. I'm planning to shoot wide angle first with the camera lens and then try with my 6in reflector at prime focus to see what the comet looks like close up. 

Did you use a tripod or a tracking mount? 

Thanks,

Kevin

I used a Z6 last weekend and ISO 1600 for 5 secs at 70mm gave decent result. If it's clear this weekend and it doesn't involve me having to drive 15 miles to see it (it's much higher now so hopefully I won't have to do that) I'' have a go with the D7500 as well. 

[KevinPSJ]

Thanks to all for the advice. I'll try with 50mm lens piggyback on my mount. Also will experiment with various ISO settings. Looks like I'll have to wait until Sunday though- all clouds in the forecast until then.

[wxsatuser]

70mm on a full frame works quite nicely.
In my LP infested garden 35secs at f/4 ISO 800 seemed the best but I used a Ioptron Startracker
so no star tracks.