Basic widefield with a Camera and Tripod

[pvaz]

No flash for sure. The flash only illuminates close by objects, so it would be a bit optimistic to try and illuminate objects light years away .

You should switch to manual, use shutter speed option at the highest you can get without trails, around 30s when using a tripod and a widefield lens, also set a high ISO (makes the sensor more sensible to dim light).

Live view can be used before the shots to fine tune the focus. My camera (canon 450d) usually misses the auto focus so I usually switch to manual and set it to infinity with some minor tweaks using the live view. The shots themselfs are done with timer delay, to let the tripod stop any shaking from pressing the shutter botton, live view off, saves baterry, and I set it to do a sequence of a few fotos to stack later on.

PS-> My experience is limited, only had a couple of goes and managed some half decent results.

EDIT: same time post as John.

Edited April 27, 2010 by pvaz

[Mrshredder2]

do you hav e to shoot it in RAW, can't it be jpeg as we cannot seem to download the thing we need to view the images in RAW

[jgs001]

RAW is much better for this, you can use jpg, but the results will not be as good. If you install the Canon Zoombrowser EX you can use that to view the images this is what I use... or have a look at

ImpulseAdventure - RAW Thumbnails in Windows XP

[Mrshredder2]

ok cool well we got RAW now got the Canon Zoombrowser EX installed now just got to figure out how to change it from jpeg to raw.

also we cannot seem to edit them in gimp or deep sky stacker because when we click on the file with the relevant pictures they are not in there.

[jgs001]

just drag the raw files from zoombrowserEX straight into DSS, when the popup dialog comes up, select the type, i.e. lights for the image data. GIMP can't edit raw files, you have to use something like UFRaw to convert them for you to a format GIMP can understand. Even Photoshop doesn't directly understand raw format and has a pre processor for converting them (ACR - Adobe Camera Raw).

[Mrshredder2]

right i can put them in DSS how do i edit the curves in DSS cause i cannot find out how.

[jgs001]

DSS is used for staking the images. Once stacked you save the image to a tif and load the tif into GIMP... then you can edit the curves.. I did put this in the tutorial at the beginning of the thread.

[Mrshredder2]

ahhhh right must have missed that bit lol

[Mrshredder2]

when i try and do the curves on gimp it just shuts gimp down and wont let me do anything.

[jgs001]

Sorry, that I don't know the answer to. Probably some conflict on your PC... the GIMP support forums are probably a good bet.

[ashworthacca]

Thanks for the write up John, I'll definitely be giving it a try.

[jgs001]

Good luck Martin... look forward to seeing the results.

[Cornelius Varley]

ok cool well we got RAW now got the Canon Zoombrowser EX installed now just got to figure out how to change it from jpeg to raw.

also we cannot seem to edit them in gimp or deep sky stacker because when we click on the file with the relevant pictures they are not in there.

You cannot convert a jpeg back into an unprocessed raw file. If you have only captured your images in jpeg format convert them to tiff files for processing.

Peter

[Petrol]

Those pics are cool Thanks for the write up - Interesting

[smeech]

Thanks

Very helpful indeed. Got a 550D recently so will give this a go (once I have a tripod).

[Sierra Golf Mike]

After reading your tutorial, I am now itching to give this a go> I went outside about 45 minutes ago and thought, right now is the time but by the time I got the camera and tripod the clouds had rolled in "curses, foiled again!!!".

Is it necessary to have the lens at 18mm though? Or could it be zoomed in a bit?

Cheers

Steve

[jgs001]

Steve, sounds about typical ... As for the focal length... if you want to use 30 seconds or there abouts you need to be at the widest focal length you have, as you increase the focal length, so the exposure times come down. It's about 8 seconds at 50mm for instance. Try it and see how you get on, you'll need to work out what's the best exposure time for the focal length and point you're shooting.

[bcsman]

thanks for this jgs001

i looks complicated but im sure it will get easier if i just knuckle down and get on with it

[jgs001]

Your welcome, good luck, and post the results.

[kharga]

I have just discovered your post and it's exactly what I want since I do not have a telescope. I need to check whether there is a stacking program for the Mac.

Thanks again.

Cheers,

Austin

You can use Elements on a Mac and it lets you stack pics, for producing deep sky pics.

[chrismills]

Fantastic images from such a simple setup. I've given it a try this evening but the moon's a bit too bright and washed out a lot of details. Can't wait to give it a try on a moonless night.

Chris

[Gina]

Very interesting I have captured a wide view of the stars with a Sony A200 DSLR and 18mm on the kit lens. Focussing wasn't a problem. I tried a series of photos at various exposures to see the effect. 30 secs was the best unless you want star traces, as has been said.

Years ago I used a Pentax Spotmatic film SLR and have several lenses from these days. I bought an M42 to A mount adapter to use the Pentax lenses with my Sony A200. Of course, the DSLR has to be on full Manual mode but these lenses are high quality and quite useful. Focal length is effectively increased by 1.5 times as the DSLR has a smaller frame area than 35mm film.

Regards

Gina

[engstrom]

I tried this approach with my Canon 450d. My kit lens' autofocus is broken so I had to manually focus but didn't do it too well I discovered when I imported the pics.

Never mind, at least I had some images to try in Keith's Stacker on the Mac. I tried the tutorial images and figured out what to do with those and produced a nice stacked image. When I try with my images though I can't get them to align at all well. I must be doing something wrong...ah well...will try again tomorrow.

Edited June 1, 2011 by engstrom

[engstrom]

Sorted! I wasn't grabbing a big enough area for the app to realise what it had to try to match up.

[jgs001]

To be honest, the autofocus doesn't work on deep sky... so it doesn't really matter if it's broken. I'm afraid I can't help with Keith's stacker... I did look at it, but it can't handle raw. I use DSS in Vmware Fusion.