skywatcher star adventurer any benefit for milky way

[iwols]

Hi just took a few 25 second  images of the milky way on tripod and stacked in sequator,with iso up ect the image turned out ok,so i was just wondering what there would be to gain from using a star tracker,i know i can get longer images but whats the benefit as my 25 second images were quite bright any way,just looking for your thoughts thanks

[iwols]

hyperthetically,would a 1min @ iso 100 be a lot better than a 20sec exposure at say iso 1200 thanks

[Crackabarrel]

A star adventurer or equivalent would allow you to expose for longer, the advantage of which is being better able to gather really faint signal, allowing you to get more detail on the really dim dust lanes and faint nebulosity in the area.

Being able to shoot for longer also means you can use a lower ISO for decreased noise on each image.

Hope that helps.

[900SL]

On 21/09/2021 at 15:05, iwols said:

hyperthetically,would a 1min @ iso 100 be a lot better than a 20sec exposure at say iso 1200 thanks

No. You have to get the right exposure for a start, and ISO100 @1m is not the same as ISO1200 @20s.

ISO stops are 100,200,400,800,1600,3200 etc

For each ISO stop you halve the exposure, so for example

1min at 400

30s at 800

15s at 1600

 

You won't see anything at ISO 100 for 1min

 

What camera and lens are you using? A tracker can significantly improve MW shots with a good camera and lens

 

 

 

[Dazzyt66]

As others have said, a tracking mount will give you the opportunity to take longer exposures (and therefore more information).

One thing I found useful when looking at astrophotography was this:

What is the best ISO for your DSLR for astrophotography? | DSLR Astrophotography (dslr-astrophotography.com)

Every camera has its own 'sweet spot' where you get best information v low(er) noise. In my case its 1600iso. Check your camera in the link above.

Hope that helps.

Daz

[iwols]

2 hours ago, 900SL said:

No. You have to get the right exposure for a start, and ISO100 @1m is not the same as ISO1200 @20s.

ISO stops are 100,200,400,800,1600,3200 etc

For each ISO stop you halve the exposure, so for example

1min at 400

30s at 800

15s at 1600

 

You won't see anything at ISO 100 for 1min

 

What camera and lens are you using? A tracker can significantly improve MW shots with a good camera and lens

 

 

 

It's a nikon d750 with either a samyang 14mmf2..8 or tamron 24 - 135 mm

[900SL]

7 hours ago, iwols said:

It's a nikon d750 with either a samyang 14mmf2..8 or tamron 24 - 135 mm

Without a tracker:

D750 is ISO invariant so you can shoot at ISO 1600. You lose a little on dynamic range.

14mm lens at f2.8 can shoot for https://www.lonelyspeck.com/advanced-astrophotography-shutter-time-calculator/

or 15s before trailing. You can push that to 20 seconds unless you are a pixel peeper. You are limited to wide angle lenses with a large aperture and may get lens aberrations due to shooting wide open (vignette, coma etc)

You want the histogram at 1/3 along from the left with no black clipping. You may need to raise ISO to 3200. Don't use intermediate ISO settings, use full stops 800/1600/3200

Take lots of frames and stack in Sequator to improve SN ratio

With a tracker:

A tracker will allow you to shoot at lower ISO and for longer. You can stop the lens aperture down to improve vignette, focus, bloating and coma etc. You can still stack to imp[rove SN. You can use longer focal length lenses.

 

 

[900SL]

 

One of my first efforts at astrophotography, pre-rabbit hole.

Nikon D610, 20mm at F 2.5 I think, can't remember exposure. Tripod no tracker, remote flash, 35C, light pollution from low level dust and wind 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by 900SL

[900SL]

Same evening