Orion M42 with canon lens, single shot

[skye at night]

Hello,

got a few of these I will stack and process when i have time..

This however is a single of 85 secs I think... no process or tweaks...

Canon 20Da, Canon 200mm f1.8L with 2x extender @ f4.5...

Quite happy with this as a single image.

Sky was nice and dark (without the clouds) and the thin moon had set behind the house by the time I took this. Sure you have seen plenty M42's this season, but I have had limited opportunities so glad I managed it.

The pale areas are not cloud... they are just the contrast from the darker 'fingers' which are small branches from our huge conifer tree getting in the way. Orion seems to head west at a serious pace now.

Will post the full result when I have time.

Steve

[MishMich]

It is nice and dark - and the colour is quite nice too. I look forward to seeing the result.

M.

[anthony]

Smashing result for one sub. Good going. Nice colour

Anthony

[stuming]

That's a really nice image there. As a newbie, I have a question though: is that the sort of image I can expect to see just viewing through the scope? I've been looking at M42 most nights I'm outside but can only ever see the light blue cloud around the trapezium and nothing else. I have a UHC but that didn't change much. Is there a technique to "seeing" the nebula or is it really only when you photograph the thing, and tweak stuff in photoshop that you get an image like yours?

Thanks

Stuart

[skye at night]

Hello,

Your 'eyeball' image will always be your own particular version of monochrome...

It is the camera that picks up the colours.

This shot has had NO post processing of any kind as yet and the colours are due to the sensitivity of the camera to those wavelengths.

Thanks

Steve

[stuming]

Your 'eyeball' image will always be your own particular version of monochrome...

It is the camera that picks up the colours.

This shot has had NO post processing of any kind as yet and the colours are due to the sensitivity of the camera to those wavelengths.

So my 20D (not 20Da) could in theory produce a similar image? Not as red obviously. So how is it that a camera that reproduces terrestrial colours faithfully, more or less, when taking snaps of my back garden, starts to pick up colours that can't be seen with the naked eye through a 'scope?

I'm curious!

Stuart

[themos]

The reason is that most everyday objects have a "broad" colour spectrum, so they are easy to fake with the equally broad RGB sampling of a camera. The camera's "red" pixels are sensitive to a broader range of red light (even with the filters the manufacturers put there to limit the infrared response which would have overwhelmed the pixels) than your eye and furthermore, their colour response is not affected by light intensity. Your eyes, however, do not perceive colour at low light levels and, even worse, the peak of the response shifts to the blue end of the spectrum making faint red things impossible to see.

Luminosity function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[resonator77]

Steve,

this very impressive single shot image

so here come the questions ;-)

is it modded ? (canon 20D)

what were you settings for ISO and exposure?

what mount did you use if any? I understand there wasn't telescope present?

Many thanks in advance.

[skye at night]

Canon 20Da - this was (briefly) an official issue Canon astro camera, it has increased 'red' /ha sensitivity and had live view for focus when it was unheard of in other dslr's... It came about due to demand from Japanese astronomers/astrophotographers and was initially released there, then the USA. Not sure if it was ever officially released in the UK...

It is very noise free at ISO 1600, although of course even less at 800 which I think is the optimum for my camera.

The single shot was ISo 800, 85 secs If I recall. EQ6, I do use a barn door a lot but only for 135mm and less...

No telescope.... Camera and very big lens on a strong ball head attached to a losmandy plate. My mount has a losmandy saddle.

Steve

[resonator77]

Steve,

what' the barn door? as in "Barn door" or astro equipment?

[skye at night]

Barndoor Mount

[Beyond_Vision]

Nice shot Steve for a single frame.

Regards

Kevin