Poor relation?

[Demonperformer]

I'm not going to deny that M57 is the star (if you will excuse the pun) messier object in the constellation of Lyra. Hence the large number of M57-photo threads doing the rounds at the moment. But it would be nice to spare a thought for it's Lyra-partner; M56. Maybe not as impressive, but still quite nice, and in a nice stellar field. So I spent a few minutes on it last night.

Thanks for looking.

[the rev]

M56 is a really nice globular cluster and these are very good widefield views of it.

Was this taken with the Canon 1000D?

Kate

[Demonperformer]

Hi Kate

Thanks for your comments.

Yes, it was taken with the Canon plugged into the 102 SLT (on alt-az mount).

* 96 (out of 120) x 15sec exposures + darks/bias

* Processed in DSS & GIMP

[Keiran]

Nice capture there john... as above i like the wide field...

Fingers crossed for more clear skies tonight

[Demonperformer]

Thanks Kieran

The top one is the entire picture, reduced to 20% size in PSP. Unfortunately, the cluster tends to get lost in the background, so I included a pic cropped around the cluster at the original size.

[Psychobilly]

It might be small but its nicely formed but its well captured and processed...

Peter...

[Demonperformer]

Thanks, Peter

I kept panicing while taking the subs, as I was not sure if I was getting trailing or not, the screen is too small to be sure. I knew the test shots I had done were OK, but I haven't found a way of increasing the size of the preview screen. If there was, it was obviously processed out by DSS as the roundness of the stars is pleasingly surprising.

[Psychobilly]

The preview screen with EOS_utils or on the Camera itself?

You can zoom the image on the camera during playback and scroll around it...

Peter...

[Demonperformer]

Sorry, meant the screen on the EOS utilities. I find the camera is often at really awkward angles to view the screen on the camera itself. I always zoom in on the test screen to maximise focus and to check if there is any trailing then, but with an alt-az mount, I am never convinced that trailing will not start during the time I am taking the pics. For some curious reason, I have found that performing a SYNC on the object I am photographing reduces any trailing, compared to an un-SYNC'd photo:icon_scratch:.

[Psychobilly]

i dont like touching the camera either when its setup on the scope...

I think you can also "view" the images as they come from the camera with one of the other canon apps (either Digital Photo Pro or the Zoom EX browser) and zoom in check histogram levels etc.... I will check it out when I get home and let you know ...

Another quick check is to use a magnifier app on the PC on the Preview window again I'll check out which I am using when I get in there are loads of free ones out there...

Peter...

[Psychobilly]

Ok ....

Click on the Preferences tab - bottom left of the Eos Utils Window...

Use the tab scroll right button in the top right until you can see the "Linked Software tab"

Either use...

None - pops up the standard preview window....

Or...

ZoomBrowser EX with "Display the folder at the save destination" This will preview the images in Zoom Browser EX then as they are downloaded and you can use the Zoom Tab to wander around the images...

Or...

Select Digital Phot Professional instead...

Then the images will show as thumbnails as they come in and clicking on the image will open another window allowing you to zoom and check other things...

I had unistalled the magnifier app ... but this is the one I used to use Virtual Magnifier

Peter...