Appreciation

[obscura]

Just to say a very big thank you to all in SGL that helped me from humble beginnings in January to achieving my first image the other night. That could not have happened without the patience and help from you all. The image was v. good for the first and for me - but don't ask for it - its just a sky full of stars. Boring I guess.

Again, many thanks. I will be back.

Best Regards

Brian

[jgs001]

So where's the image then Brian...?? you can't create it and then not post it ... nothing wrong with a sky full of stars...

Glad we were able to help you out.

[obscura]

Ah John you are teasing me - its like getting a new camera and taking the first shot of moggy in full auto and sending it off to David Bailey. But have no fear. When "that" image of some distant DSO is acquired, then I could be very boring.

The centre stars were quite good and round but outer stars had some flare which is probably more the rubbish Canon 80-200 zoom at 80 piggybacked than anything else. Next time the 350D will be at the WO80 prime focus to eradicate poor bottles.

Rgds

Brian

[jgs001]

Not at all, no teasing intended... there may be things that someone can spot and suggest for improvement either in the capture or processing, so it's worthwhile posting to be honest.

I think you're probably right about the stars around the edge, that can be sorted by stopping the lens down a bit, but at the expense of needing to increase the exposure time. The flaring can't be fixed with the lens distortion filter that I know of...

[yeti monster]

Yes, show the image! If it's astro related then it belongs in the forum...

[obscura]

It was the first time all the kit was run and to see how it all got on together. The resultant image was better than expected but could have had longer exposure. I just did 10 lights, 10 darks @ 90secs each plus 20 bias. I think exposures of 2 - 3 mins may have been better. But that's for another night.

Rgds

Brian

[obscura]

Awlright, awlright! Gordon Bennett!!

[Orion_the_Hunter]

There's nowt wrong with that! I love looking at just stars/whatever appears in my ep.

[jgs001]

Nice result Brian, very good for a first attempt. You've got what looks like a little vignetting in there... what was the lens aperture ? I'd guess you had it pretty wide open, by how you described the edge stars, and that's probably the cause of that too.

[obscura]

Your dead right. There is a nasty vignetting which has to be due to the rubbish zoom. Not much to play with in terms of f stop - f4/f5.6. But this was just to mate it altogether rather than a serious try. Also, our local council decided to change all the street lights here. From orange sodium to those that would grace the Olympic Stadium, higher brighter and whiter and spreads much further into the garden. Thankyou Mr Councilman. I used a SW LP filter on the Canon zoom which appears to have worked very well. The 350D is unmodded.

Rgds

brian

[kev 102 42]

Great first pic Git, nice one and thanks for sharing.........kev