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-   -   Stars. A lot of stars - Andromeda (https://www.thevettebarn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111908)

TripleBlack 09-15-2017 12:07pm

Stars. A lot of stars - Andromeda
 
1 Attachment(s)
Recently got an equatorial mount for my camera. Equatorial mounts move the camera very slowly to compensate for the earths rotation so you can take much longer exposures without the stars blurring. This was my first time to use it to track stars - used it to track the sun during the eclipse.

This is Andromeda, the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way. Click this and it will go near full screen. You can see a couple other galaxies in the large view.

I think it looks pretty cool but it's amateurish compared to those who really know how to do it. Search google images for Andromeda and you see what I mean. Hope to get better at this.

Anyway, FWIW...

wwomanC6 09-16-2017 6:56am

Wow that is pretty cool and star studded! Thanks TB! :seasix:

78SA 09-16-2017 9:39pm

Nice! What gear did you use?

wwomanC6 09-17-2017 6:52am

The night was not a complete fail though... I did find Andromeda which is an easy target. This is a one minute exposure at f2.8 @200mm. Exposures that long require a mount that has a motor to move the camera to compensate for the earth's rotation. It was shot on a crop sensor camera so the effective focal length was actually 320mm. The shot is cropped a little to center Andromeda but it's near full frame. Andromeda is HUGE in the sky and can be seen with binoculars.

^This is what TB post in another thread about the same pic.

I'm gonna get my binoculars out tonight and try to find it!:wow:

OddBall 09-17-2017 2:26pm

Love that Pic!

TripleBlack 09-17-2017 2:45pm

1 Attachment(s)
Okay... sometimes less is more. I stacked 23 of the 30 shots I captured and spent at least 2 hours post processing the image above. Was very excited about it and it looks pretty good in smaller sizes but the stars just weren't sharp when viewed large.

Just before taking the 30 shots I took 10 at 1600 ISO but didn't bother to process them until last night. Instead of using obscure stacking software, I just stacked these in Photoshop - aligned them and made curves, levels, saturation, and vibrance adjustments and came up with this. Much, much better if you ask me. The colors are truer and the overall sharpness is much better.

Weigand 10-01-2017 10:44am

Awesome image. I enjoy space themed pics and I really got a kick out of it. Thanks for sharing TripleBlack.

TripleBlack 10-01-2017 5:38pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by wwomanC6 (Post 1585815)
The night was not a complete fail though... I did find Andromeda which is an easy target. This is a one minute exposure at f2.8 @200mm. Exposures that long require a mount that has a motor to move the camera to compensate for the earth's rotation. It was shot on a crop sensor camera so the effective focal length was actually 320mm. The shot is cropped a little to center Andromeda but it's near full frame. Andromeda is HUGE in the sky and can be seen with binoculars.

^This is what TB post in another thread about the same pic.

I'm gonna get my binoculars out tonight and try to find it!:wow:

Here's how to find it... http://earthsky.org/?p=2848

Cassiopeia is easy to find and once you find it, Andromeda is easy.

carlton_fritz 03-18-2018 8:22am

There is a new lens company that makes a sweet lens you might like for night shots. Irix. The 15mm f2.4. Manual focus. Gets great reviews. I just ordered one.

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ix+15mm+review

TripleBlack 03-19-2018 11:43pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlton_fritz (Post 1619564)
There is a new lens company that makes a sweet lens you might like for night shots. Irix. The 15mm f2.4. Manual focus. Gets great reviews. I just ordered one.

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ix+15mm+review

I think you will be happy with that lens... friend of mine has one for Nikon and has had very good results with very wide field astrophotography.

I have the Rokinon 14mm 2.8 and it does a nice job. Much better in the corners than my old Tokina 11-16 though doesn't have autofocus for day use like the Tokina.

carlton_fritz 03-27-2018 7:18am

Quote:

Originally Posted by TripleBlack (Post 1619787)
I think you will be happy with that lens... friend of mine has one for Nikon and has had very good results with very wide field astrophotography.

I have the Rokinon 14mm 2.8 and it does a nice job. Much better in the corners than my old Tokina 11-16 though doesn't have autofocus for day use like the Tokina.

The weather is refusing to get nice. Not likely to get the lens out for another month, if then. Winter just will not go away.


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