Hi all,While waiting for my scope, I'm trying to learn the ins and outs of BYE and DSS by just using my T1i on a tripod. I've tried a few short open sky pictures but nothing has come out (DSS would only stack one picture even at 2% threshold).I've got a f1.4 50mm and a 70-300mm as well as the kit lens. Any suggestions on things to shoot and settings? Skies are pretty dark despite street lights in the neighborhood.
Also since I have to work to pay for all these toys, I can only spend a few hours early in the evening. I'm also assuming DSS will accomodate star drift so I won't have to reposition my camera as long as I keep total exposure time short.
I'm not looking for reference quality shots at this point, as I'm just learning all the steps, but having something somewhat presentable would be nice. As always, thanks for the advice and help!
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Stan
http://www.astrobin.com/users/shrevestan/Celestron 1100HD CGEM DX, ADM Rail, Rings and Knobs, Hyperstar 3, Optec .62X FR8mm Ultima-LX, 23 mm Axiom LX, 28 mm RKE Astrozap Solar Filter, Baader L Booster UHC-S FilterOrion StarShoot AutoGuider in 80mm RefractorUnmodded Canon T1i DSLR, Modded Xbox Live Vision CamBackyard EOS, Deep Sky Stacker, Registax, Adobe CS 6 with Carboni Actions and GradientXterminator
Although it won't be around much longer, you could try M42 the Orion Nebula. It was my first nebula phot i ever took with my T2i. I used the 55mm-200mm kit zoom that came with the camera on a tripod. I took a series of 5 to 15 second shots a ISO800 to 1600 and came out with pretty good results. The field captured most of Orion along with the nebula. All of this was done prior to me ever connecting a camera to telescope or even stacking any images.
Other targets could be the Moon, the Plieades, or any constellation that strikes your fancy.
---Poppa Chris---
"Second star to the right - Then straight on until morning!" - Peter Pan
Celestron CPC1100GPS (XLT) - 279mm aperature, 2800mm Focal length. (f10) Celestron Ultima LX (70deg AFOV) Eyepieces 32mm thru 5mm, Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR, Backyard EOS imaging software, Orion Star Shoot Planetary Imager IV, Celestron Skymaster 15x70 binoculars
You might also want to try M44 and Melotte 111 (the Coma Berenices Star Cluster).
Dave Mitsky
Sic itur ad astra!
Chance favors the prepared mind.
A man is a small thing, and the night is very large and full of wonders.
DaveMitsky You might also want to try M44 and Melotte 111 (the Coma Berenices Star Cluster). Dave Mitsky
Quite true. See there are loads of possibilites!
If you wish to try getting up early instead of staying up late. Saggitarius is now sufficiently up by 5AM to let you try out the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae along with all sorts of clusters. It is near the galactic center after all. A wide field shot here should produce a pretty impressive result.
Thanks guys!
Hopefully I'll have something halfway decent to show tomorrow!
Good luck! It is supposed to be clear tonight up in your area.
It was a beautiful night, but real life reared its ugly head so wasn't able to make it out. Maybe tomorrow.
I sure hope so. Clear cool nights like these are rare in late April for us.
I was able to get out last night and stack about 25 10 second images each of the Moon and Venus, Arcturus, and the handle of Ursa Major with the 300mm lens. Unfortunately Orion was still too low in the sky and I had some power lines in the way. I also skipped light frames.
I'm still learning the ins and outs of post processing in PS, but getting there. I had some star trails in one of the images, so I need to tinker with the DSS settings on that one. Moon and Venus looked pretty good, but I need to work more on masking so I can bring out the star field without blowing out the moon. I was hoping to get a crescent on Venus, but that didn't happen.
I don't think I got any fuzzies this time, but going through the process is getting easier. I'll try to post the pics in a bit.
Great! I can hardly wait to see the results!
The problem with Venus right now is that it is so doggoned bright!
I would try a much faster shuuter speed like 1/4 - 1/2 second and dropping the ISO down to 100 or 200 with that zoom all the way to 300mm.. You won't get anything of the background, but you should at least get the crescent Venus. Play with the Shutter / ISO / Zoom / f-stop settings a little until you nail it.
Not bad at all. These are a good start to a long road down the astrophotgraphy hobby.
Thanks!
I'll try some more of Venus tonight with the shorter exposure time. I'm really wanting to get a DSO so I'll probably do a lot more wide field with the 50mm so I cover more sky.
I did M42 in Orion awhile back and used my T2i with the 55-200mm kit zoom. I took several individual shots at both 55mm and at 200mm. I found at that time that with the zoom at 55mm, as shutter speed of 5 seonds at ISO 400 captured most of the constellation and still showed the nebual quite nicely even bringing out the colors. At 200mm I used 10 seconds and ISO 800. The view centered around the nebua and captured it very nicely, but slightly over exposed the center. Same setup with a 5 second exposure and the Trapezium was proerly exposed, but the rest of the nebula was underexposed. I never tired using masking tecniques to overlay these images but it certainly sounds like the way to go.
Summary: You should do just fine with M42 before it sets tonight.
Note: I tried the above with M31 the Andromeda Galaxy using my CPC1100 scope. I couldn't fit anymore than the central core of the galaxy in the field of view. That is what spurred me to purchase a .3 focal reducer. Even then I couldn't fit the whole thing in the field. It seems the best way to catch it is with a camera lens, either on tripod or better yet, "piggy-backed" on the scope so it tracks.
You should probabl download CCDcalc from the web. It lets you see what your camera / telescope combination will capture in its frame of view. In this case your camera lens is the telescope.
I hunted through my old phot archive for the 2 M42 shots I mentioned. Since our cameras are so similar the results should be also. (Except I hope yours are better than mine.) These were the very first DSO pics I ever took. Done about 2 years ago.
Both Camera on Tripod. Canon T2i (18.2MP) with 55-200mm Zoom lens
Orion at 55mm
Orion at 200mm
As you can tell on the second shot, I pushed the exposure time too long. It's a bit noisy and the stars are starting to trail a little.
But hey, we live and learn...