Astrophotography

[SD-[Inc]]

The damn weather this month only gave me one night of clear sky. It was, of course, during a full moon, and I had only about 40 minutes of time on this target with my new dedicated astrophotography camera. But the results are getting me pretty excited. Now if only the weather will cooperate, and I can get to some dark sky and get something really good! Here is what I got so far:



Here is the little camera that made a big difference:

ZWO_ASI_533MC-PRO_USB_3_Cooled_Colour_Camera_4.jpg

[CyanBlues]

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/gr...t/11039033002/

A rare green comet, last seen in Earth’s skies 50,000 years ago, is revisiting our solar system and may become visible to the naked eye within the next few weeks.

So any of you astro dudes plan on getting pics of this in about 1/2 a month?

too cold for me to drive up north and peak display is when the moon is out so not gonna bother

[SD-[Inc]]

No comet. But I did get this pretty image of Pleiades:

tE2xSUu.jpg

[dodger]

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/gr...t/11039033002/

A rare green comet, last seen in Earth’s skies 50,000 years ago, is revisiting our solar system and may become visible to the naked eye within the next few weeks.

So any of you astro dudes plan on getting pics of this in about 1/2 a month?

[SD-[Inc]]

No. It sure could be nice. Although not sure how well it manages depth of field given the fixed aperture. Could be nice for shots of birds and such.

[CyanBlues]

Not sure if anyone is looking at these. But I am really proud of this one. Orion and Horsehead Nebula. (You may have to zoom in close to see the horsehead on the lower left). The colors came out really nice in this one:

nice man, that's a pretty awesome shot. have you tried that redcat with regular photography, I heard its pretty good with regular photography too.

[SD-[Inc]]

Not sure if anyone is looking at these. But I am really proud of this one. Orion and Horsehead Nebula. (You may have to zoom in close to see the horsehead on the lower left). The colors came out really nice in this one:

[SD-[Inc]]

Youtube is teaching me more and more photoshop tricks. Below is the exact same image after some more rounds with photoshop. Getting there....

[SD-[Inc]]

Took another crack at Andromeda and this one came out better. I am still having tracking issues. You can see it when you zoom in and my stars are not round Getting better though. This time I was able to stack 35 frames to eliminate some noise and show more details:

[SD-[Inc]]

did you ever get the ASIAir? just curious if it worked or not. And yeah I wanted to get a redcat too but I don't think I have the time to stay out all night to try it, plus I don't have a tracker either. What tracker did you end up getting?

XMAS present this year = ASIAir + Tracking scope/camera + Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi Mount. It’s a pretty cheap upgrade to everything I got. I am learning tons with the little setup I have now. So no hurry to upgrade yet. Santa will probably have good timing on this upgrade.

[CyanBlues]

I picked up this little guy to go with my camera:



It’s a small telescope designed for astrophotography. I went out this week and gave it an attempt on my first deep sky image. Here is what I got:



I learned a lot and the little scope can do much better than this image next time. But pretty exciting result even though I did a quite a few things wrong. Definitely hope to post an even improved image soon!

Here are some things I am working on to improve next time:

1) Andromeda was too low in the sky so distortion was high
2) I wasn’t aggressive enough on exposure and lost details
3) When I finally got the image lined up, I forget to double check alignment of my tracker and I must of knocked it off a bit.
4) I ran out of time. I noobed around so long I didn’t get to take enough images to get the best quality. Need to get out there before dark to fumble around more next time.

did you ever get the ASIAir? just curious if it worked or not. And yeah I wanted to get a redcat too but I don't think I have the time to stay out all night to try it, plus I don't have a tracker either. What tracker did you end up getting?

[Tyr-Sog]

I remember almost getting into astrophotography in the early 2000's. It was soooo expensive. lol I started with a 10" Meade LX200 but never ended up with the photography equipment.

It has come and long, long, ways since then.

[SD-[Inc]]

I picked up this little guy to go with my camera:



It’s a small telescope designed for astrophotography. I went out this week and gave it an attempt on my first deep sky image. Here is what I got:



I learned a lot and the little scope can do much better than this image next time. But pretty exciting result even though I did a quite a few things wrong. Definitely hope to post an even improved image soon!

Here are some things I am working on to improve next time:

1) Andromeda was too low in the sky so distortion was high
2) I wasn’t aggressive enough on exposure and lost details
3) When I finally got the image lined up, I forget to double check alignment of my tracker and I must of knocked it off a bit.
4) I ran out of time. I noobed around so long I didn’t get to take enough images to get the best quality. Need to get out there before dark to fumble around more next time.

[Lazy8s]

Somewhere in between the two is probably the best image. The last one is a little overdone and unnatural. But I liked it because of all the details it highlighted. It’s amazing that all that light is up there each night. We just need better eyes to see it. That’s just a single exposure too. Pros will take like 50 shots and stack them all together to get one image that removes the noise. There is always distortion shooting through the atmosphere. Stacking images can combine the best of all into one near perfect shot. But, it can take hours of shooting and a lot more processing work. I am still having a hard enough time getting one shot looking right…

Logical said something to me in the other photo thread about “You’re telling your own story” and it made perfect sense. Since then, I’ll take tips and learn, but in the end what looks closest to what I want to see and convey is it.

I think you’re doing an amazing job, and if the photo looks best to you processed as is, it’s a winner

[SD-[Inc]]

just wow. What a difference

Somewhere in between the two is probably the best image. The last one is a little overdone and unnatural. But I liked it because of all the details it highlighted. It’s amazing that all that light is up there each night. We just need better eyes to see it. That’s just a single exposure too. Pros will take like 50 shots and stack them all together to get one image that removes the noise. There is always distortion shooting through the atmosphere. Stacking images can combine the best of all into one near perfect shot. But, it can take hours of shooting and a lot more processing work. I am still having a hard enough time getting one shot looking right…

[Lazy8s]

just wow. What a difference

[SD-[Inc]]

Beautiful shots SD!

Thanks, Lazy8s. It looked OK. But I decided to get into photoshop today and play around with the levels to pull out more details. I like this one better:

[Lazy8s]

Beautiful shots SD!

[SD-[Inc]]

Got out again to try more Milky Way shots:



Done with 16MM fixed focal lens at F2.8 for 30 seconds at ISO 4000. Caught some nice details.

[SD-[Inc]]

Got a T-Ring and popped the RP onto my 8 inch Dob a took this pic of the moon. Focus is a little tricky with just looking at little LCD screen. But this still came out cool. Next time I'll zoom the LCD so I can get a little better focus:

[acroig]

Amazing pic man.

[SD-[Inc]]

Still a noob at post processing. But this one came out better. I learned the higher ISO shots are even better after post processing. This one was at the same shutter and f-stop settings. But with ISO 3200. The original raw is greyish. But after some minor tweaking it looks like this:

[Lazy8s]

Wow, awesome shots.

+1

Love that shot with the car

[acroig]

Wow, awesome shots.

[SD-[Inc]]

Cyan,

Finally got up to some decent sky and got a few shots with my RP of the Milky Way. These were shot with a 16mm fixed focal length lens, at F2.8, ISO 1600 for 30 sec exposure. Unfortunately, the Milky Way is not that high in the sky yet. But these first attempts were pretty cool. A car came into the shot in the second one and I thought it would ruin the shot. Instead, it made it more awesome







Yumm

[SD-[Inc]]

I did get a shot of the red moon last month. It was really low in the sky in a very light polluted area.

[CyanBlues]

wow, I need to look more into that, it makes it simple for us lol


*update*
looks like the ASIAir currently don't support Sony Camera's so I'm out of luck for the time being, it does however support your Canon EOS RP, at least the plus version is showing it does on their site.

[SD-[Inc]]

Cyan,

This video got me excited too. It looks like they are really making it easy for us noobs to get into this lately:

[yt]boE8t8HpPJM[/yt]

I am thinking of just starting with an 80mm triplet instead of 60mm. But the rig might be very similar to this one. (with my RP attached of course)

[CyanBlues]

[yt]5h_2D1cP578[/yt]


interesting scope/lens, I think this might actually get me into deep sky

[SD-[Inc]]

I wanted to go up north this weekend because of new moon but looks like we're getting cloudy sky's and rain all weekend -_-

I tried last weekend and the sky I tried was disappointing. Not sure much Milky Way is visible right now.

[CyanBlues]

I wanted to go up north this weekend because of new moon but looks like we're getting cloudy sky's and rain all weekend -_-

[SD-[Inc]]

this looks like it'll be a great location for astro

Better than my backyard. But, it’s surrounded by city lights on all sides. I have a couple of other sites that might work also. Maybe this weekend I’ll get a chance. The moon is favorable early on.

[CyanBlues]

I am having a hard time finding a good base plate to work with my new tripod so I haven't tried yet. I think that probably is resolved this Weds. So maybe this weekend. I did rig up something in my backyard, in the middle of the city, with my landscape lights still on and a moon in the sky and got this shot. I was pretty shocked how many stars it pulled in considering I could barely see any from my viewpoint and how little effort I put into setting up this shot:




I can't tell you how exciting it is to have a camera that can do proper depth of field in a photo again too. I am still noobish but these kinds of pictures are fun to be able to shoot again:





Having a lot of fun with it so far. Still so much to learn!

this looks like it'll be a great location for astro

[SD-[Inc]]

I am having a hard time finding a good base plate to work with my new tripod so I haven't tried yet. I think that probably is resolved this Weds. So maybe this weekend. I did rig up something in my backyard, in the middle of the city, with my landscape lights still on and a moon in the sky and got this shot. I was pretty shocked how many stars it pulled in considering I could barely see any from my viewpoint and how little effort I put into setting up this shot:




I can't tell you how exciting it is to have a camera that can do proper depth of field in a photo again too. I am still noobish but these kinds of pictures are fun to be able to shoot again:





Having a lot of fun with it so far. Still so much to learn!

[CyanBlues]

My RP made it. Very nice build quality. The online manual is huge. Contains a lot of pictures but is still 612 pages. Been pouring into it. Great stuff. Here is my very first picture. Just pointed down at my desk while reading the manual.
Shot with a 12800 ISO, 1/60th shutter, F5 aperture with my lens designed for landscape outdoor shooting. This just random attempt got me pretty excited. Can't wait to get good with this thing!

(Didn't even set the camera to raw capture yet either):



My handwriting is so bad!!

any attempts at astro? just curious, wanted to see some photos

[SD-[Inc]]

My RP made it. Very nice build quality. The online manual is huge. Contains a lot of pictures but is still 612 pages. Been pouring into it. Great stuff. Here is my very first picture. Just pointed down at my desk while reading the manual.
Shot with a 12800 ISO, 1/60th shutter, F5 aperture with my lens designed for landscape outdoor shooting. This just random attempt got me pretty excited. Can't wait to get good with this thing!

(Didn't even set the camera to raw capture yet either):



My handwriting is so bad!!

[CyanBlues]

new moon this weekend so would be a perfect time for some astro galaxy landscape, I was planning to go up north but there's still seems to be quite a bit of snow up there so I decided not to.

[SD-[Inc]]

Grats, hope you like it as a regular cam too, I think it should be good enough, good thing about it is there is no mirror and I'm pretty sure you can go full silent mode which means no shutter shock to make those long exposure possibly blurry. Do you plan to go deep sky right away or play around with it with astro landscape of the galaxy etc first?

I’ll probably just play around and just do some landscape scenes just to learn the camera. The kit lens that came with it isn’t exactly a lens I would pick for astrophotography. So, I’ll probably start shopping for a scope and mount next.

[CyanBlues]

I was going back and for between used 6D and RP and decided to splurg and get the RP. I get so nervous with used cameras and decided I needed to treat myself. Got it with a basic kit lens for $1300. If my astrophotography ever takes off, I'll eventually upgrade to a dedicated astro-camera. In the meantime, I have a nice full-frame camera for regular photos. The 6Ds out there are pretty old now. So, even though it's probably slightly better. I didn't want to take a chance.

Grats, hope you like it as a regular cam too, I think it should be good enough, good thing about it is there is no mirror and I'm pretty sure you can go full silent mode which means no shutter shock to make those long exposure possibly blurry. Do you plan to go deep sky right away or play around with it with astro landscape of the galaxy etc first?

[SD-[Inc]]

I think you meant the RP? the R is like $1800. the Nikon Z5 is also closer to your range too, I think that one is like $1200


But yeah if you live closer to dark skys, a tracker is great.



this guy has a lot of good videos too, you should go through them, i think he has one where he gets deep sky without a tracker too, the one below is about budget range

I was going back and for between used 6D and RP and decided to splurg and get the RP. I get so nervous with used cameras and decided I needed to treat myself. Got it with a basic kit lens for $1300. If my astrophotography ever takes off, I'll eventually upgrade to a dedicated astro-camera. In the meantime, I have a nice full-frame camera for regular photos. The 6Ds out there are pretty old now. So, even though it's probably slightly better. I didn't want to take a chance.