DSLR used for astrophotography???

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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#81

Post by metastable »


lsintampa wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 3:54 am So 15 seconds @ f/8 18mm shot of Orion

It has to get better than this - no?

Image
after toying with the settings for a while this is the best I could do from your raw file:

Image
Image
Last edited by metastable on Mon Jan 20, 2020 2:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#82

Post by metastable »


comparison:

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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#83

Post by metastable »


notice in my version you can see a lot more stars but also you can also see sensor noise... this is where an extremely sensitive sensor like the one on the sony a7s ii comes in very handy (you can eliminate the noise while also using much higher ISO settings)
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#84

Post by Kanadalainen »


PI 3 am galactic plane and lake.jpg

Hi there,

I've read this with interest. I like to image widefield nightscapes with my old Nikon D90 and a 14mm Rokinon lens. All of my dollars went into the lens.. the camera was used, and about 125 bucks.

Notes -

This is a camera with no live view.
10 Mpixels
Manual focus
Single 30 second exposure
Processed for exposure and contrast only in Lightroom CC.
Thus is untracked, camera sits on a ball mount on a static (Vangard) tripod.

Why I'm showing you this is because its a great way to get into AP.

Kind regards,
Ian

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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#85

Post by lsintampa »


metastable wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 2:10 am notice in my version you can see a lot more stars but also you can also see sensor noise... this is where an extremely sensitive sensor like the one on the sony a7s ii comes in very handy (you can eliminate the noise while also using much higher ISO settings)

Very helpful - thanks.

I've tried a few image editing programs and have been able to obtain "decent" results. I've been only using the raw file that I posted in Google Drive. Since I've no clue what I'm doing, all I end up doing is adjusting things until I feel the image shows more realistic detail. I read a tutorial by Allan Hall on GIMP and tried that process on my image - was ok, but I can get better looking (IMHO), just by poking controls from one extreme to the other - see how that effects the image, adjust accordingly and move on to the next and so on. Sort of peck and poke approach.

Stupid question - is there some "method" you use or a set of controls you use all the time - or is it dependent on the image you are working with? Also, how does on figure out what "things" to adjust during processing?

Here is my latest GIMP (P&P) processed image:
20200120_1300.png
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#86

Post by metastable »


lsintampa wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:30 pm Stupid question - is there some "method" you use or a set of controls you use all the time - or is it dependent on the image you are working with? Also, how does on figure out what "things" to adjust during processing?

Here is my latest GIMP (P&P) processed image:

20200120_1300.png
if you’re asking my opinion as a professional commercial photographer then each and every image needs different custom raw to jpg conversion settings - i can’t really articulate the method i use because it’s based on experience from editing 10’s of thousands of images, but it is based entirely on personal preference of aesthetics.
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#87

Post by lsintampa »


So I bombed again last night....

Two decent raw files - near Orion Nebula area:





Am I on the right track? IE - are things improving for me - or am I wasting my (and all your) time?

Best I could do with them:
Autostack3.jpg
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#88

Post by UlteriorModem »


Looks a little better but you are faced with a basic fact. The light pollution in you area is overwhelming the signal and there is very little you can do about it.
Tom

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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#89

Post by metastable »


there's a lot more noise in the second raw file than your previous shoot because your ISO is higher (4000). your widest aperture is apparently f4.5 and your exposure only 2 sec.... I recommend sticking with your f4.5 if thats your widest open aperture (smallest number), but since the aperture isn't f2.8 (you'd need a nicer lens to get this) try 20 seconds exposure (longer than ideal but compensating for non-ideal aperture) and only 2000iso (to limit sensor noise). also it looks like the tripod may have moved during the exposure so turn on the timer function (so that it waits 10 seconds before it takes the picture) so you can back away from the camera while it stops shaking before it takes the picture.
Last edited by metastable on Wed Jan 22, 2020 1:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#90

Post by metastable »


this is the best i could do in lightroom (with the second raw file):

Image

Image
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#91

Post by metastable »


this is how it was "in camera" vs with my custom raw conversion settings:

Image

finally run through https://nova.astrometry.net/upload :

Image
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#92

Post by maceemiller »


My tip.....keep at it!

I have an old Canon 350D with no live view and no tracking.

Astrophotography in my experience can be super frustrating to the point you may think it's just not worth your time and effort however it's a great hobby to learn.

I'm no expert at astrophotography but I'm slowly getting there I think. Here's my effort of the Orion nebula taken with my 200mm telephoto lens. I stacked 88 one second images in sequator and processed in photoshop (which I'm still only learning)

Stick with it.....you will one day nail a target that grabs you and that's when the addiction begins!
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#93

Post by yobbo89 »


lsintampa wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2020 7:00 pm So I bombed again last night....

Two decent raw files - near Orion Nebula area:





Am I on the right track? IE - are things improving for me - or am I wasting my (and all your) time?

Best I could do with them:

Autostack3.jpg

This area i find isn't as dense as the other side of the milky way and light pollution will cripple signal pretty bad, usually need a few hours to stack.

you still might want to work on your focus ,i'm seeing airy disc shaped stars.
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#94

Post by Graeme1858 »


I've also read this thread with interest. Here's my tips as a fairly newish APer:

Abandon the use of jpgs, they're of little value, just record raw files in your camera, switch off jpg recording.
Get as many captures of the target as you can subject to time, sky movement constraints etc.
Put the lens cap on and capture the same number of darks at the same camera settings.
Leave the lens cap on and capture a rake of bias frames. (fastest shutter speed)
Stack the lot in DSS and save the output as a fits file.
Stretch the fits file with levels and curves in Gimp. (watch some youtube videos)
Export as a png file and show it off.

Then as time goes on there's 100s of more steps to add! Bit by bit.

Good luck

Regards

Graeme
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#95

Post by lsintampa »


maceemiller wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:17 am
I have an old Canon 350D with no live view and no tracking.

I'm no expert at astrophotography but I'm slowly getting there I think. Here's my effort of the Orion nebula taken with my 200mm telephoto lens. I stacked 88 one second images in sequator and processed in photoshop (which I'm still only learning)
Curious if you recall your ISO, and lens aperture were set at?
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#96

Post by maceemiller »


lsintampa wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:46 pm
maceemiller wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:17 am
I have an old Canon 350D with no live view and no tracking.

I'm no expert at astrophotography but I'm slowly getting there I think. Here's my effort of the Orion nebula taken with my 200mm telephoto lens. I stacked 88 one second images in sequator and processed in photoshop (which I'm still only learning)
Curious if you recall your ISO, and lens aperture were set at?
My ISO was 1600 and apature was f4.5.
It's not a very good lens if I'm honest but it's good enough for me at the moment.
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#97

Post by metastable »


yeah, you'd only want to bump the iso well above 1600 or 2000 to focus using live view (as someone mentioned in a different thread), and then bring it back down to something reasonable like 1600 or 2000... unless you have a super sensitive low noise sensor like that found on the sony a7s ii.... then you can bump up the iso absurdly high and use correspondingly lower exposure times (or smaller, cheaper, bigger # apertures) without worrying about too much added noise, but that will set you back about $2k for camera body alone if new, and you'll only get 12 megapixels.
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#98

Post by lsintampa »


russmax wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:57 pm You only need the RA motor for tracking, but I only ever see them sold together.

“This Celestron Dual-Axis Motor Drive, with drive corrector capabilities, is designed for Celestron's CG-4 mounts for tracking in RA and allows adjustment in DEC. It precisely controls the telescope's tracking speed during long, timed exposures of celestial objects, producing the best possible image sharpness. Precision drive correctors are a must for those with a serious interest in astrophotography or CCD imaging.”

https://www.highpointscientific.com/cel ... rive-93522

So if I upgrade my Cg-4 mount with the dual axis motors, can I mount the camera to the cg-4, say with a 200mm camera lens? I've read somewhere that the camera won't be aligned when mounted that way.
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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#99

Post by OzEclipse »


lsintampa wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:01 am
russmax wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:57 pm You only need the RA motor for tracking, but I only ever see them sold together.

“This Celestron Dual-Axis Motor Drive, with drive corrector capabilities, is designed for Celestron's CG-4 mounts for tracking in RA and allows adjustment in DEC. It precisely controls the telescope's tracking speed during long, timed exposures of celestial objects, producing the best possible image sharpness. Precision drive correctors are a must for those with a serious interest in astrophotography or CCD imaging.”

https://www.highpointscientific.com/cel ... rive-93522

So if I upgrade my CG-4 mount with the dual axis motors, can I mount the camera to the cg-4, say with a 200mm camera lens? I've read somewhere that the camera won't be aligned when mounted that way.

If you can find the reference, post it. It sounds wrong.

If the mount is polar aligned, anything driven while on the mount is also polar aligned. Perhaps the comment you read referred to GOTO alignment? I mount camera with 135, 200, 300mm telephoto lenses straight onto my Takahashi EM200, the mount is a clone of the Skywatcher EQ6. The principle is the same for a CG4. I do the polar alignment using APPS, Artificial Projected Pole Star alignment, then put a star dead centre of the field of the tele lens using full magnification live view and do a one star alignment in Sky Safari. From that point I have both GOTO and precise polar alignment.

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Re: DSLR used for astrophotography???

#100

Post by lsintampa »


OzEclipse wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:16 am
lsintampa wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:01 am
russmax wrote: Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:57 pm You only need the RA motor for tracking, but I only ever see them sold together.

“This Celestron Dual-Axis Motor Drive, with drive corrector capabilities, is designed for Celestron's CG-4 mounts for tracking in RA and allows adjustment in DEC. It precisely controls the telescope's tracking speed during long, timed exposures of celestial objects, producing the best possible image sharpness. Precision drive correctors are a must for those with a serious interest in astrophotography or CCD imaging.”

https://www.highpointscientific.com/cel ... rive-93522

So if I upgrade my CG-4 mount with the dual axis motors, can I mount the camera to the cg-4, say with a 200mm camera lens? I've read somewhere that the camera won't be aligned when mounted that way.

If you can find the reference, post it. It sounds wrong.

If the mount is polar aligned, anything driven while on the mount is also polar aligned. Perhaps the comment you read referred to GOTO alignment? I mount camera with 135, 200, 300mm telephoto lenses straight onto my Takahashi EM200, the mount is a clone of the Skywatcher EQ6. The principle is the same for a CG4. I do the polar alignment using APPS, Artificial Projected Pole Star alignment, then put a star dead centre of the field of the tele lens using full magnification live view and do a one star alignment in Sky Safari. From that point I have both GOTO and precise polar alignment.

Joe

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/5030 ... -eq-mount/

This thread - see response 9
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