1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by Hankmeister3 »


I decided to simply "reshoot" an 11x14 print of M42 with my Canon 77D camera w/85mm portrait lens. I removed the glass from the picture frame the photo was mounted in, and I illuminated it with an overhead "daylight" florescent tube that's in our utility room. All four frames I grabbed turned out nice enough so I selected what proved to be a decent enough photo and downloaded it into my ArcSoft PhotoStudio 6.0 photo-processing suite.

The original photo was printed onto an 11-inch wide roll of Fuji-color paper (snipped 14 inches long in this case) and processed in a Fuji daylight color printing lab that a friend of mine owned at the time. I believe it was around year 2000 or 2001. The Kodacolor400 safety film negative originally used for this photo had been shot earlier in 1981 using a Meade 100mm f/8 Achromatic refractor and my then Olympus OM2N camera with a T-adapter mounted at prime focus. Since M42 is quite bright, even with reciprocity failure issues with most color negative film (and B&W), I think I remember this exposure being somewhere around 10 to 12 minutes and I "pushed processed" it half-a stop. Sometimes "push-processing" in the C-41 chemicals of the day would help overcome some reciprocity issues. That's why the film's grain is a little more apparent in this photo. All the photo and guiding "techniques" I was using in those days appeared to have worked in this case. There was a lot of trial and error over the years that went into this capture.

This was one of about three negatives out of nearly two (36-exposure) rolls which I found acceptable for printing. My original 5x7 print was pretty decent but it had not been stabilized or "fixed" properly for whatever reason and it was starting to color-shift really badly after 20 years. That's when I brought the still pristine negative to my friend to see what his Fuji lab could do. After running three tests on smaller "proof" paper, he pretty much hit the right color-balance and exposure times and this was the result.

After I re-imaged this wall print of M42 (it has yellowed a tiny bit so I'll also post the untouched image, too, for comparison), I digitally "reprocessed" it with PhotoStudio 6.0. Actually, it cleaned-up without a whole lot of digital manipulation, plus there's only so much information on a positive print that can be brought out.

I originally mounted the 11x14 print after I got it back from my friend, Dave. So it was still very nice and flat. I had it printed on Fuji's version of semi-matt paper so reflections weren't an issue when I removed the UV glass that was protecting it the last twenty years. Visually, under good light, the print still appeared relatively fresh though there was the tiniest bit of yellowing in the white highlights within the nebula. You will also note the dynamic range of color film in this AP application was somewhat remarkable in my view. The Trapezium is clearly discernible while the negative still captured quite a bit of nebulosity. Even the part of the Running Man nebula I capture was respectably captured. Some of that is hidden behind the picture frame.

This is one of the very few captures I tried to "sandwich" two negative together but I was never able to get the proper exposure and color balance quite right though the technique did mitigate the film's grain somewhat in some of the proofs I made. Trying to manually align two pieces of film was, frankly, out of my league. Thank goodness M42 is relatively bright, too. Film was notorious for giving a magenta cast to most all nebulas rich in hydrogen gas. Not much of other colors (greens and blues) of M42 came through which was probably the nature of amateur film-based photography back in the day as indicated by my previous film-based AP images. Dave worked really hard to give this photo a nicely-balanced pinkish cast with real whites.
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After processing with Arcsoft's PhotoStudio 6.0 - Slightly cropped
After processing with Arcsoft's PhotoStudio 6.0 - Slightly cropped
Raw picture, though a bit on the dark side. Includes picture frame
Raw picture, though a bit on the dark side. Includes picture frame
Telescopes: Meade LX90 10-inch f/10 UHC Coma-free SCT; Explore Scientific 127mm f/7.5 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 80mm f/6 APO ED triplet refractor; Skywatcher 72mm f/6 ED Schott doublet refractor; Meade 70mm f/5 APO quadruplet astrograph refractor; Skywatcher Quattro 8-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Orion 6-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Skywatcher SkyMax 180mm f/15 Maksutov; iOptron 150mm f/12 Maksutov; Orion f/9 Ritchey-Chretien RC astrograph
Eyepieces: Set of 7 Baader Hyperion eyepieces, 3 Meade 5000 glass handgrenades; 1970s era Japanese manufactured Meade 12.5mm Orthoscopic, and too many other eclectic eyepieces to list
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount; Orion Atlas EQ-G mount
Post-production Software: Not good enough … oh, okay ... Canon's proprietary CanoScan ArcSoft 9000F photoshop suite
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Re: 1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by mbocca »


Henry,

That is an awesome capture. I did a lot of photography in the late 70's and through the 90's, but nothing in the astrophotography realm. Mostly just earth bound nature shots.

I am glad the original retained much of the color so your could capture it digitally now.

Great work
Mike
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Re: 1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by Hankmeister3 »


Thanks, Mike, I appreciate you looking and your compliment.
Telescopes: Meade LX90 10-inch f/10 UHC Coma-free SCT; Explore Scientific 127mm f/7.5 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 80mm f/6 APO ED triplet refractor; Skywatcher 72mm f/6 ED Schott doublet refractor; Meade 70mm f/5 APO quadruplet astrograph refractor; Skywatcher Quattro 8-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Orion 6-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Skywatcher SkyMax 180mm f/15 Maksutov; iOptron 150mm f/12 Maksutov; Orion f/9 Ritchey-Chretien RC astrograph
Eyepieces: Set of 7 Baader Hyperion eyepieces, 3 Meade 5000 glass handgrenades; 1970s era Japanese manufactured Meade 12.5mm Orthoscopic, and too many other eclectic eyepieces to list
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount; Orion Atlas EQ-G mount
Post-production Software: Not good enough … oh, okay ... Canon's proprietary CanoScan ArcSoft 9000F photoshop suite
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Re: 1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by Juno16 »


Hi Henry,

I am really blown away by this work. It is amazing to capture these targets with film!

Thanks for posting and sharing your work.
Jim

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Re: 1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by Ylem »


Good ole film :)
I used to do AP when I had a darkroom.
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Re: 1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by STEVE333 »


That's a remarkable capture Henry. I don't understand much of the technical "film talk" because I never did any film AP. However, your passion for this hobby is evident in the work you put into capturing images like this one. Only 3 good images out of 72 attempts! That is only a 4% success rate. Today we often get 100% success rate with guiding and processing to remove airplane/stellite trails. Thanks so much for taking us on a trip back down memory lane.

I feel like I'm "cheating" having all the new equipment and techniques available. Thanks to pioneers like yourself who pushed this hobby along to where we are today.

Cheers,

Steve
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Re: 1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by Hankmeister3 »


Thanks, Jim. I believe my friend's Fuji lab was able to pull a lot of data out of my original negative (I wish I still had that negative to scan with my flat-bed CanoScan 9000F!). It was a new machine and had been professionally installed and calibrated by Fuji technicians a few months previously. When the print came out of the Fuji processor I was blown away despite having seen the smaller "proofs." In the days of film-based AP, it's one of those "lucky shots" where EVERYTHING went right from sky conditions, focus, framing, original negative processing and availing myself of a precision Fuji daylight film lab. It took me two rolls and three night skies to final snag three negatives which were respectable enough to print. I wish my original prints hadn't faded but it is what it is. I made several 5x7s and a cropped 8x10 (cropped because of the dimensions) but none were as nice and rich as the 11x14. The Durst enlargers were excellent enlargers at that time in the 1970s and 80s and used German glass, but it was far from "professional-grade" equipment.

I never did find out what Japanese optical company made the projector lens for that daylingt Fuji lab. I doubt Dave remembers. It was an awesome piece of equipment but unfortunately he ended up competing with the new wave of digital cameras in the early 2000s though some digital photographers still wanted physical pictures of their better images.
Telescopes: Meade LX90 10-inch f/10 UHC Coma-free SCT; Explore Scientific 127mm f/7.5 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 80mm f/6 APO ED triplet refractor; Skywatcher 72mm f/6 ED Schott doublet refractor; Meade 70mm f/5 APO quadruplet astrograph refractor; Skywatcher Quattro 8-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Orion 6-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Skywatcher SkyMax 180mm f/15 Maksutov; iOptron 150mm f/12 Maksutov; Orion f/9 Ritchey-Chretien RC astrograph
Eyepieces: Set of 7 Baader Hyperion eyepieces, 3 Meade 5000 glass handgrenades; 1970s era Japanese manufactured Meade 12.5mm Orthoscopic, and too many other eclectic eyepieces to list
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount; Orion Atlas EQ-G mount
Post-production Software: Not good enough … oh, okay ... Canon's proprietary CanoScan ArcSoft 9000F photoshop suite
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Re: 1981 Film-based Image of M42 Orion Nebula

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Post by Hankmeister3 »


Thanks Jeff and Steve.

BTW, Steve we are "cheating" but I'm loving every minute of it!!! Who says you can't "cheat" and have fun at the same time? At least I didn't have to make my own tintype plates by pouring on some collodion silver emulsion. I hear that type of photographic process is making some sort of a niche comeback if you can imagine that! Tintypes have an ISO factor of about 1 ... ok, maybe 2.
Telescopes: Meade LX90 10-inch f/10 UHC Coma-free SCT; Explore Scientific 127mm f/7.5 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 102mm f/7 APO ED triplet refractor; Explore Scientific 80mm f/6 APO ED triplet refractor; Skywatcher 72mm f/6 ED Schott doublet refractor; Meade 70mm f/5 APO quadruplet astrograph refractor; Skywatcher Quattro 8-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Orion 6-inch f/4 Newtonian astrograph; Skywatcher SkyMax 180mm f/15 Maksutov; iOptron 150mm f/12 Maksutov; Orion f/9 Ritchey-Chretien RC astrograph
Eyepieces: Set of 7 Baader Hyperion eyepieces, 3 Meade 5000 glass handgrenades; 1970s era Japanese manufactured Meade 12.5mm Orthoscopic, and too many other eclectic eyepieces to list
Mounts: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount; Orion Atlas EQ-G mount
Post-production Software: Not good enough … oh, okay ... Canon's proprietary CanoScan ArcSoft 9000F photoshop suite
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