Astrophotography With A Dslr

[Lancashire Lass]

Haha my apologies OON. Freudian slip there. I know what I wanted to say but it came out wrong. I blame reading my star sign this morning. Anyway I'll go and put my teeth back in lol.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Went out again last night. The bright Moon made things difficult, but still got a rather pleasing shot of Leo with Mars just underneath. Notice how the trees appear to be moving yet the stars stay still? That was a 5min exposure.

Also, attached my camera to the end of my telescope and took a few quick picks of the Moon. Essentially, the telescope becomes a 600mm f6 lens. The best way to get close ups of the Moon is to use a webcam, take a video, stack the individual frames, and hey presto, but this would good enough for last night, seeing as it was below -7º.

Left my kit out last night too - looks a bit cold.

[Hemlock]

How much longer do we have to wait for a picture of uranus?

(Oh come on, somebody had to do it eventually)

[Osbourne One-Nil]

I'm just holding out until the ring presents itself nicely.

[stormyskys]

Hi all, Have just came across this thread, And thought i would share my orion nebula photo.

Taken with a Meade DSI color ccd camera through a skywatcher 130p telescope, It's the best i have managed yet, But i know i can get better with a longer exposure. This one is 120 x 5s exposures stacked.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Wow - just from lots of 5sec exposures?! I'm looking forward to getting my TV85 on a tracking mount, but haven't got a CCD camera, so will have to rely on my DSLR for now.

That's very impressive from what is a very portable telescope!

[stormyskys]

i have only got a Alt-Azimuth Mount, I was told astrophotography was only possible with a equatorial mount. But with alot of Patience and time even the moddest set up you can get some stunning images. I wish i had got a DSLR now, As i would love to take some widefield shots. But for deep sky the DSI is a very good camera for it's price. Very espensive hobby though lol.

This was my first attempt at M42 with a webcam in january 2011. A good 800 frames stacked with deep sky stacker. But only captured the core. But this image got me hooked as soon as it popped up on screen.

Edited February 4, 2012 by stormyskys

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Here are the first shots with my new DSLR (Canon 1100 which turns out to be more suitable than the much more expensive 600D or even 60D). Used a prime focus 50mm lens too, and both were taken at ISO400 for 5 minutes.

Completely unprocessed - just as they came off the memory card.

Can't wait to use the RAW files and try stacking multiple images.

[Backtrack]

Here are the first shots with my new DSLR (Canon 1100 which turns out to be more suitable than the much more expensive 600D or even 60D). Used a prime focus 50mm lens too, and both were taken at ISO400 for 5 minutes.

Completely unprocessed - just as they came off the memory card.

Can't wait to use the RAW files and try stacking multiple images.

Wow, awesome!

What zoom were they taken at?!

[Osbourne One-Nil]

No zoom lens on them, just a plain old 50mm lens!

[Backtrack]

No zoom lens on them, just a plain old 50mm lens!

Wow, absolutely sensational.

You have such a great view of the stars due to lack of light pollution I imagine. I came across a similar thing when I visited Anglesey. The island has very little light pollution, the view of the night sky is astounding.

[duckeyh]

Hi There, I'm in the US at the time of the annular solar eclipse and wondered what photography tips people may have. I'll be using a Nikon D3100 with a 200mm zoom lens and planning to use a DIY solar filter using Baader Solar film.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

You might find this website useful?

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/ASE_20120520_pg01.html

[Backtrack]

Hey OON,

Just wondering if you have any tips for me regarding photographing the stars?

That's the best I've managed. ISO cranked up to 6400 (the glare is the moon) using a tripod on 10 second timer. -0.3 exposure.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5596007/Trail/searchtext%3ECAMERA.htm

This is the camera I have, unsure if I could better my results with limited resources?

Thanks.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

With the Moon about you're going to find it difficult as with the longer exposure you're just going to increase the amount of Moon glow you capture.

ISO6400 might capture fainter stars but it also captures more noise, so you don't really gain much. I'd knock the ISO down to about 400, and then perhaps take lots of 20 second exposures. You can then "stack" them (you'll have to Google for some more info on this) which sort of draws out detail that can't be seen in any one individual photo. Without some means of tracking, I suspect that's your best bet.

Here's a 1sec exposure I took at ISO6400 to check focus, but there was no Moon and my skies are very dark.

[Backtrack]

With the Moon about you're going to find it difficult as with the longer exposure you're just going to increase the amount of Moon glow you capture.

ISO6400 might capture fainter stars but it also captures more noise, so you don't really gain much. I'd knock the ISO down to about 400, and then perhaps take lots of 20 second exposures. You can then "stack" them (you'll have to Google for some more info on this) which sort of draws out detail that can't be seen in any one individual photo. Without some means of tracking, I suspect that's your best bet.

Here's a 1sec exposure I took at ISO6400 to check focus, but there was no Moon and my skies are very dark.

Right, I get it. Nice one

One problem though, I don't think I can change the exposure length.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't - doesn't it have a mode called shutter priority?

Ideally you want full manual control, with the longest exposure you can get, and the aperture wide open (although not fully open generally). If you can link me to the instruction manual (if it's online) I'll take a look for you. You won't have what's called a bulb setting though - that's where you can leave the shutter open as long as you like. You'll probably have a 30 second limit.

[Backtrack]

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't - doesn't it have a mode called shutter priority?

Ideally you want full manual control, with the longest exposure you can get, and the aperture wide open (although not fully open generally). If you can link me to the instruction manual (if it's online) I'll take a look for you. You won't have what's called a bulb setting though - that's where you can leave the shutter open as long as you like. You'll probably have a 30 second limit.

That'd be great

http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17176/~/user's-manual---nikon-coolpix-l120---guide-to-digital-photography

It's a 12mb PDF download. The English one preferably, unless you prefer to speak Spanish? :lol:

Edited March 7, 2012 by Goku

[4wd]

Here's a good moon pic

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Must be a fake, as we never landed there really did we?

That'd be great

http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17176/~/user's-manual---nikon-coolpix-l120---guide-to-digital-photography

It's a 12mb PDF download. The English one preferably, unless you prefer to speak Spanish? :lol:

Nope - you don't appear to have shutter priority or manual exposure, so I'm not sure it's going to be possible to capture much in the way of stars or planets I'm afraid.

[Backtrack]

Must be a fake, as we never landed there really did we?

Nope - you don't appear to have shutter priority or manual exposure, so I'm not sure it's going to be possible to capture much in the way of stars or planets I'm afraid.

Damn, that sucks.

When I next upgrade my camera I'll make sure I have full manual control, as I'm moving out of the realms of 'noob'

Thanks for your help.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Here's another one I took last night. Venus, Jupiter and Pleiades, all in one frame.

[BornFromTheVoid]

Very nice OON, Venus especially looks incredible in that. What settings did you use?

[Osbourne One-Nil]

That was a 3min exposure at ISO 400 and f5.6. I think the rays coming from Venus are just down to lens flare from the lens iris. Don't really have a clue what I'm doing yet, but the photos look pretty which is all I really care about!

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Here's tonight's effort - Auriga, high in the west with the Milky Way running through it. You can even make out two open clusters; M37 & M38, both of which are about 4000 light years away.