Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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All taken with my Canon Powershot SX100.
Widefield Orion. No telescope optics, camera only. JPEGs stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, no other processing or editing. Except for resizing to post here, image is the way it came out of DSS:
The Seven Sisters. No telescope optics, camera only. JPEGs stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, no other processing or editing. Except for resizing to post here, image is the way it came out of DSS:
This Moon picture was taken afocal through my ETX80, the camera handheld to the eyepiece. Stacked with Registax, no other processing or editing. Except for resizing to post here, image is the way it came out of Registax (as a side note, I find the Registax program results somewhat unpredictable, running the same files through it twice in a row doesn't always produce the same results - I wish DSS could stack Moon pictures):
I believe with practice, and more time to spend on each subject, I can improve further. Equipment upgrades will probably never be an option, but that's ok. I am happy with the results I get and the harder I have to work at it the more rewarding it is!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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Stardaug
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/03/08
Posts: 528
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Pretty cool. Nice work considering point and shoot. How many jpg's were stacked to get the orion shot?
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"Keep looking up!"
Shawn / Ontario, Canada
Celestron CPC800 SCT w/XLT & GPS // Skywatcher Equinox 80ED F6.25 500mm APO // Canon Rebel 350XT unmodded // Milburn EQ Wedge (a Meade model modified to fit my CPC)
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ki_cz
super member
Reged: 02/05/08
Posts: 106
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Really like the moon shot. I can't even imagine what you go through to get those star shots!
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maverickf
member
Reged: 02/26/09
Posts: 18
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Good job! I didn't know P&S can take such good images. 
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Celestron C11 XLT
Orion ED 80
Orion Short Tube 80
Celestron CG5 Mount
PHD guiding with Meade DSI
Canon EOS 40D (Unmodified) with Astronomik CLS CFS filter
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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What is your process on the Deep Sky Stacker for stacking??
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thanks for the kind words!
Quote:
Pretty cool. Nice work considering point and shoot. How many jpg's were stacked to get the orion shot?
The Orion shot was done over the course of three nights. It's 95 JPGs, 15 seconds each. Some were ISO 400, 800, and 1600. I was doing a comparison of each ISO, then combined them all to make this image.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
What is your process on the Deep Sky Stacker for stacking??
I first look over each individual image and throw out any that have something obviously wrong with them. Then I load them all in DSS, tell it to stack 100% of them, and I think everything else is the default settings. "Align RGB channel in final image" is checked, "Median" stacking method, and "Median noise reduction". I stack only the lights and do not use flats or bias frames, and the camera does it's own dark frames. From my experimenting with JPGs and darks/flats/bias frames I have come to the conclusion that it's not really worth the effort and in fact sometimes the final result is worse. Which agrees with what others have posted here about stacking JPGs.
The biggest single thing that helped me is I save the image from DSS as a 16bit TIFF with the option "embed adjustments in the saved image but do not apply them". Any other way and it either seemed too washed out or too bright. I don't do any post processing because I don't know how and have had mostly unsatisfactory results! For now I let DSS do it's thing and I'm happy with what comes out of it.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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So you are using jpg instead of RAW??
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
So you are using jpg instead of RAW??
Yes. My inexpensive camera only takes JPG.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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What size images are you using also?? I have ben taking mine on the "Fine" setting(10 mp and 3200x2500) but DSS is running "out of memory" before they get processed. I resize them to 1024x and they work fine.
Should I be using a lower MP setting like "normal or small"??
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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maverickf
member
Reged: 02/26/09
Posts: 18
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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How about closing some application to free up some memory in your computer before you do big size files stacking. It may allow you to work on 10MP image, but in slow speed.
Just my 2 cents
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Celestron C11 XLT
Orion ED 80
Orion Short Tube 80
Celestron CG5 Mount
PHD guiding with Meade DSI
Canon EOS 40D (Unmodified) with Astronomik CLS CFS filter
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
What size images are you using also?? I have ben taking mine on the "Fine" setting(10 mp and 3200x2500) but DSS is running "out of memory" before they get processed. I resize them to 1024x and they work fine.
Should I be using a lower MP setting like "normal or small"??
I take 1600x1200 pictures (M3 setting on my Canon SX100) and I always use the least compression (Superfine "S" setting) no matter what size picture I take. The less compression the better the quality of the JPG.
But, like Maverick suggests above, first try closing some applications when running DSS. Then if you still run out of memory, go to smaller size pictures with the least amount of compression applied. If you are using RAW, then compression settings don't apply.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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I tried that and no go. I didn't have anything open but DSS. The fine or superfine determines what size your picture is. The finer you go the bigger the picture. But it depends on the mega-pixels of the camera too. Fine is as high as my Nikon D60 will go and that is 3200x2500 (10mp)
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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The Superfine setting on my SX100 determines the amount of compression (quality) applied to the JPG image and it affects the file size (MB). The M3 setting determines the dimensions of the picture (1600x1200) and also affects the file size (MB).
Try changing whichever menu setting determines the dimensions of your pictures (but keeping the quality setting at the highest), until you find a size that you can work with.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Orion Nebula. Same as above, no telescope optics, camera only. JPEGs stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, no other processing or editing. Except for resizing to post here, image is the way it came out of DSS:
Cropped from full size:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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WOW..........what were your settings and how many did you stack?? Did you auto focus or manual??
I also have a Fuji 5500(similar camera) and it took very good pix also.
What is the zoom power?
Edited by MrKrink (03/20/09 05:51 PM)
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Tek465
super member
Reged: 06/18/07
Posts: 128
Loc: Show Low, Az
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Quote:
Quote:
So you are using jpg instead of RAW??
Yes. My inexpensive camera only takes JPG.
If you would like to take RAW images there is a way. The SX100 is covered in CHDK ( http://chdk.wikia.com ).
It is a simple firmware mod that will let you shoot in raw plus lets you increase exposures up to 65s.
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Z10 Dob w/ Telrad
Celestron 15x70 binoc
SkyScout
FirstScope
Meade ETX-60AT
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
WOW..........what were your settings and how many did you stack?? Did you auto focus or manual??
I also have a Fuji 5500(similar camera) and it took very good pix also.
What is the zoom power?
Some were 10 seconds, some were 15 seconds, some ISO 800, 400, and 1600. (I was just messing around) The final stack was 70 lights. I used manual focus, set all the way to the end, infinity. Zoom power was 10x optical.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
If you would like to take RAW images there is a way. The SX100 is covered in CHDK ( http://chdk.wikia.com ).
It is a simple firmware mod that will let you shoot in raw plus lets you increase exposures up to 65s.
I would like to try RAW, and I have read about the CHDK thing, but I haven't read about anyone that's done it successfully to an SX100. I'm too chicken to try it. I would hate for something to go wrong and end up with a doorstop.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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I can't get anything past 5 seconds that don't blur unless I got to 24mm wide angle. 55mm up to 300mm all blur past 5 second exposures.
Quote:
Quote:
WOW..........what were your settings and how many did you stack?? Did you auto focus or manual??
I also have a Fuji 5500(similar camera) and it took very good pix also.
What is the zoom power?
Some were 10 seconds, some were 15 seconds, some ISO 800, 400, and 1600. (I was just messing around) The final stack was 70 lights. I used manual focus, set all the way to the end, infinity. Zoom power was 10x optical.
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
I can't get anything past 5 seconds that don't blur unless I got to 24mm wide angle. 55mm up to 300mm all blur past 5 second exposures.
That's about the best you can do on a plain tripod. If I piggyback mine on my Meade Autostar tripod then I can usually get the full 15 seconds at 10x zoom. My widefield Orion and friends was on plain photo tripod.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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maverickf
member
Reged: 02/26/09
Posts: 18
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Quote:
Some were 10 seconds, some were 15 seconds, some ISO 800, 400, and 1600. (I was just messing around) The final stack was 70 lights. I used manual focus, set all the way to the end, infinity. Zoom power was 10x optical.
I'm surprised there's not much noise in your pictures, well done. I gotta try using P&S sometime. 
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Celestron C11 XLT
Orion ED 80
Orion Short Tube 80
Celestron CG5 Mount
PHD guiding with Meade DSI
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
I'm surprised there's not much noise in your pictures, well done. I gotta try using P&S sometime.
Thank you! The SX100 camera automatically subtracts darks but the individual JPGs, especially at ISO 1600, are quite noisy. I guess I owe it all to stacking with Deep Sky Stacker. The more frames I stack, the less noise there is. Here's one of the individual JPGs as it comes from the camera, for comparison. ISO 1600, 15 seconds, resized and compressed a little to post here:
I am currently working on the Beehive Cluster. Also am experimenting with M81 & 82, the Flame Nebula, and M51. It's been cloudy and raining for the last 3 days and forecast looks like about 7 more to go!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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So your taking these with your camera on the Autostar tripod and not a regular tripod??
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
So your taking these with your camera on the Autostar tripod and not a regular tripod??
For widefield pictures (like Orion above) I use a regular tripod. The pictures that require zoom (the Orion Nebula and others) I piggyback the camera and use the Autostar to track the object. 15 seconds is pushing it with the Autostar, but most of the time they are usable.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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OK< that makes sense, I can't get anything past 5 sec. with any kind of a zoom 55mm or above on a reg tripod.
WOW, I just noticed my Clear Sky baar....... 
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Finally, on Friday night we had clear skies! I was able to complete a couple pictures I've been working on, and make progress on a few others.
3/27 Moon:
The Beehive Cluster:
The Flame Nebula. It's real faint, next to the leftmost bright star in this image. I think if I spent more time on this one, it might come out better. Unfortunately Orion is moving out of position for my observing site now, until next year:
This is the Flame Nebula cropped from a full size, brighter version:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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nickatnight
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/14/08
Posts: 1751
Loc: Santa Clarita, CA (LA Suburbs)
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Great shots. You're getting really good. Especially without a telescope or mount!
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nickatnight
Celestron CPC 9.25" GPS
Lumicon 2" LumiBrite Diagonal
Meade s5000 18mm UWA, Meade 6.7mm UWA,
Parks G.S-5 10mm, Celestrom 40mm Plossl
Parks 2x Barlow, Meade Tele-Extender
Celestron f6.3 Focal Reducer
Lumicon UHC Filter and Deep Sky Filter
Canon Rebel XTi (prime)
Canon Powershot G9 (afocal)
Canon EOS T-Ring and Parks T-Adapter
Lumicon Univ DigiCam Adapter
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thank you! Looks like clear again tonight, but cool (20°F). If it's not too windy I'll be out there pointing, clicking, and just looking up.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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Starman27
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/29/06
Posts: 574
Loc: Illinois, Iowa
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Looks like you are achieving your goal of inexpensive astrophotography with quality results. Patience and practice.
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Enjoy the dark,
Herman
Meade
14 LX200 GPS SMT
12 LX200 GPS
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ETX 125
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Sky 90II
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thanks Herman! Inexpensive is a necessity for me. Regardless of my limited equipment, I am both surprised and happy with the results. Getting there is all the fun, and the images I capture merely serve as a reminder of the good time I had that night/nights.
Last night's Moon (3/29):
With Earthshine:
Above the silo and sunset:
In line after Orion, Taurus, and Seven Sisters (single 10 second exposure, ISO 200):
M81 and M82 (considering how small the camera lens is, I am surprised it picks these up at all):
Cropped from full size brighter version:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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Man those are awesome. I did some of the moon last night, was going to do some more tonight but the clouds have moved in again. I guess I can process last nights photos.
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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It's been cloudy here a lot lately (freezing rain right now). The Moon is fun to shoot, and actually I've found it to be a bit more of a challenge to get just right than some of the deep sky stuff. I've been experimenting with afocal on it, but my mount doesn't seem to hold the camera quite right so I've been holding it by hand up to the eyepiece. Sometimes works, sometimes not.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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4/1/09 Moon, hand-held afocal through ETX80:
Mel 111 Star Cluster, camera optics only:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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guyroch
sage
Reged: 01/22/08
Posts: 253
Loc: Ottawa, Canada
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What I like about u Quads is that you're out there with basically a camery and _your_ love for the stars. I think everyone should start like you and learn the basics, the constellations, etc... before getting into high end stuff.
I admire your dedication.
Good work and thank you for sharing 
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750mm 6" Skywatcher Reflector f/5
Celestron CG-5 GT mount
SSAG autoguider mounted on Orion 80mm short tube
Canon 40D unmodified / TC-80N3 remote timer
Orion SkyGlow for Astrophotography light polution filter.
Orion AccuFocus & Bahtinov mask
Bushnell 8x42 h2o® Waterproof Binoculars
Sky Atlas 2000.0 Field Version (Laminated)
Plenty of patience and a wife that doesn’t quite understand my love for clear skies, but let’s me go out anyway ~ thanks honey bunny
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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You're welcome guyroch and thanks for looking! You're right, I love the stars/night sky and I love to take pictures, but I don't have a lot of money. So I got me a camera, a little bitty telescope, a pair of binoculars that I won as a door-prize, and almost every clear night I'm looking up.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Moon 4/3/09, afocal through ETX 80, camera hand-held to eyepiece:
M35 star cluster, camera optics only, not very far from bright gibbous Moon shown above:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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When the Moon is bright and the wind is strong, what do I do? I grab my old tripod and my PowerShot and take a picture of the Moon of course!
And the Big Dipper!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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Skip
Starlifter Driver
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 1339
Loc: San Antonio, Texas, USA
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Wow, great results, Quad. I'm just beginning as well. Here is my first lunar image taken on 4/4/09. I used my Nikon Coolpix 5200 afocal, handheld, with my 10" dob at 92X.
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Skip
Celestron NexStar 6SE (Small Caliber)
Orion SkyQuest XT10i Intelliscope (Howitzer)
2 25mm Plossls; 24mm & 13mm Hyperions; 10mm Plossl; 6mm BO/TMB; 2X Barlow
Telrad + 4" Riser
7Ah PowerTank
Starbound Observing Chair
Eagle Eye Observatory, Texas -
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Skip
Starlifter Driver
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 1339
Loc: San Antonio, Texas, USA
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I am super-impressed with your deep sky pics. M81/82 was very impressive!
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Skip
Celestron NexStar 6SE (Small Caliber)
Orion SkyQuest XT10i Intelliscope (Howitzer)
2 25mm Plossls; 24mm & 13mm Hyperions; 10mm Plossl; 6mm BO/TMB; 2X Barlow
Telrad + 4" Riser
7Ah PowerTank
Starbound Observing Chair
Eagle Eye Observatory, Texas -
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thank you Skip! I only wish I could get Moon pictures as good as yours from my "pointing and shooting". Excellent!
As soon as the Moon goes away again, I have a few more deep sky targets in mind to experiment with. In the meantime, as long as the Moon is there, here's one from last night. Old tripod, PowerShot, and click-click:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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A bright sunset in the west, an equally bright moon rising in the east, high thin clouds overhead, and here is M37!
As usual, Canon Powershot SX100, no telescope optics/camera only. JPEGs stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, no other processing or editing. Except for resizing to post here, image is the way it came out of DSS:
Or, if you prefer, the full-frame/widefield view:
Someday I will try an afocal deep sky shot through my ETX80 (other than the occasional "hand-held to the eyepiece" Moon picture). Up until now though, my afocal camera bracket has been less than satisfactory. I can't seem to get it lined up to the eyepiece the way I want it, and then sometimes the lens extends and crashes into the eyepiece (OOPS!). Someday....... Works great turned around for piggyback though!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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Rat8bug
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/07/05
Posts: 1472
Loc: Michigan
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Here's my afocal shot through an Orion Apex 127mm mak. Panasonic LX3 afocal via scopetronix 14mm WA eyepiece., RAW, ISO 400, 1/400 sec.
Ciao....Barry
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Nikon D40/D50/D70 DSLR
WO 105mm Triplet APO
WO Zenithstar 66SD APO (Black 'n Blue)
WO 8 x 45mm APO Bino
UO 20 x 80mm Bino
Vixen 80SS Refractor
Orion 127mm Apex Maksutov
Vixen GP-DX with Skysensor 2000
SBIG STV and e-finder
Edited by Rat8bug (04/10/09 01:44 PM)
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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That's beautiful Barry!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
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pilgrim1
super member
Reged: 02/22/08
Posts: 158
Loc: South Florida
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I have been quite frustrated with the results of my attempts to take the simple sort of photos here of the moon and constellations. This thread has inspired me to keep trying though.
I've just downloaded DSS and Registax. If the long term results of my future attempts at this lead to me spending thousands on more equipment, I'll be holding you all responsible. Wish me luck.
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John
"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." Dr. Robert Jastrow
----------------
Orion XT12i
Meade 90mm f11 refractor on alt/az
D&G 6" f/12 (on the way)
Baader EPs
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Wishing you luck John! Looking forward to your photos.
DSS is an awesome program. Too bad it doesn't do Moon and planets. I stack a minimum of 50 fifteen second JPEGs, maximum of 100, for my star/deep sky stuff.
Only maybe 30 JPEGs or less of the Moon in RegiStax.
I was out last night working on M51 but the sky was kind of hazy, almost smoky. Seems like it will be better tonight. Maybe I can finish M51. It will be small and faint, but hopefully the shape will be recognizable.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Rat8bug
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/07/05
Posts: 1472
Loc: Michigan
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One has to have a good tracking mount and dark skies to take really good star photos with a P&S. It should also have ability to shoot in RAW. The panasonic LX3 meets these requirements with an f/2 lens, Full manual mode (including focusing), and up to 60 sec exposures. Noise at ISO 800 is minimal. The is a 4 x 60 sec stack, ISO 400, RAW, tracked, in mag 4 skies of a region in the constellation Cygnus. The NA nebula region is nearby.
Ciao...Barry
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Nikon D40/D50/D70 DSLR
WO 105mm Triplet APO
WO Zenithstar 66SD APO (Black 'n Blue)
WO 8 x 45mm APO Bino
UO 20 x 80mm Bino
Vixen 80SS Refractor
Orion 127mm Apex Maksutov
Vixen GP-DX with Skysensor 2000
SBIG STV and e-finder
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Rat8bug
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/07/05
Posts: 1472
Loc: Michigan
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More LX3 examples at:
http://www.pbase.com/rat8bug/inbox
Ciao...Barry
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Nikon D40/D50/D70 DSLR
WO 105mm Triplet APO
WO Zenithstar 66SD APO (Black 'n Blue)
WO 8 x 45mm APO Bino
UO 20 x 80mm Bino
Vixen 80SS Refractor
Orion 127mm Apex Maksutov
Vixen GP-DX with Skysensor 2000
SBIG STV and e-finder
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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What are all the little red dots??
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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M51 Whirlpool Galaxy, the hardest one I've done yet, but I really had fun working on it! Details mostly the same, camera only with it's tiny built-in lens, no scope optics used, etc. etc. M51 is so small and faint that I used 2x drizzle in DSS when I stacked it. This is cropped from the bright less colorful version of the final image that DSS displays when it's done stacking. It looks a little weird compared to the regular saved file, but in this case it showed up better:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Rat8bug
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/07/05
Posts: 1472
Loc: Michigan
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That is a very red rich region in the constellation Cygnus, just off the East of the North American Nebula (NGC7000). I would need more exposures to show the nebula, but it was near dawn when these were taken.
Quote:
What are all the little red dots??
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Nikon D40/D50/D70 DSLR
WO 105mm Triplet APO
WO Zenithstar 66SD APO (Black 'n Blue)
WO 8 x 45mm APO Bino
UO 20 x 80mm Bino
Vixen 80SS Refractor
Orion 127mm Apex Maksutov
Vixen GP-DX with Skysensor 2000
SBIG STV and e-finder
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mischief
super member
Reged: 04/26/08
Posts: 146
Loc: Northern California
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Quads, so nice to see such good photos shot with a point and shoot camera. That is all I have; an Olympus SP 565 UV. I think it does shoot RAW as well as JPG. I may have missed it, did you have your camera on a tracking mount?
And Stuart, as an aside I like the furry cats in your signature. I also have 2 furry cats who like to "help" me in whatever I am doing.
Dorothy 
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Lunt 60T H alpha B600
Orion StarBlast
Vixen VMC 110
AT Voyager
Orion TeleTrack GoTo alt/az mount
Orion Binoviewers
Canon 10x30 IS binoculars
Celestron "FirstScope" (3" aperture) mini-Dob in honor of IYA 2009 ( just got it) only weighs 4 lbs.
Galileoscope 2" refractor similar to one that Galileo used (ordered and coming)
Astro-Tech AT80LE
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
Quads, so nice to see such good photos shot with a point and shoot camera. That is all I have; an Olympus SP 565 UV. I think it does shoot RAW as well as JPG. I may have missed it, did you have your camera on a tracking mount?
Dorothy, for the wide (no zoom) shots I use a plain old photo tripod. For the zoomed shots I use the camera piggybacked on the Autostar/ETX. I can then get the full (15 seconds) exposure time of my camera at 10x zoom for most of the images with no trailing. 15 seconds seems to be about the limit of the Autostar, but that's the longest exposure my camera does anyway.
If your camera shoots RAWs that should be even better than my JPEGs only!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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mischief
super member
Reged: 04/26/08
Posts: 146
Loc: Northern California
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Quads,
I really don't have a good tracking mount. I do have an Orion TeleTrac GoTo mount that might work with a light scope. Your photos really *BLEEP* away. I belong to a Yahoo group on digital imaging; it is a good group with lots of good information, but mostly expensive equipment. Most on the group say you have to use a DSLR (group isn't about CCD or webcam imaging), that point and shoot just doesn't do the job. Well I think you have shown that point and shoot can do just fine.
I wish I could use DSS but it doesn't run on a Mac (story of my computer life; but it is getting better). I think there are 1 or 2 stacking apps that will run on a Mac. Now the weather is getting better, I am getting excited (a lot because of your posts and pictures) to get started. Thanks for sharing.
One more thing; on afocal photography, Orion sells a camera adapter that holds the camera up to the lens; I think a couple of other places also sell them. You might try that; easier than holding camera to lens.
Dorothy  
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Lunt 60T H alpha B600
Orion StarBlast
Vixen VMC 110
AT Voyager
Orion TeleTrack GoTo alt/az mount
Orion Binoviewers
Canon 10x30 IS binoculars
Celestron "FirstScope" (3" aperture) mini-Dob in honor of IYA 2009 ( just got it) only weighs 4 lbs.
Galileoscope 2" refractor similar to one that Galileo used (ordered and coming)
Astro-Tech AT80LE
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
I really don't have a good tracking mount. I do have an Orion TeleTrac GoTo mount that might work with a light scope.
I'm not familiar with the Orion, but my ETX Autostar is a GoTo mount which is usually not considered a good tracking mount either. It works great for me though, with the camera piggybacked on it and taking 15 second exposures.
Quote:
I belong to a Yahoo group on digital imaging; it is a good group with lots of good information, but mostly expensive equipment. Most on the group say you have to use a DSLR (group isn't about CCD or webcam imaging), that point and shoot just doesn't do the job. Well I think you have shown that point and shoot can do just fine.
Thank you! I guess it's all in what you expect. I expected complete failure from what I had read too, about DSLRs and thousands of dollars needed (I don't have thousands of dollars to spend, but still wanted to take pictures of what I could see up there). My first attempts at it surprised me a little even then, considering what I expected. From there I just kept experimenting and trying different things.
Quote:
I wish I could use DSS but it doesn't run on a Mac (story of my computer life; but it is getting better). I think there are 1 or 2 stacking apps that will run on a Mac.
That's too bad you can't use DSS because a lot of what I can do with my limited equipment is thanks to DSS! It's a wonderful program and so simple to use.
Quote:
Now the weather is getting better, I am getting excited (a lot because of your posts and pictures) to get started. Thanks for sharing.
Looking forward to your pictures!
Quote:
One more thing; on afocal photography, Orion sells a camera adapter that holds the camera up to the lens; I think a couple of other places also sell them. You might try that; easier than holding camera to lens.
I have an afocal adapter (it's what I use for zoom pictures, piggybacking on my ETX - I turned it around and used a piece of tin to adapt the camera to it). (See picture below) I have never been able to get it to work to my satisfaction using it afocal. So far, the only time I ever take afocal pictures is once in awhile of the Moon, hand-held to the eyepiece.
Thanks again for your interest and good luck with your pictures!
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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M36 & M38 star clusters. I think the one's stars are arranged in a 5 point star shape. The other is somewhat cross shaped. And now, get ready for this, I did a little post-processing on this one! After the final image was stacked in DSS, I loaded it in RegiStax and slid the top slider to the right just a bit. I don't know what it's supposed to do, but it seemed to make this picture less soft/sharper than I normally leave my final pictures. Just experimenting. Still undecided as to whether I like them a little softer, or a little sharper like this one:
This morning's daytime Moon:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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pilgrim1
super member
Reged: 02/22/08
Posts: 158
Loc: South Florida
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Very nice Quads! I haven't had good weather in several days so I have not had a chance to get to work with my DSLR.
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John
"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." Dr. Robert Jastrow
----------------
Orion XT12i
Meade 90mm f11 refractor on alt/az
D&G 6" f/12 (on the way)
Baader EPs
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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The weather has been unusually nice here. So nice and dry in fact that we've been having forest/brush fires in the area. With this dry air the stars practically jump right out! I've been out late every night, almost hoping for a few clouds to get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Hee hee!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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M48:
Wide-field view of Saturn at lower right of center, Mel 111 star cluster at upper left of center:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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The Dippers. I don't think they're as exciting as Orion, Taurus, The Seven Sisters, or the Summer Milky Way, but hey, they're always visible every night all year:
M13 (unlucky #13) globular star cluster. This picture took me a week to complete! The first night, the wind was so strong that most of my subs were no good due to shaking and swaying! The next night, there was a lot of smoke in the sky from a local forest fire, so many of my subs didn't turn out. Then the rain came for a few days, which we desperately needed. The following night, conditions were just right that my camera kept frosting up. And finally, I live under the approach to Minneapolis airport and that night the jets were leaving vapor trails that got bigger and bigger after they went over. It was fun though, as usual, out under the stars, even if 13 is an unlucky number! It's amazing how something so far away is picked up at all by my little camera! Here it is, much the same way as it looks to me through my ETX80:
I do two types of pictures with my point and shoot. No zoom and 10x zoom, no in between. All other settings are the same for both. It's easier that way to continue on another night because I can match the zoom perfectly. And in case anyone is wondering, here are my camera settings for my individual frames:
10x zoom:
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/4.3
ISO speed rating: 1600
Zoom (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Thursday, April 23, 2009
Time taken: 10:24 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
No zoom:
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO speed rating: 1600
Zoom (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Thursday, April 23, 2009
Time taken: 9:37 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Ahhhh, springtime! Even when it's not raining, cloudy, or wind blowing, the sky doesn't get good and dark until at least 10:00 PM. When the cows expect to be milked by 5:00 AM, well........
Last night was perfect, even if late and only 30°F. It was a nice night to finally get out and just look around through my little ETX.
M101 looks like it might be one of my next photo subjects. It's brighter and bigger than M51. I don't expect any detail with my PowerShot, but like my M51 results the overall shape will be satisfying enough.
I might try M83, I can see it with my ETX too, but it's awful low in the south. Lots of glow from city lights that direction.
NGC4565 is brighter and higher up, but it's oh so small! It might be fun to see if the little lens on my camera would pick any of it up.
I did take one picture last night. A wide-field of the Milky Way on it's way up for summer. Won't be long now and we'll be able to see the thick star clouds and all the other neat summertime night sky sights before midnight.
Deneb at lower left just above the tree line, above and to the right of center is Vega, and if you look real close in the lower right (amid the glow of the federal prison) you can see the Coathanger.
Canon PowerShot SX100, mounted on a photo tripod, 62x15 seconds, ISO 1600, f2.8, stacked with DSS and sharpened just a teensy bit in RegiStax. I also made a neat little movie out of the subs, but PhotoBucket compresses it so much that it looked terrible and I deleted it after taking the time to upload (on dialup).
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Just before midnight the irrigation system sneaked up on my side of the field and I had to make a run for it! I'm not sure that's what Meade had in mind when they made my "Grab 'n Go" scope, but it worked for that. Possibly a new marketing slogan? "For your mad dash from advancing irrigation systems, purchase an ETX80." 
31x15 seconds, ISO 1600, f/4.3, 10x zoom, except for quality and size reduction to post here image is exactly the way it came out of Deep Sky Stacker. The bright star Vega:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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Awesome, picture.
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thank you Mr. Krink!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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yangman
journeyman
Reged: 06/07/08
Posts: 5
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wow great work!
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thanks!
I wish it didn't get dark so late here this time of year. Seriously cuts down on my night sky time. I don't mind the early light as much. I've got a couple more experiments in mind, maybe tonight I can work on them.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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The power of stacking multiple exposures!
Only 2 exposures stacked for this image:
21 exposures stacked for this image:
Stacked with Deep Sky Stacker. As you can see, the more you stack the better they get, even with Point and Shoot JPEGs. The noise begins to go away, bringing out fainter details. Even the faint satellite trail in the stack of 2 has disappeared in the stack of 21. I stack as many as I can stand to do, usually 50-100, sometimes several nights/weeks apart.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Illinois
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/18/06
Posts: 693
Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA
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Quads...... great job and beauitful photos! I am going to learn how to use
Deep sky stacker!
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Astronomer since 1975!
Orion 80mm ED refractor and
iOptron CubePro mount
Meade 16" Lightbridge Dobsonian
Orion 10" SkyQuest Classic Dobsonian
Tele Vue Eyepieces
Canon EOS XS 1000D
Orion Planetary 5 mm and
Orion Expanse Wide-Field 6mm eyepiece
4.5" F5 Reflector since 1982!
Orion Narrowband and SkyGlow filters
Member of IDA, let's fight light pollution!
Old Edmund 6"F8...donated to cousins
Super Polaris C8...donated to Byron Observatory in Illinois
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Deep Sky Stacker is so easy to use, does a nice job, and best of all it's FREE! The only thing I can say is don't be confused by the way it displays the image when you are done stacking (it usually is too bright/gray). Save the image without applying the adjustments and when you open it in another program it will look normal.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Illinois
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/18/06
Posts: 693
Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA
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Thanks! 
--------------------
Astronomer since 1975!
Orion 80mm ED refractor and
iOptron CubePro mount
Meade 16" Lightbridge Dobsonian
Orion 10" SkyQuest Classic Dobsonian
Tele Vue Eyepieces
Canon EOS XS 1000D
Orion Planetary 5 mm and
Orion Expanse Wide-Field 6mm eyepiece
4.5" F5 Reflector since 1982!
Orion Narrowband and SkyGlow filters
Member of IDA, let's fight light pollution!
Old Edmund 6"F8...donated to cousins
Super Polaris C8...donated to Byron Observatory in Illinois
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NigelM
member
Reged: 05/22/09
Posts: 15
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Here is M33 - about 30 mins worth of stacked 16sec exposures taken with an Olympus 2020Z P&S camera through a Celestron Nexstar SLT 102 refractor (alt-az mount) and a 32mm eyepiece:
And here is M35 + NGC2158, same set-up but this time only about 7mins:
Both at ISO200 with a master dark frame subtracted.
NigelM
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Very nice NigelM!
Is that what the small thing near M35 is, NGC2158? It showed up in my M35 too (not as clearly as in yours though) but I didn't know what it was.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Illinois
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/18/06
Posts: 693
Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA
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It is NGC 2518! I saw it many times on my telescope but you got it in your camera is very nice!
--------------------
Astronomer since 1975!
Orion 80mm ED refractor and
iOptron CubePro mount
Meade 16" Lightbridge Dobsonian
Orion 10" SkyQuest Classic Dobsonian
Tele Vue Eyepieces
Canon EOS XS 1000D
Orion Planetary 5 mm and
Orion Expanse Wide-Field 6mm eyepiece
4.5" F5 Reflector since 1982!
Orion Narrowband and SkyGlow filters
Member of IDA, let's fight light pollution!
Old Edmund 6"F8...donated to cousins
Super Polaris C8...donated to Byron Observatory in Illinois
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Captain Ahab
newbie
Reged: 06/05/09
Posts: 1
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Ha ha, after searching the internet I found somebody that was attempting cheap astrophotography like me! Great pictures can be done with this SX100 IS camera. My skill is somewhat lacking, but I would like to share what I got. I don't have an instrument to track the stars, and I do get streaks with 15 seconds, but not TOO noticeable. I do have the chdk installed on a SD card, but the lack of tracking would not work well with the 15+ seconds.
I truly love deep sky stacker, great program.
I also have a video that I created using a startrail program (free). I set my SX100 IS up much like I do for astrophotography, but in continuous mode and I kept the "shoot" button down. If you need more info, then let me know. Please check out the youtube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGPKYVwdE48
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquarius_75/2934828944
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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You have some very nice pictures Captain Ahab!
Piggybacked on my ETX mount, and at 10x zoom, I can't get longer than 15 second exposures, which is the main reason I haven't pursued the chdk thing. Not much for me to gain from it. Plus, it's interesting to see what the cheap camera can do without any modifications whatsoever.
Soon, when the weather and late-setting sun begin to cooperate again, I am going to also experiment with my wife's little Panasonic camera. It fits in the palm of your hand and was very inexpensive.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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I was finally able to get out under the stars again last night. I did experiment with my wife's Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8 and I can positively say that she is in no danger of losing it to my nighttime sky equipment bag! I doubt if I will touch it again, after being spoiled by Canon.
First thing, my Canon has a customizable setting for the self timer that allows you to take up to 10 exposures in a row, without touching it after the first push of the shutter release button. When the 10 are up, simply push the button again and walk away to do more observing or whatever. The Panasonic has no such feature. It has a self timer, but for only one exposure at a time. Not only do you have to push the button again between every single exposure, but it forgets the timer setting altogether so that you have to go back into the menu and set the timer all over again! Each and every time! Yuck. How frustrating to have to nurse the camera along and not be able to do anything else.
The Panasonic goes up to 60 seconds exposures, whereas my Canon only does 15 seconds. Sounds like a good thing. If you are using a plain old tripod, it's not. Anything over 15 seconds and the stars are trailed too much anyway. So, I found myself taking only 15 second exposures and no longer.
The Canon reproduces the natural color of the sky/light polution accurately. The Panasonic does not. With auto white balance, the pictures are too blue from what the actual sky looked like to my eyes. I tried other white balance settings and those were either too red or too green. Nothing I tried could compare to the natural color with the auto white balance setting of my Canon.
The Panasonic has a full manual setting where I can control everything about the camera, except one thing. The focus! It has no manual focus. What kind of a goof-ball design is that? Sometimes I would end up with a frame that was horribly out of focus. What a waste of time.
Now, don't get me wrong, my wife likes her little Panasonic for daytime shooting. (If she's happy, I'm happy.) And it did have one good thing about nighttime picture taking that it beat the Canon at. Last night the humidity was so thick that after a short time my Canon completely dewed over. It was literally dripping wet. The Panasonic runs so hot, even only taking 15 second exposures and pausing between each one to reset the timer, that no dew formed on it! I don't think dew ever would form on it. It was so hot that I could smell the heat! So, I guess that's one good thing I could say about it - built-in dew heater!
This picture is a stack of 15 second subs from the Panasonic. No editing whatsoever, other than resizing to post here, image is the way it came out of DSS:
This picture is a stack of 15 second subs from the Canon. No editing whatsoever, other than resizing to post here, image is the way it came out of DSS:
I could easily improve on the Canon picture by taking more subs (which I may do tonight). I must remember to take good old DEET mosquito spray with me though, and I am going to take my Dad's antique JON-E handwarmer to hang under the canon to keep the dew away.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Vebjorn
member
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 66
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Hi! I have a Canon EOS 350D camera, is it suitable for astrophotografy? And a Canon Powershot G9 by the way.
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SkyQuest XT6
25mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Canon Powershot G9
Canon Eos 350D
Coming up:
Celestron Omni 2x Barlow
10mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Celestron Moon Filter
Celestron Canon EOS adapter
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wb9sat
sage
Reged: 06/16/09
Posts: 328
Loc: Eagar, Arizona USA
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Vebjorn,
Absolutely. Some of my best images are with my Canon EOS Rebel XT (350D). You'll need a T-adapter and if you use nebulosity camera control and capture software, you'll need a Shoestring DSUSB shutter control adapter. Images are captured in a FITs format, processed and converted to JPG. I've written a tutorial for the Canon Digic II - Nebulosity combination if you are interested. The great advantage of imaging with a DSLR is the resolution.
The disadvantage to DSLR imaging is the amount of memory that will be required for processing. In a CCD camera, each frame might be 35 kb whereas the DSLR using a CMOS chip each frame is about 15.3 MB. If you take 50 frames during an imaging session, I think you get the idea of the amount of processing power needed.
There are other camera control and capture programs for the DSLR, but I really like Nebulosity. Downloads are free (www.stark-labs.com) and you can play with for as long as you like. The final image will have bars running through it until you buy a license. Version 1 is $45. Version 2 is $60.
Clear skies,
Bill
--------------------
Bill Logan
Logan Observatory
Eagar, Arizona, USSA
Elevation: 7,400 feet (2,600 meters) ASL
NexStar 11 GPS on Milburn wedge
Permanent steel pier
12' x 12' Roll-off-roof
WO ZS-66ED refractor
Meade DSI Pro II monochrome
Meade DSI II OSC
Orion 7nm Narrowband filters
73 de WB9SAT
[url=http://loganobservatory.shutterfly.com[/url]
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Illinois
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/18/06
Posts: 693
Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA
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Would be nice to get 30 seconds and blub in Canon Powershot point and shoot! I would buy it! Light weight than DSLR!
My Canon Powershot is A540 and I like it very much! But only up to 15 seconds!
Took photo at last evening last Saturday. You can see Juipter above streetlight and little higher is Mercury. Both planets can see between cloudy! Few seconds at ISO 400 with mounted.
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Astronomer since 1975!
Orion 80mm ED refractor and
iOptron CubePro mount
Meade 16" Lightbridge Dobsonian
Orion 10" SkyQuest Classic Dobsonian
Tele Vue Eyepieces
Canon EOS XS 1000D
Orion Planetary 5 mm and
Orion Expanse Wide-Field 6mm eyepiece
4.5" F5 Reflector since 1982!
Orion Narrowband and SkyGlow filters
Member of IDA, let's fight light pollution!
Old Edmund 6"F8...donated to cousins
Super Polaris C8...donated to Byron Observatory in Illinois
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Illinois
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/18/06
Posts: 693
Loc: near Chicago, Illinois USA
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Oops! NOT LAST SATURDAY! I mean last January! 
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Astronomer since 1975!
Orion 80mm ED refractor and
iOptron CubePro mount
Meade 16" Lightbridge Dobsonian
Orion 10" SkyQuest Classic Dobsonian
Tele Vue Eyepieces
Canon EOS XS 1000D
Orion Planetary 5 mm and
Orion Expanse Wide-Field 6mm eyepiece
4.5" F5 Reflector since 1982!
Orion Narrowband and SkyGlow filters
Member of IDA, let's fight light pollution!
Old Edmund 6"F8...donated to cousins
Super Polaris C8...donated to Byron Observatory in Illinois
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Vebjorn
member
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 66
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Quote:
Vebjorn,
Absolutely. Some of my best images are with my Canon EOS Rebel XT (350D). You'll need a T-adapter and if you use nebulosity camera control and capture software, you'll need a Shoestring DSUSB shutter control adapter. Images are captured in a FITs format, processed and converted to JPG. I've written a tutorial for the Canon Digic II - Nebulosity combination if you are interested. The great advantage of imaging with a DSLR is the resolution.
The disadvantage to DSLR imaging is the amount of memory that will be required for processing. In a CCD camera, each frame might be 35 kb whereas the DSLR using a CMOS chip each frame is about 15.3 MB. If you take 50 frames during an imaging session, I think you get the idea of the amount of processing power needed.
There are other camera control and capture programs for the DSLR, but I really like Nebulosity. Downloads are free (www.stark-labs.com) and you can play with for as long as you like. The final image will have bars running through it until you buy a license. Version 1 is $45. Version 2 is $60.
Clear skies,
Bill
Thanks, I'll buy some of that equipment! It's getting darker here at the moment, so soon i'll get some pictures that i can share. All though it will take some time before the sky is covered with stars, the sun rises at 03:30 AM now.
--------------------
SkyQuest XT6
25mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Canon Powershot G9
Canon Eos 350D
Coming up:
Celestron Omni 2x Barlow
10mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Celestron Moon Filter
Celestron Canon EOS adapter
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
Would be nice to get 30 seconds and blub in Canon Powershot point and shoot! I would buy it! Light weight than DSLR!
My Canon Powershot is A540 and I like it very much! But only up to 15 seconds!
Took photo at last evening last Saturday. You can see Juipter above streetlight and little higher is Mercury. Both planets can see between cloudy! Few seconds at ISO 400 with mounted.
Very pretty picture Illinois!
I agree that the lighter weight is nice. I think my ETX Autostar mount is at the limit with my Powershot (SX100) piggybacked on it and the extra weight of a DSLR would probably create problems.
As for longer than a 15 second exposure, that's all I can do with no zoom and mounted on a photo tripod anyway before the stars trail. And when piggybacked on my ETX, at 10x zoom, 15 seconds seems to be about the limit there too. So, with my setup, I'm happy with the 15 second limit of my Powershot.
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Vebjorn,
If I was ever to upgrade from my Powershot, the Canon EOS Rebel XT would most likely be my first choice. I have seen some very nice pictures taken with those!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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How do you get the pictures taken at different times to match up in DSS?? I have not had much luck getting ANYTHING to work in DSS.
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Vebjorn
member
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 66
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Arg, all that processing and all those programs is giving me a headache! -.- And i haven't even done it yet!
--------------------
SkyQuest XT6
25mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Canon Powershot G9
Canon Eos 350D
Coming up:
Celestron Omni 2x Barlow
10mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Celestron Moon Filter
Celestron Canon EOS adapter
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
How do you get the pictures taken at different times to match up in DSS?? I have not had much luck getting ANYTHING to work in DSS.
I keep the zoom the same for the subject (I only take widefield no zoom, or 10x zoom, nothing in between, keeps it simpler). Then I try to keep the angle etc. fairly close (this isn't too important because Deep Sky Stacker seems to do a good job of flipping the individual frames around, lining them up as needed). I sometimes take days, weeks, months, to complete one picture and I'm sure I could take frames years apart and still have it work if I use the same camera. Then I don't even separate them when I'm ready for DSS to stack. I just dump them all in the same folder, load them into DSS, and let it do it's thing!
From following the posts here on CN, the biggest problem I see people having with DSS is that the final result LOOKS funny. But don't let that fool you. Save the image without applying adjustments and when you open that file (not the autosave) in another program it will look normal. It fooled me at first too, until I read someone's post here and then it dawned on me. I do occasionally use the "too bright/colorless" result for showing fine detail, but other than that almost never.
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
Arg, all that processing and all those programs is giving me a headache! -.- And i haven't even done it yet!
Aw, nothing to it. Use Deep Sky Stacker for stacking stars/deep space, and Registax for Moon, planets. Period. Easy as pie. (Except maybe Registax which is a little quirky sometimes.)
As for processing after stacking, that's even easier - I never do it! I have occasionally experimented with a little bit of sharpening in Registax, but that's all.
Disclaimer: Te each his own! It's all fun to play with, but I usually keep it as simple as possible. I spend more time than I want to staring at a monitor as it is. And as far as programs for stacking, there is a lot of them that seem to work, but the free ones are what I can afford! Ha ha!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Posts: 5744
Loc: London UK
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Hi Quads - just 'discovered' your very successful digital point and shoot thread and the progress you've made - congratulations - there's clearly a need for techniques on modest cams that are usually overshadowed on the forum by the much vaulted hi-tech gear. Keep up the good work
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Nytecam 51N 0.1W
Meade 30cm LX200+ETX-70+e-finder+C8+Ha+CaK PSTs SBIG SGS+homebuilt spectrographs
Starlight SXVF_M9+Lodestar CCDs/Canon 300D DSLR/Fuji E550
My observatory build-ETX-70 imaging-my videos
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Vebjorn
member
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 66
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Quote:
Quote:
Arg, all that processing and all those programs is giving me a headache! -.- And i haven't even done it yet!
Aw, nothing to it. Use Deep Sky Stacker for stacking stars/deep space, and Registax for Moon, planets. Period. Easy as pie. (Except maybe Registax which is a little quirky sometimes.)
As for processing after stacking, that's even easier - I never do it! I have occasionally experimented with a little bit of sharpening in Registax, but that's all.
Disclaimer: Te each his own! It's all fun to play with, but I usually keep it as simple as possible. I spend more time than I want to staring at a monitor as it is. And as far as programs for stacking, there is a lot of them that seem to work, but the free ones are what I can afford! Ha ha!
Ah! And i suppose i can find a video on the internet on how to use the programs.
--------------------
SkyQuest XT6
25mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Canon Powershot G9
Canon Eos 350D
Coming up:
Celestron Omni 2x Barlow
10mm Orion Sirius Plössl
Celestron Moon Filter
Celestron Canon EOS adapter
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
Hi Quads - just 'discovered' your very successful digital point and shoot thread and the progress you've made - congratulations - there's clearly a need for techniques on modest cams that are usually overshadowed on the forum by the much vaulted hi-tech gear. Keep up the good work
Thanks nytecam!
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
Ah! And i suppose i can find a video on the internet on how to use the programs.
Actually, you probably can. I know there is a lot of documentation online for them. DSS has it's own Yahoo! forum and the creator of it posts here at CN quite often.
But, you probably won't need too much help. They're pretty easy to use.
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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OK.... when I finish stacking and try to save it the stack only has an option to save as a TIF file and my adobe elements and other programs for some reason will not open it. It says I need CS2 and Elements cannot ope HDR (high dynamic range) files. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO???
I can't believe I am having all this trouble, because it does seem so easy, but then again, nothing for me is ever easy!!
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Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
Edited by MrKrink (06/25/09 10:03 PM)
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
OK.... when I finish stacking and try to save it the stack only has an option to save as a TIF file and my adobe elements and other programs for some reason will not open it. It says I need CS2 and Elements cannot ope HDR (high dynamic range) files. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO???
I can't believe I am having all this trouble, because it does seem so easy, but then again, nothing for me is ever easy!!
Well, I'm not sure, I open it with Ulead Photo Explorer, that I got free somewhere, and then I use it to convert it to BMP later. Take a look at thread at the following link. It might help, and I have posted a capture of the DSS "save as" window there: click
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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MrKrink, I did some stacking this morning and decided to see what other programs I have on this computer that would open the resulting TIF. Turns out the only program that will open it is the Ulead program. I got it free with a printer or something.
Anyway, I had downloaded a free program on another computer that I'm sure would open it. It's called Irfanview. www.irfanview.com You could use that program to open the TIF and then convert it to BMP etc.
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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I fought the dew and I won! - this time, finally. I had the old handwarmer snuggled up as close as I could under the lens. Even so, after every 10th exposure, I still had to blow a little on the lens with my squeeze bulb. Eventually the wind picked up and that eliminated the need for the squeeze bulb.
The Coathanger, a favorite asterism:
Stack: 85 light frames
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
ISO speed rating: 1600
Aperture: f/4.3
Zoom 10x (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Friday, June 26, 2009
Time taken: 11:23 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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I think I have hit upon a successful method of keeping the dew at bay. Night before last, the scope's objective, eyepiece, and everything else were literally dripping wet (I was already tracking my last target for the night, so didn't matter that I could no longer see through the scope), but my camera lens was dry as a bone. Simple, effective, and, above all else, inexpensive.
This one is also of the Coathanger, but no zoom/widefield (see the cute little Coathanger in the middle?). As with almost all of my pictures, camera only, stacked with Deep Sky Stacker, and no other processing aside from resizing to post here:
Stack: 77 light frames
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
ISO speed rating: 1600
Aperture: f/2.8
Zoom 0x (Focal length): 33mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Saturday, June 27, 2009
Time taken: 11:09 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
The Lagoon and the Trifid, 10x zoom:
Stack: 85 light frames
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
ISO speed rating: 1600
Aperture: f/4.3
Zoom 10x (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Sunday, June 28, 2009
Time taken: 12:17 AM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Same as above, but cropped from the full size image for closer examination:
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
MrKrink
sage
Reged: 02/20/09
Posts: 226
Loc: NC, USA
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Quote:
MrKrink, I did some stacking this morning and decided to see what other programs I have on this computer that would open the resulting TIF. Turns out the only program that will open it is the Ulead program. I got it free with a printer or something.
Anyway, I had downloaded a free program on another computer that I'm sure would open it. It's called Irfanview. www.irfanview.com You could use that program to open the TIF and then convert it to BMP etc.
OK, here is a real puzzle.........I just went back and looked at some previous stacks I did and they are TIF also and they will open fine in Abode PS Elements, why won't the new ones open??? That doesn't make any sense.
--------------------
Stuart McD.
My Sky - Lawndale, NC near(SLAB)
CGEM Mount (Still Looking for OTA)
Nikon D90
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Yes, that is strange. Maybe you're saving the new ones differently, as 32bit TIFs instead of 16bit?
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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The Moon behind broken clouds:
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
ISO speed rating: 100
Aperture: f/5.0
Zoom (Focal length): 63mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Saturday, July 04, 2009
Time taken: 9:50 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
justabob
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/05/07
Posts: 1675
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Very cool shot. You are doing great stuff with you point and shoot camera. I wonder where ypu are located? I am in New Berlin and have a summer home in Sisterbay WI.
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http://www.pbase.com/rkn/astro&page=all
Vixen Sphinx SXW
Meade sn6
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Hutech 1000d
Self modded 350d
ST8300c on order
DSI PRO II
Bob
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
Very cool shot. You are doing great stuff with you point and shoot camera. I wonder where ypu are located? I am in New Berlin and have a summer home in Sisterbay WI.
Thank you! That picture was taken on Castle Rock Lake (all the lights on the water are boats!) and I live about 10 miles from it.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
justabob
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 05/05/07
Posts: 1675
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You have nice dark skies where you are. My brother has 40 acres in Adams.
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http://www.pbase.com/rkn/astro&page=all
Vixen Sphinx SXW
Meade sn6
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
Hutech 1000d
Self modded 350d
ST8300c on order
DSI PRO II
Bob
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Quote:
You have nice dark skies where you are. My brother has 40 acres in Adams.
Wow! Small world. I might even know him!
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
neelam
journeyman
Reged: 07/01/09
Posts: 8
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great pics you have taken.
hope to see more of your work
Edited by neelam (07/06/09 06:37 PM)
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Bob D.
member
Reged: 06/04/09
Posts: 25
Loc: PA
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The Pictures are fantastic. I have an Olympus SP590 that I am going to try out in the future. I am looking for a good tripod and a darker sky than what I have in the Phillie area. Your pictures give me hope that I can do, with a lot of practice, as well as you have.
Cheers,
Bob in Phillie
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thanks! I've got plenty more targets in mind, just need shorter days. Good luck Bob D.
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
gmartin02
member
Reged: 04/11/05
Posts: 26
Loc: Santa Clarita, CA
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Quads - you inspired me - here is my first deep sky image ever - my "proof of concept" picture - shot at focal length equivalent 160mm with a Panasonic Lumix LZ-8. 4-1 minute ISO 400 images stacked with DSS (and noise removed in Photoshop).
The image is centered on M29 - the bright star is Gamma Cygnus.
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gmartin02
member
Reged: 04/11/05
Posts: 26
Loc: Santa Clarita, CA
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This the same image as my previous post, but a full resolution crop with M29 in the center
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gmartin02
member
Reged: 04/11/05
Posts: 26
Loc: Santa Clarita, CA
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It s amazing what a $100 point & shoot can do - my next step will be to experiment with lower ISO settings, shorter exposure times, and a lot more total images taken to stack for one photo.
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Hey, that's way better than my first astrophoto, or my second, third......!
Yes, more exposures to stack is always better, the noise practically removes itself.
I hope to be out there under the stars very soon again. The University of Wisconsin is putting on an astronomy presentation at our local state park this Saturday night and so far it looks like clear skies in the forecast! This will be the first time I have ever met face-to-face with anyone else that owns a telescope or is even interested in it. I can't wait! I feel like a little kid.
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Finally got out under the stars again last night. It was super clear and the Milky Way was already showing up even before the sky was completely dark! Then the clouds rolled in. It wasn't supposed to be cloudy. Waited around, and managed to get a few shots of Jupiter, my favorite of the planets, just above the horizon between the clouds. Finally decided to pack up and head home. Just as we got home, the clouds cleared and it was beautiful! Oh well. There will be other nights.
Jupiter is overexposed so I could also capture it's dimmer moons. Camera only, no scope. For this one I not only used the 10x optical zoom of the camera, but also used it's built-in 4x digital zoom (40x). I don't make it a habit to use the digital zoom. This is the full frame, not cropped but downsized for posting, stacked with Registax in black and white:
Stack: 56 light frame JPEGs
Shutter speed: 1.0 sec
ISO speed rating: 200
Aperture: f/4.3
Zoom 40X (10x optical + 4x digital) (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Time taken: 11:08 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Sean B.
journeyman
Reged: 07/08/09
Posts: 6
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Thanks for sharing these Quads, and for replying in my first thread as well. I, too, am very impressed what is possible with surprisingly little gear and fancy technology, but plenty of trial, error, and creativity.
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thank you Sean! I had the perfect opportunity over the last few days to do some imaging. No Moon, took a few days off from milking the cows, but it was cloudy every night!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Last night I fought dew, clouds, fog, mosquitoes, and what seems like perpetual twilight. It all finally beat me, but I managed to salvage a few good exposures! I give you M39: 
Stack: 39 light frame JPEGs, in-camera dark subtraction
ISO speed rating: 1600
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/4.3
Zoom 10x (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Monday, July 20, 2009
Time taken: 10:35 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
I headed down to the barn to milk the cows this morning and the sky was beautifully clear! I could spend another night on M39, double the number of exposures, and make it better, but there are so many other things that I want to image yet this Summer. Like apples on the tree, so many to pick!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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On Saturday night, the clouds cleared and it was absolutely beautiful stargazing weather! There wasn't much dew, there were no mosquitoes, it was really dark, and everything worked perfectly. I had to pinch myself. I'm not sure where the mosquitoes went, maybe the stuff the crop duster put on the field killed them, that's ok with me. I started to image the Butterfly Cluster, M6. I take a few test shots first to frame the subject how I want it and make adjustments as needed. My first test shot showed not only the Butterfly, but there was also another larger cluster in the same frame! What's this? M7. Looked good to me, a two-for-one cluster picture:
Stack: 83 light frame JPEGs, in-camera dark subtraction
ISO speed rating: 1600
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/4.3
Zoom 10x (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Saturday, July 25, 2009
Time taken: 11:18 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
While my Canon Powershot SX100 is taking multiple exposures of a target, I either look through my ETX80 if the camera isn't mounted to it, look through my little 7x35 binoculars, or just sit back and take in the view. There were so many shooting stars Saturday night! All different colors, sizes, speeds, I was awestruck! And there, in Sagittarius, was the Teapot shining brightly, tipped just a little with clouds of steam coming out of the spout, as if it was time for tea. I couldn't resist, and turned the camera on it when the Butterfly was done:
Stack: 71 light frame JPEGs, in-camera dark subtraction
ISO speed rating: 1600
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/3.5
Zoom (Focal length): 79mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Time taken: 12:07 AM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Treehopper
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/08
Posts: 582
Loc: Upstate NY
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Yep, you got 'em both! M7 is sometimes called Ptolemy's Cluster. Nice catch, you got them composed very well here.
Great job on the steaming Tea Pot as well! 
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Tim
Champion of small aperture scopes everywhere!
Meade ETX-125PE
Meade ETX-80
Celestron FirstScope 76mm Mini-dob
 Updated: 09/16/2009
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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I wasn't sure which cluster it was while taking the picture. The next morning I read this thread by Johnny D and then I knew!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Treehopper
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/29/08
Posts: 582
Loc: Upstate NY
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I caught that thread a day or two ago through a cross-link as well. That's some awesome work! I've been re-reading the documentation on my Minolta Dimage 7i to see what it can and cannot do. I might try some short exposure series just with the camera on a tripod to test the waters (if we ever get rid of these miserable clouds!)
I've seen a couple of different universal piggyback adapters for the Meades by different vendors, I think I prefer the one that sits closer to the scope rather than the one that sets it up off the OTA. Just seems the balance would be better, not to mention the strain on the drives.
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Tim
Champion of small aperture scopes everywhere!
Meade ETX-125PE
Meade ETX-80
Celestron FirstScope 76mm Mini-dob
Updated: 09/16/2009
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Yes, try some pictures mounted on a tripod! I like the widefield, starry sky pictures best.
My (sort of homemade) piggyback mount sets the camera high on my ETX. It works ok, and my camera isn't too heavy, but you have to make sure the clutch is fairly snug when you're pointed close to zenith.
I tried to order a nice looking piggyback mount from a company in Florida, the only company I could find that makes it, but it turns out they are no longer in business, even though their web site still functions as if they were. I was not able to find many alternatives, so crafted my own from an afocal adapter and a piece of tin.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Evaristvs
member
Reged: 05/03/09
Posts: 13
Loc: 9° 39' N, 68° 36' W
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Hey, I already took the same place in Scorpius. And not are two, in fact, are three cluster: two galactic & one globular (NGC6441), it's the little spot under the red star at center.
My camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ28 over a tripod, 40x5 sec at 5x (135mm eq) ISO800 23-24/07/09.
Cheers.
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Welcome to Cloudy Nights Evaristvs! Very interesting photo. I think I missed that globular in mine. Nice catch!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Evaristvs
member
Reged: 05/03/09
Posts: 13
Loc: 9° 39' N, 68° 36' W
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Thanks Quads. I'm a truly "fan" of your work with P&S cameras.
Clear sky!
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Last night's Moon and Jupiter photos:
Jupiter. Camera only, mounted on regular photo tripod. The combination of zoom, exposure length, and regular tripod made Jupiter and it's moons a little egg-shaped. This is a stack of 11:
The Moon. Camera and regular photo tripod only. This is not a stack. Photo is single exposure, as it came out of the Canon SX100 camera, resized only for posting here:
The Moon and Jupiter. Camera and regular photo tripod only. This is not a stack. Photo is single exposure, as it came out of the Canon SX100 camera, resized only for posting here. The yummy sweetcorn in the foreground is almost ripe!
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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I never intended to take a picture!
I was just settin' by the fire:
Looking for meteors:
With the Milky Way smilin' down on me. I couldn't resist! Click, click:
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Here's my point and shoot Andromeda Galaxy. I took this over two nights, almost a month apart. No telescope optics, camera only. Stacked in DSS and otherwise untouched. First the brightened version, second is the normal result:
Stack: 85 light frame JPEGs, in-camera dark subtraction
ISO speed rating: 1600
Shutter speed: 15.0 sec
Aperture: f/4.3
Zoom 10x (Focal length): 330mm (equiv.)*
Exposure bias: +0.0 EV
Original image size: 1600 x 1200 Pixels
Flash used: No
Date taken: Saturday, August 22, 2009
Time taken: 11:01 PM
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
RickShelton
member
Reged: 08/20/09
Posts: 20
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Very nice pics, do you piggy back the camera on your Meade goto scope for tracking?
Rick
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Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Thanks! Yes, I piggyback it on the ETX 80 but only for the zoomed shots. The wide shots are mounted on a photo tripod.
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I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
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Photobucket has destroyed the quality of my photos! And it sounds like a permanent policy change. From http://forums.techguy.org/digital-photography-imaging/845041-photobucket-dramatically-changing-quality-photos.html
Quote:
"I noticed that some of the photos on my account have DRAMATICALLY changed in quality. Which is surprising to me because I keep everything under 1MB, and that's what I have it set up for. Now, it isn't every single picture. It's here and there...but it's annoying because I keep a small portfolio on Photobucket, so the details of the photos matter and they're literally so blurry now I can't see any details at all.
I'm no where near the account limit, an |
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