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NDonahoe
super member
Reged: 12/16/03
Posts: 155
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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Hello all,
I am starting my adventure into astrophotography. I was wondering how far I could go with the following set up:
102mm f/5.5 Mak-Newt, CG5 mount with steel legs, and a Olympus OM-1 with 50mm, 70mm, & 210mm lenses for piggy back photos. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciate (film, targets, cheap upgrades). When I say cheap I mean cheap (<$100) as I am a college student. I also have a 200mm f/5 newt. but I figured that it would be to much load on my mount for photographic purposes. I have attached a scan of my one piggyback photo.
-Clear Skies
Nate
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"The heavens call to you, and circle around you, displaying to you their eternal splendors."
-Dante
Edited by Suk Lee (01/08/04 10:47 PM)
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NDonahoe
super member
Reged: 12/16/03
Posts: 155
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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One thing that I forgot to mention is that I already have a T-ring and T adapter.
-Clear Skies
Nate
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"The heavens call to you, and circle around you, displaying to you their eternal splendors."
-Dante
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4315
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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Hi Nate:
You can do a LOT with the setup you currently have. As you've demonstrated with your Orion shot, you can grab nice widefields with a 50mm, and with the 210 you can get a nice widefield shot of the North American Nebula region (when it's back high in the sky  )
I think the best $100 you could spend is to get "Wide-Field Astrophotography"
http://www.willbell.com/ccd/widefieldast.htm
and a tube of white lithium grease. 
The lithium grease is for you to tear down your mount, clean out the gunk, and re-lube. If you're at all mechanically inclined it's easy, and it'll give you a much smoother running mount.
Comprehensive instructions are at:
http://www.astronomyboy.com/cg5/index.html
When you post, you should let us know what film, exposure and f-stop you used - it'll be valuable insight for you and us.
Cheers,
Suk
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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NDonahoe
super member
Reged: 12/16/03
Posts: 155
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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Hey Suk,
Thanks for the advice. Sorry about not posting the stats of the pic. It was taken on Fuji Superia X-Tra 400, 15min at f/4. This is not the original. I have raised the color saturation sharpness and contrast. I also edited out a airplane from the lower left hand corner. The editing software I used was The GIMP (what can I say I am a Linux person, down with Win XP ). I think that I will order this book right away. After all wide field is the last true domain of film. Also, I already rebuilt my mount, but I agree that was some of the best money I have spent. I have some other unguided exposures (star trails) but the brightness falls of toward the edge. Here is an example. It is 30min through 50mm and f/1.8 and the same film as above any help?
-Clear Skies
Nate
P.S. What about film? I hear Kodak TPan is good, but who will develop it?
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"The heavens call to you, and circle around you, displaying to you their eternal splendors."
-Dante
Edited by NDonahoe (01/09/04 12:55 AM)
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4315
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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Nate:
Short focal length, fast, lenses will show light falloff in the corners. Try stopping down to f2.8 or f4 and it should go away (so will edge aberrations). In fact, with the density you're showing for your circumpolar shot, I'd do 2hrs @ f4 or 4 hours @ f5.6.
I've never shot Tech Pan - you have to hypersensitize it to get usable sensitivity, but then it becomes a miracle film. Deep red sensitivity (shoot with Lumicon h-alpha "pass" filter) and fine grain. But you have to develop it yourself.
If you're *really* interested in trying out Tech-Pan, join APML and ask them - the guys that wrote the book (literally) are on that mailing list. Or check out the archives at:
http://astro.umsystem.edu/apml
I've lurked there for years and learned a TON of stuff.
Cheers,
Suk
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39760
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Nate;
Very nice work Nate; and it's nice to see a fellow Linux & GIMP (The GIMP) user. 
I've used TechPan film and developed it myself - but never for astronomy. If you have never done anything like that take a night class in photography at your local college. They'll have all the hardware to get you going and you can decide later if you want to invest in it. Developing black & White film is not that expensive but you do have to load the film in total darkness.
Once you have the film a lab can make prints for you - or you can buy a film scanner - or an enlarger.... Do you see a trend here? I would recommend spending the money on going digital before you got too deep into wet film.
It is very fined grain film, very fine grained!
Ron
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
Edited by rboe (01/09/04 09:32 AM)
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