No, didn't fire the shutter Gwyn...there will be stronger displays, sometimes just good to watch.

The eyes can usually pick out the green ionized oxygen layer, sometimes red in more active displays but the Bluer more ultraviolet wavelengths of ionized nitrogen can appear white to the naked eye....found towards the top of the vertical rays.

Good luck with your observations!

Mike

Gwyn

Yes Tue/Wed looking good if the clouds stay away!

What was strange about last nights aurora was lack of colour and stronger vertical rays considering how prominent the arc was.

Mike

There was a very prominent green auroral arc last night from here in Kelso, not as good as back in March but still very nice to see.

I had the K5 out last night intending to take some shots but it was one of these nights where I just felt totaly uninspired. Seemed everywhere I went there was something ruining the composition...a street lamp/lamps, power/phone lines, a house with security lights blazing.
The final straw was a farmer on a quad bike that seeme hell bent on frying my retinas and blistering my car body paintwork with a 1000watt spotlight lamping for foxes!

Cloud due in tonight/morning so could be scuppered again, sometimes Murphy just has the upper hand.

Hope others have better luck.

Mike

Just revived this old thread as I made a recent observation when charging my batteries on the K5. I have 4 batteries & 2 chargers which I tend to rotate hopefully to extend battery life. However I noticed something that may partly contribute to the number of exposures per charge is the way the battery is placed in the charger.

I checked with each battery that the charger light went out before starting the test...

With all 4 batteries fully charged I placed each battery back in each charger in turn by the same method.

Method 1. Put the battery in the charger and push it up to the pins until the charger light comes on...only after the light is on do you click it fully into place.(Charging light goes out after just a few seconds... consistent result)

Method 2. Click the battery quickly and directly into place without pushing up to pins and waiting for charger light first.(Charging light often takes many seconds longer sometimes taking a minute or two... inconsistent result)

Needless to say I prefer method one to avoid risk of overcharge and feel method 1 is the correct charge method. Maybe nothig significant but there is a difference and maybe worth taking on board when placing your batteries in your chargers ...with care!

Mike

Bjørn

Thank you, very kind, unfortunately I enjoy the taking the images more than processing so many images have never seen the light of day so to speak.

I could can see the O-GPS1 being a very handy addition for those taking undriven starry vistas at high ISO settings. The ability to freeze the motion of the stars for just an extra 15-30 seconds more than usual could make the difference between shooting an astro scene at 1600 rather than a noisier 3200 ISO.
Could also allow the lens to be closed down an extra stop for better quality star images across the sensor. Of course the horizon may still show some blurring but never as obvious as high contrast stars leaving trails if not intended

Congratulations must go to Pentax for such an inovative product.

Mike

Bjørn

I don't have the O-GPS1 myself but recently photographed the constellation of cassiopeia on a standard equatorial drive & uploaded the image to the gallery for reference. Anyone with the O-GPS1 unit might find this useful to compare their results with same kit & settings, this was a single exposure of approx. 2mins so should be within the limits of the O-GPS1.
I would expect the unit to operate at optimum with lenses close to standard up to around 200mm as in the linked article above, wide angle lenses would probably have too much distortion while long focal lengths would require faster tracking of the sensor with less time to capture enough light at a reasonable ISO setting for sensor noise.

Mike

Many thanks to you both for confirming this, much appreciated!

Mike

Jon

Thanks for the feedback...so put simply if I want these functions to work in 16bit I'm better upgrading to full Photoshop CS5.....yes??

Mike

I may need to consider buying CS5...(Currently Photoshop Elements 9)
Sorry this question is probably obvious and sure most of you knew what was coming by the title alone but can't seem to find a simple answer in any of the related threads.

I've just been used to processing images from scanned transparencies which are 8bit scans. However having made the move to digital the files are now 16bit but some functions don't work in 16bit until converted to 8bit (cloning stamp for instance), is this simply the built in limited functionality of PSE9 which then work fully in CS5 as 16bit :

Thanks in advance...

Mike

George

To the best of my knowledge this would seem the case though there are others I'm sure with more experience using the 645 camera with 67 lenses and any further details on compatability.

My experience only goes so far as the 67II camera and just getting to know elements of the 645 system.

Mike