All Forum Comments
Comment by Spad posted on Pentax K-3 iii - Can it really be this noisy? at 26/01/2024 - 21:40
That looks cropped in tight..... can you show the image in its entirety?
Comment by Spad posted on Pentax K-3 iii - Can it really be this noisy? at 26/01/2024 - 20:39
No2 for me!! Well spootted it's brilliant!
Comment by Spad posted on Drips and drops - it was a wet day at 26/01/2024 - 00:46
Comment by Spad posted on Polarizing filter / 82mm ND at 20/01/2024 - 22:28
davidwozhere wrote:
Here is my feeble attempt of a crescent of sunlight with reflected earthlight illuminating the moon with Jupiter and Mars in the shot. Uranus was just out of frame at the bottom. (according to Stellarium).
This is not feeble....Here is my feeble attempt of a crescent of sunlight with reflected earthlight illuminating the moon with Jupiter and Mars in the shot. Uranus was just out of frame at the bottom. (according to Stellarium).
It is brilliant!! Look more closely at the moon
Comment by Spad posted on The Moon & the big guy! at 20/01/2024 - 13:16
Last night I had play with a new telescope and a.... err... erm... ahh.... Canon 5D MkII.... OH THE SHAME....
But in my defence it wa 250 quid, and I couldn't afford a K1. I would love a K1, but they're way out of my financial reach.
The 5D was attached to a Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED Refractor Telescope, and mounted on an EQ mount. Both the camera and mount were controlled via a Raspberry Pi4 running a package called Astroberry. On it is some software called KStars. It's a planetarium package that can also control mounts, guiding and cameras through its Ekos app. Apparently it can also control Pentax cameras to, but I have yet to try this because I cannot find my bloody lead!!!
Moving on... It got me thinking.... so I started to play with Ekos. As a result I took these images controling the above via a laptop remotely logged in to Astroberry.
The Moon and the Big Guy
Jupiter by Moon Light
The night before I took this.
It is the Jellyfish Nebula, and it is a Supernova Remnant located in the Gemini Constallation.
This was shot with a Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P Newtonian Reflector. The camera used is a Canon 600D that has been astro modded. It is 25 x 300sec exposures.
But in my defence it wa 250 quid, and I couldn't afford a K1. I would love a K1, but they're way out of my financial reach.
The 5D was attached to a Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED Refractor Telescope, and mounted on an EQ mount. Both the camera and mount were controlled via a Raspberry Pi4 running a package called Astroberry. On it is some software called KStars. It's a planetarium package that can also control mounts, guiding and cameras through its Ekos app. Apparently it can also control Pentax cameras to, but I have yet to try this because I cannot find my bloody lead!!!
Moving on... It got me thinking.... so I started to play with Ekos. As a result I took these images controling the above via a laptop remotely logged in to Astroberry.
The Moon and the Big Guy
Jupiter by Moon Light
The night before I took this.
It is the Jellyfish Nebula, and it is a Supernova Remnant located in the Gemini Constallation.
This was shot with a Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P Newtonian Reflector. The camera used is a Canon 600D that has been astro modded. It is 25 x 300sec exposures.
Comment by Spad posted on The Moon & the big guy! at 19/01/2024 - 12:15
Lubbyman wrote:
Aren't you in good company? Doesn't the JWST produce spikey stars due to its hexagonal mirrors, spikes have to be removed in post-processing?
Steve
That's because JST and Hubble are more or less Reflector scopes. Refractors and if it wasn't for the Iris blades, camera lenses too, do/would not produce them.Aren't you in good company? Doesn't the JWST produce spikey stars due to its hexagonal mirrors, spikes have to be removed in post-processing?
Steve
Comment by Spad posted on An Experimental Contraption at 17/01/2024 - 16:56
PS....
For those interested.... There is zero vignetting!!
For those interested.... There is zero vignetting!!
Comment by Spad posted on An Experimental Contraption at 17/01/2024 - 14:37
JForiegner and myself have been conflabbing about a problem with using camera lenses for DSO photography. Because of the iris blades, which cause stars to throw off a wierd sprayed out refraction pattern.
Example - Look at the star below the Nebula.
To get rid of this, you can run the lens wide open. Unfortunately depending on the lens used, this can lead to CA being quite bad. The longer the exposure, the worse it will get.
This lead me to go gawking at Astrophotography forums. This lead to an answer, which lead to me creating this contraption...
It connsists of - step down rings from 86mm to 62mm. On top of that is a Cokin medium filter mount, with a Cokin ClearSky LPF. Then its all mounted on my Sigma 150-500mm, which in turn is stuffed on my K5ii. I have also stuffed on 3 Cokin lens hoods.
This lot will them be mounted on a tracked, and guided EQ mount.
The main bit of kit here is te step down rings. The reduction from 86mm to 62mm will reduce the aperture down to abuot f8 while leaving the actual lens aperture wide open. According to all the info I consumed, it "should" get rid of the distortion caused by the iris blades.
For those interested, and if I read it all correctly... to get the desired aperture you use this formula:
Lens focal length divided by the require aperture.
You then use the step down the rings to get close to that figure. So I am goin to use 500mm and want f8. So this gives me 62.5mm. Hence the step down to 62mm.
Images will be shot tonight, and results posted when I have processed them!!
Thank yiu for you attention, and you can now all bugger of so I can start fannying !!
Example - Look at the star below the Nebula.
To get rid of this, you can run the lens wide open. Unfortunately depending on the lens used, this can lead to CA being quite bad. The longer the exposure, the worse it will get.
This lead me to go gawking at Astrophotography forums. This lead to an answer, which lead to me creating this contraption...
It connsists of - step down rings from 86mm to 62mm. On top of that is a Cokin medium filter mount, with a Cokin ClearSky LPF. Then its all mounted on my Sigma 150-500mm, which in turn is stuffed on my K5ii. I have also stuffed on 3 Cokin lens hoods.
This lot will them be mounted on a tracked, and guided EQ mount.
The main bit of kit here is te step down rings. The reduction from 86mm to 62mm will reduce the aperture down to abuot f8 while leaving the actual lens aperture wide open. According to all the info I consumed, it "should" get rid of the distortion caused by the iris blades.
For those interested, and if I read it all correctly... to get the desired aperture you use this formula:
Lens focal length divided by the require aperture.
You then use the step down the rings to get close to that figure. So I am goin to use 500mm and want f8. So this gives me 62.5mm. Hence the step down to 62mm.
Images will be shot tonight, and results posted when I have processed them!!
Thank yiu for you attention, and you can now all bugger of so I can start fannying !!
Comment by Spad posted on An Experimental Contraption at 17/01/2024 - 14:34
This os exactly how I see the world when I awaken from slumber
It really emphasises the colours
It really emphasises the colours
Comment by Spad posted on Oh, the Colours! at 17/01/2024 - 14:11
@Spad. Can I upload a full size image here? I am showing a crop to keep the size down. The rest of the image is all just sky. The one I have shown has been cropped to 1340px square.