Astro photos

[Sotol Vista]

I finally took the time to modify the mounting bracket for my telescope to hold JUST my camera so I can do some wide field photos of the Milky and the night sky in general. This setup will track the stars pretty good for about a 10 minute exposure, which is plenty for a DSLR.

this link is of an 8 minute single exposure with my camera mounted on the back of my telescope.
http://www.james-benton.com/picture.php?/2303/category/259







James

[SA Bill]

That should work great James!

I have an older (1980s) Mizar mount and I've been thinking about doing the same thing. Might try it in October.

On the long exposures, do you turn off the in camera Noise Reduction? How do you process the pics? Have you ever stacked several exposures?
  Thanks!
    Bill

[tjavery]

Very nice! Are you taking this rig out to Big Bend?

[bdann]

That's pretty sweet James.

[Sotol Vista]

That should work great James!

I have an older (1980s) Mizar mount and I've been thinking about doing the same thing. Might try it in October.

On the long exposures, do you turn off the in camera Noise Reduction? How do you process the pics? Have you ever stacked several exposures?
  Thanks!
    Bill

Bill, I have done an 8 minute exposure with noise reduction turned OFF and it came out pretty nice. I have done some stacking and have had the noise reduction turned on, but I have found a way to replace the color that the noise is (reds & greens) with black so they look good.

TJ, yes I'm taking it out to the Bend in a few days. StingRey and I are going to do some experimenting with long exposures , we will post photos when we get back of course

James

[tjavery]

TJ, yes I'm taking it out to the Bend in a few days. StingRey and I are going to do some experimenting with long exposures , we will post photos when we get back of course

James

Cool. I look forward to seeing your results!

[SA Bill]

Inspired by James' handywork, I rigged up something similar for my equatorial mount. I added a 60mm finder scope to keep an eye on how well the mount is tracking. I had a trial run last night and things seemed to work well for wide angle pictures. There was a lot of light pollution where I was so pics from BB will be better!
  Bill

[homerboy2u]

WOW!...you put a telescope,right next to the camera...smart. Your pictures are very cool of the milky way,Professor.

 I am waiting still on SV's return trip  astro pictures,i know he will tend in time this thread. Just like BK did on his... ,very good too.

 What are my chances i ask..... , i think slim to none to get same picture results from my point and shoot. Better to go back and nag some more on my buddy ,ShaneA.

[Sotol Vista]

cool mount Bill.

Unfortunatelly the weather did not cooperate very well so we did not get to test out my mount.


homerboy, my trip report is ported now

James