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Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
Testing my 50mm f1.4 for astrophotography use.
Seems to work really well, Now I just need some good weather and a lot of patience.

20 light frames
4 dark
2 bias
Stacked with Deep sky stacker (took 15 minutes using losless TIFF's from my converted RAW's, even using all 4 processors!), edited in photoshop afterwards (heavy levels work), Desaturated because the bottom half had a blue tint.

20 light frames were shot at F2, ISO 400, 8" (any longer than 8 seconds and I saw star trails)

I just pointed the camera south, didn't look for any constellations or anything cool. Full moon was out tonight and the sky was still tinted slightly blue. Also the sky wasn't perfectly clear either, in other words a shitty night to try this on. HOWEVER i've been waiting weeks to even get a clear sky so I did my test shots tonight anyway.
>> Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
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Trying to do the same processing on a single light frame from the stack.

Even at ISO 400 its incredibly noisy
>> Mr._Laugh_Out_Loud !!rc0QDfC1oX3
damn it, jim. it's a camera, not a telescope!
>> Anonymous
astrophotography is a bitch
to get anything really nice looking, you're gonna need a really nice refractor or cassegrain, and a mount that will track the stars.
>> Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
>>293086
agreed, However Last time I tried to buy a tracking mount with all the good stuff to piggyback a DSLR on, the guy didn't send it and I had to get my money back through paypal.

I figure 50mm and a good clear sky will at least get me presentable images of the milky way and maybe the nebula around cygnus.
I've seen some good unguided shots of DSO's. I just want to see what I can do.
>> Anonymous
>>293085
i lol'd
>> Anonymous
>>293085

Ye cannae break the laws of physics
>> Anonymous
bump up the ISO next time (even 1600 is ok) because the noise gets filtered out when stacking and be really bold with the levels adjusting in DSS, that thing can make miracles.
>> Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
>>293285
I didn't need to at the time, (atmosphere was still lit up, exposing any more would start to wash out stars)
and I am shooting relatively wide open compared to most astrophotography.

When I get clearer nights I will for sure. Also won't have a choice if I use any lens longer than 50mm (Without a tracking mount)
I figure with the 105 f2.8, I will be shooting ISO 1600 f2.8, 2 second exposures.
>> Anonymous
There's dust on your sensor.
>> Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
>>293340
Lol this is shot at f2, nothing is going to show up
(Though i'm sure there is dust on my sensor)
>> Anonymous
You should try photographing star trails.

http://www.weatherscapes.com/techniques.php?cat=astronomy&page=startrails
>> Martin !!ve2Q1ETWmJH
>>293345
LOL
Vincent.. read his post again, then look at the photo you posted..
>> Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
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>>293360
I've done quite a few, nothing extraordinarily long though.

I used to try to avoid amp glow by keeping the shots under an hour, but with the D300 I don't have that problem. May do some more in the future.

>>293362
Not getting it.
>> M?e?e?s?e??? !iZn5BCIpug
>>293362
I don't get it
>> Anonymous
>>293409
>>293410

FAIL
BIG fucking D: to Meese because he sucks cock.
And read it again to Vincent because you can't be that stupid. You take the best photo's in /p/ (except for these ones imho) so you can't be dumb.
>> M?e?e?s?e??? !iZn5BCIpug
>>293427
>>art=smart
bwahahahahahaha.jpeg
>> Anonymous
>>293409
>>293410
I think the 'joke' is that the stars look like dust on your sensor.
>> Anonymous
Oh meese ur so funnie lol
>> Anonymous !SDPEsPMnww
>>293080
This is great! I assume that the Deep Sky Stacker program automatically aligns the stars, since they'll be in a different position each frame, right? What are dark and bias frames?
>> Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
>>293617
Yes, correct it does align each frame, so these are slightly cropped (where the frames don't overlap the picture is still there, so you crop it out.)

Dark is a picture taken with the exact same exposure but the lens cap on (blackness) It gets an idea of what the noise patterns are for the time / temperature you are shooting in.

Bias = same ISO but 1/8000th of a second, so its just a way of measuring the noise patterns that the camera has (At the same temperature)

I shot some more test shots tonight, tried with my 105mm f2.8 aswell
>> Anonymous !SDPEsPMnww
>>293655
How do you determine how many bias and dark frames are necessary? Also, how do I get this program? Is it freeware?
>> Vincent !!8LCSE0Zp1mL
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>>293707
http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html
all free
decent tutorial too

They recommend taking a few as you go along, it doesn't seem to make a huge difference if you use 1 or 4, but it does seem to help.
Most of the good stuff is done in stacking itself, the dark and bias just help.
Theres tons of complicated math and everything that goes along with astrophotography. half of it goes over my head.

Also my stacks tonight didn't work as well, I really had to mess with the levels to even get the shots to look decent. This is 29 frames, 5 darks, no bias's
ISO 2000, f2.8 3" (105mm f2.8 VR)
D300