Re: [APML] Some Widefield Shots

[Steve Lindsey <stevelindsey@earthlink.net>]

Thanks for all the comments so far!

Gary - Go for that 105!  I love mine so far.  Yes, the diffusion filter's a nice inexpensive complement if you like the effect.

Stuart/Taras/Jason/Marco - If you zoom in, the trailing is definitely there on all the shots I've scanned so far.  Glad to hear you didn't have trailing at that FL and I didn't expect it on mine.  Could be flexure.  I may use a different piggyback mount this weekend if the weather clears and do what Jason suggested and check it or correct it once in a while during the exposure through my SCT which would tell me if it's really drifting much.

Scott - I probably could've gone longer on the IC1805/1848 shot with the faint neb and done a second one to stack but ran out of time with the sky headed for the horizon.  In general I might go a bit longer at f4.  I'm definitely not used to this FL and had seen some others shots in the 15 to 20 min range.  I would definitely gone longer with darker slide film like E200 or Provia 400F.

Marco - The filter was a Hoya SoftB.  Chris Cook showed me some of his shots with a lighter SoftA filter and I decided to get the B to actually strenthen the effect.  It's quite dramatic in the original scans and I backed it down as personal preference by combining in Registar with only about 1/2 the pixel values on the filtered shot.  Aldebaran came out like a huge bright yellow globe in fact and I backed it down some more in photoshop after combining.  I might not have backed down as much had I not gotten such a strong haloing which I believe was due to moisture in the air that night.  I'll try again soon for comparison.

Steve


> Here's a few I finally processed from last new moon:
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~stevelindsey/cassiopeia.htm
> http://home.earthlink.net/~stevelindsey/M45Hyades.htm
> http://home.earthlink.net/~stevelindsey/IC1805.htm
>
> First try using the Chris Cook's old Nikor 105mm I bought from him over
> Christmas.  Also my first use of a diffusion filter to highlight bright
> constellation stars.  Got some bright ring effects I didn't expect
probably
> due to moisture from thin high clouds that night (any other ideas?).  Star
> were slightly trailed which also surprised me at 105mm and I carefully
drift
> aligned so I guess I better guide with the trusty ST4 next time.
>
> Comments appreciated.
>
> Steve
>
>
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