[APML] OK, I finally did it: FIRST FILM SHOT,IC1396/NGC7000 widefield

Jeff Crilly's excellent results he's been getting using his Pentax 6x7 camera while setting up alongside me at Fremont Peak has finally motivated me to give film a try.

So I recently picked up a used Pentax 6x7 camera off AstroMart from Gary Heath, bought out his total supply of Fuji HG 400ISO film (stored in freezer for 8 years by Steve Mandel according to Gary) and gave it a try.

My first attempt was IC1396 using a Pentax Takkunar 150mm f/2.8 lens. I had it piggybacked atop my little Takahashi FCT76 scope that I shoot my widefield shots with.

I took a wild guess that 40 minutes would be an appropriate exposure time, gave it my best guess in terms of focus and "let 'er rip".

After waiting about a week to process the film, I was disappointed that the fellow at the camera shop didn't print the one and only astroimage on the roll. I guess he thought it was a skip.

Another week went by and I finally hooked up with Jeff Crilly who has a scanner that can scan this stuff.

So here is the very astro film shot I have taken:

http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ic1396_film_page.htm

I severely reduced it in an attempt to hide the film grain.

Although this isn't a particularly good shot, it is good enough to encourage me to do some more of this.

I guess I need to buy a real scanner and maybe try some other types of film. I can see that this could be fun.

One peculiar aspect of the shot is that in the NGC7000 area the stars seem to be streaked as if the guiding was bad, but the rest of the image doesn't show this problem. I am guessing this is plain old fashioned field rotation and the further from the pole the worse the rotation. Since it was a 40 minute exposure I would imagine that if my alignment wasn't perfect, I'd see some rotation.

Can someone confirm this theory?

Comments welcome.

Richard Crisp