My biggest concern last night was
tracking...I was deathly afraid that my Skyview deluxe mount wouldnt handle
the H-a test, but it did very well for 30 mins and I had no apparent
flexture.
Good! If you have flexure, tech pan will find it for
you.
Ok... in the darkroom is where my probs begin
once again...I got the photoflo right this time and had absolutely no
problems with smearing or spots..good..thats over with.
What did happen was the negs were too
dark...especially in the middle of the frame.
When you say that your
negatives are too dark, do you mean the whole neg (around the frame numbers
and sprocket holes) or just the exposed
area?
Interesting question, I was wondering about why on
my daytime pics, the negs were mostly clear all the way past the sprocket
holes, but on the this strip of film, the sprocket holes along the edge are
kind of blotchy and in some areas are just black..like some of it wasnt
developed?
Are you shooting under a street light or somewhere
dark?
Fairly
dark...no street lights for miles
30 minutes @ f2.5 isn't long at all. Ha filters will
reject a lot of light pollution, but they have their limits. I agree
with Robert - if the hot spot is really bad, try stopping down to f4. Your
focus is less critical at f4, your stars will still be extremely sharp. Ha
filters do wonders for chromatic problems, but they can't help you with
vignetting.
If your negs are too
dense over the entire negative, sprocket holes and leader then you might
have to look at cutting back on development time. (sorry Chuck!) When I was
using Lumicon film, I found that some batches were hypered to a higher
background fog level than others.
That
sounds like a starting point for me. I developed for six mins, should I go
for four?
Why do women have to bother you at the
worst possible of times? Because they
can?
One more thing...WoW...That filter is
amazing..the stars are soo small...incredible!
Thanks for posting that page John once
again.
By the way, how do I tell if my d-19 is going
bad?
I keep it stored in its original bag with a
very small hole that is folded over and held shut by a few
paperclips.
It hasnt turned colors yet and is still
white.
You're welcome! You are going to love it when you start
shooting some shots in the Milky Way.
Hopefully I'll get some clear skies this
weekend...preferably around 2 am.(g)
Brian
John Mirtle
Calgary, Ab. Canada