Pentax And now for something completely different. (From me, anyway)

K-5, DA15mm, I guess its looking toward the Galactic Centre... No idea, really.

View attachment 39308

It was barking cold out there but I am pretty pleased with this as a very first attempt at astrophotography. I don't have a telescope, and the shot is a little blurred. (who forgot to switch off SR, and to use the timer. REally must get a remote)

Settings
Exposure 30
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 15 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
 
Thanks, guys. I also ran it through CEP3 which added more but I decided just to show the out of camera ACR processed shot. Of course I had to do some contrast and clarity boosting, but not too much because the galactic clouds get lost. This shot was 30 seconds, ISO1600, and f/4 (which is why I am considering using the FA43 next time, to get a wider aperture. Focussed at infinity of course.

Next time, I'll try the 43 at 10-15-20 secs and f/1.9 or 2.4, and see if I can get the ISO down a tad. I also shot some at 800 but the 1600 ones were definitely better. Doing it all in the dark was fun, too, I was out on a lonely deserted country road with nearly no light. Must add a torch to the kit :)
 
A couple more, the last is looking back over the upper reaches of the wetlands toward the outer suburbs of Newcastle. Even though these have lots not to recommend them, its given me a new lease on life, in the sense that I was brinking on selling my DSLR gear, but nothing else I have can do this. I just need to get out there and practice.



Settings
Exposure 30
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 15 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV

and



Settings
Exposure 30
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 15 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias 0 EV
 
These are great Sue, I definitely want to see more of these kind of pictures. I have a telescope but have never tried to capture the night sky with it even though I have an adapter for my canon 350d. Our skies are too light polluted where I live near Edinburgh. Your skies look fantastic, please take some more. I'd love to see more.
 
Very Nice!. I have several telescopes(another expensive hobby). Depending on the focal length used, stars will start to streak at anything greater than 10s or so of shutter time. I'm really trying to figure out what you photographed. Seeing that you are down in Oz, your view of the sky is very different than ours up here in the northern hemisphere. If I had to take a guess, the first one is somewhere around Sagitarius, where the milkyway passes through.
 
@Karen: Thanks! I have a telescope too, but its cheap, old and probably mould-ridden by now. I have no way of connecting it to the camera either, though maybe I should get it out and see what sort of state its actually in.

@Djarum Sadly, my astronomical knowledge is fairly minimal. I have "Starmap Pro" on my iphone, and it tells me that you are right, Saggitarius is where I was pointing. The other was pointing in the general direction of the Southern Cross, and its buried in there. Naked eye doesn't show so many stars and Southern Cross is very visible in the night sky, likewise Castor and Pollux, also known as the pointers, which, when an imaginary line is drawn through them, point directly at the star at the apex of the Cross.

In just looking at Starmap Pro (which I have owned for a couple of years now but never really played with much) I find I have options called "night vision" and "lamp" both of which turn the screen red. Lamp is able to be brightened or darkened. Looks like I don't need a torch after all, to adjust camera settings in the dark :)
 
Kyteflyer

I'm not sure what os you use but a fun app to download for your pc is stellarium and its free.

The reason why night mode is red is because our night vision needed for using telescopes or just seeing with our eyes isn't effected by red light compared to other colors. Keep taking these shots. They are wonderful.
 
Kyteflyer

I'm not sure what os you use but a fun app to download for your pc is stellarium and its free.

I'm a Mac, usually. Or Ubuntu. But co-incidentally I had today decided to reinstall w7 on the netbook, so I'll take a look at Stellarium before I change my mind and put Ubuntu back on :) Thanks for the tip.

I like having Starmap on the iphone, because I have it with me. I wont be taking a computer out there :)
 
True, but its fun to play with even when you aren't outside. Actually, there is a windows and linux version, as the program started on Linux to begin with. I think they have a mac version also that runs on 10.6.
 
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