DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Astrophotography - Horsehead Nebulae Pic
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 25 of 36, (reverse)
AuthorThread
 09/29/2004 03:13:13 PM · #1
This is my first post. Are there any astrophotographers lurking here?

Checkout my 30min exposure of the Horshead Nebulae.
//www.stargeezer.net/images/horsehead_web.JPG

Brian.
//www.stargeezer.net
 09/29/2004 03:17:13 PM · #2
what camera/kit do you use?
 09/29/2004 03:20:12 PM · #3
I use a special Astro camera made by the SBIG company. It has a built in peltier cooler and a resolution of 1600 X 1200 pixels. I keep it at -20 deg usually which eliminates a lot of the noise. The model is ST-2000xcm and has a kodak chip in it.
 09/29/2004 03:21:30 PM · #4
cool!
09/29/2004 03:22:43 PM · #5
Hey Brian-

Very nice long exposure shot!

I like to take astro photos also, but mainly lunar pics. The sky are too crappy around me to do deep sky stuff. I am pretty new to this site also.

Moon shot.

Welcome to the site.

Chad
 09/29/2004 03:24:55 PM · #6
Originally posted by broth:
I use a special Astro camera made by the SBIG company. It has a built in peltier cooler and a resolution of 1600 X 1200 pixels. I keep it at -20 deg usually which eliminates a lot of the noise. The model is ST-2000xcm and has a kodak chip in it.


Can you take a picture of you camera and show us please, that's facinating.
 09/29/2004 03:25:25 PM · #7
Hi,

My neighbour and I have just finished building an observatory in his back garden. We mounted the scope, 14" Meade LX200...I think...and he is now in the process of setting everything up, then we should be able to start with the photography.

He is gonna be using his D60 for now, then get the 20D when they are more widely available. He was getting one from SBIG, but that's on hold until finances improve a bit.

Great shot, by the way!
 09/29/2004 03:29:53 PM · #8
I like the saturated nebula colors. Great pic, but the glare from the brighter stars makes the focus look soft. Was this image stacked? I'm sure you'd get better results by stacking 6 five minutes exposures than with one 30 minute marathon.

It's debatable whether an SBIG CCD camera would be considered a digital camera on this site. A coupled DLSR (Canon EOS 20D!) would be your best bet if you wanted to enter a challenge. I took a decent shot of the Ring Nebula a few weeks ago with a Digital Rebel, but I don't have it handy to post.
 09/29/2004 03:30:01 PM · #9
Originally posted by broth:
I use a special Astro camera made by the SBIG company. It has a built in peltier cooler and a resolution of 1600 X 1200 pixels. I keep it at -20 deg usually which eliminates a lot of the noise. The model is ST-2000xcm and has a kodak chip in it.


Ah, you're one of THOSE guys.... :-) just joking. Very nice camera. What scope do you use? I just have a simple Celestron C5 and shoot through the lens with my Canon.
 09/29/2004 03:42:13 PM · #10
Wow, lots of questions.

You can see what the camera looks like on //www.sbig.com. Also you can see it setup on my website //www.stargeezer.net.

All of my images tend to be on the softer side. I know a lot of the guys doing this use a lot of unsharp masking. I rarely use any. Plus, I rarely get good nights to image where I am located. Its very rare to get a night of good seeing. I'll shoot regardless of the conditions.
 09/29/2004 05:37:30 PM · #11
there is a typo in the link you posted - there is a comma after the word net.

cool shot BTW
 09/29/2004 05:46:02 PM · #12
Originally posted by soup:
there is a typo in the link you posted - there is a comma after the word net.

I think it's a period ('.'), not a comma and it's probably a bug with the DPC url parser. Actually, a trailing dot/period is strictly correct (and is to be encouraged). However, most people don't configure their web servers to handle it correctly.

Message edited by author 2004-09-29 18:40:16.
 09/29/2004 05:53:33 PM · #13
Welcome Brian. I'm an astrophotographer as well, see my profile for a link to my site and pics. Your horsehead shot is amazing and shows the worth of your SBIG camera for deep sky work. How did you guide for the 30 minute exposure? Was the picture processed much or do those colors come straight from the camera.

Our local astro society has several BW SBIG cameras and I have used a color filter wheel to produce color images in the past, but it's an awful lot of work. I just got a Canon 10D and plan to join some of my local buddies who have done incredible deep sky work with that camera.
 09/29/2004 05:57:48 PM · #14
Originally posted by Gil P:
Originally posted by broth:
I use a special Astro camera made by the SBIG company. It has a built in peltier cooler and a resolution of 1600 X 1200 pixels. I keep it at -20 deg usually which eliminates a lot of the noise. The model is ST-2000xcm and has a kodak chip in it.


Can you take a picture of you camera and show us please, that's facinating.

Gil, go to

//sbig.com/sbwhtmls/online.htm

and click on the ST-2000. I believe that's the camera Brian uses. It's a specialized camera made for imaging very faint astronomical objects.

-J
 09/29/2004 06:01:04 PM · #15
welcome Brian, nice horse head shot. I am into astronomy also, but have yet to nab a decent shot of any DSO's.

I have a Meade LXD75 AR5 now, used to have a Meade LX90 but sold it to get the AR5.

There are several others on ths site into astronomy who have yet to respond to this post.

James
 09/29/2004 06:01:15 PM · #16
Originally posted by scalvert:
I like the saturated nebula colors. Great pic, but the glare from the brighter stars makes the focus look soft. Was this image stacked? I'm sure you'd get better results by stacking 6 five minutes exposures than with one 30 minute marathon.

It's debatable whether an SBIG CCD camera would be considered a digital camera on this site. A coupled DLSR (Canon EOS 20D!) would be your best bet if you wanted to enter a challenge. I took a decent shot of the Ring Nebula a few weeks ago with a Digital Rebel, but I don't have it handy to post.

My goodness Shannon, a Mac user, and Canon owner, and now I find out you're an astrophotographer too! What scope are you using to image the Ring? Did you use the Rebel? Do show and tell!!
 09/29/2004 06:07:51 PM · #17
Originally posted by broth:
I'll shoot regardless of the conditions.


now thats my kind of astrophotographer.....

James
 09/29/2004 06:17:07 PM · #18
baaaaad aaaasssssss!!!
 09/29/2004 07:01:24 PM · #19
I have dabeled in astrophotography. I tell you what you can make alot of money off that shot. What kind of telescope do you have.
 09/29/2004 07:03:03 PM · #20
I checked your website you have a sweet setup. I would love to have that. Too many lights around my house to get that nice of a shot though.
 09/29/2004 07:04:21 PM · #21
Originally posted by Jacko:
baaaaad aaaasssssss!!!


Roger that, dude... it's phenomenal! Welcome to DPC... your horsehead will fit right in to the zoo here! ;o)
 09/29/2004 07:10:03 PM · #22
Stunning shot - keep 'em coming. There are some good astro photogs here (check out my favorites for some of them).
 09/29/2004 08:03:49 PM · #23
Yes, I love to look at these types of shots but I don't get the chance too often. Keep them coming and welcome to our site!
 09/29/2004 08:09:42 PM · #24
Originally posted by laurielblack:


Roger that, dude... it's phenomenal! Welcome to DPC... your horsehead will fit right in to the zoo here! ;o)


perhaps a good entry for wildlife challenge
 09/30/2004 09:33:29 AM · #25
Strangehost - the color is enhanced a bit. Adjusting the curves in Photoshop really brightened the red. I try to keep it as close to what the camera see's as possible. Some of the processing like deconvolution tends to wash out the color a bit. The guiding is done with a guiding chip built in the camera head.

Sorry about the typo... Thats something I'm very goud at.

travis 99 - I wish I could make money at this. I hate my day job. Most astrophotographers I know give their work away. I will have a calendar for 2005 soon but I sell those for what it cost to make them. I don't order enough for any discount. I just like sharing what I have done.

The scope I use is a Meade 10" SN sitting on a Celestron CGE mount. I don't have 10 or 20k to wrap up in equipment. It performs pretty well for mass produced equipment. Astrophotography is like racing, the more money you throw at it, the better you are going to do.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 04/25/2024 01:50:42 AM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/25/2024 01:50:42 AM EDT.