Astrophotography

Yes. Have you got one of the supporting apps?

Polaris is not actually dead centre on the celestial pole. Even viewed through the low magnification of the alignment scope, it will trace a small circle. To be correctly aligned, polaris needs to be on the right part of that circular gauge at the right time. If you don’t turn it on then it will have drifted by the time you use it.

However it will drift a bit anyway unless your mount is perfectly level and perfectly aligned, so it might be better to get polaris aligned and leave the mount turned off, then perform a final adjustment just before you start your imaging.

I know I found when I was out last, it would have been worth having the mount assembled, the camera in the right shooting mode etc ready to nip out late on. It took so long to set up, it was getting late before I started imaging.
Yeah, I’ve got SAM Console so that gives the position as to where Polaris should be in the reticle.

do you do your alignment once you’ve got your camera on the tracker or beforehand? When I tried it on my old weaker tripod the alignment drifted so far out it was a pointless exercise. Set my new tripod up last night and it feels so much more solid so hopefully I’ll have more luck.
 


Yeah, I’ve got SAM Console so that gives the position as to where Polaris should be in the reticle.

do you do your alignment once you’ve got your camera on the tracker or beforehand? When I tried it on my old weaker tripod the alignment drifted so far out it was a pointless exercise. Set my new tripod up last night and it feels so much more solid so hopefully I’ll have more luck.
I've struggled to do the alignment with the camera on but you need to make sure you don't knock the alignment out when putting the camera on.

I had been using the long dovetail bar which does have a hole through where you can do the alignment, but when I had it out last I discovered the short round mount which will allow my camera to sit in the middle. You can't align through that.
 
I've struggled to do the alignment with the camera on but you need to make sure you don't knock the alignment out when putting the camera on.

I had been using the long dovetail bar which does have a hole through where you can do the alignment, but when I had it out last I discovered the short round mount which will allow my camera to sit in the middle. You can't align through that.
I’m going to give it a go without the fine Tune dovetail bar, think that should be ok for the DSLR and 35mm lens, be interesting to see what it’s like with the 600mm lens on it, might have to use the fine tuning bar for that
 
I took this photo almost 2 years ago. Nikon D700 with a 14-24mm lens at
2nd attempt.

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Star Factory by efilnickufesin, on Flickr

I took this photo almost 2 years ago at a place called Cape Schanck. Nikon D700 with a 14-24mm lens at 14mm over 30s exposure with a tripod and delay. I cheated a little in Lightroom afterwards and dropped the skies a little to make the colours pop a little more and please do not look too hard as you will see some softness in the stars.

The dark area in the bottom right is Pulpit Rock and the bright spot of light just to the left I think is Venus.


**Mod edit - added image **
 
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I took this photo almost 2 years ago. Nikon D700 with a 14-24mm lens at
2nd attempt.

Logon or register to see this image
Star Factory by efilnickufesin, on Flickr

I took this photo almost 2 years ago at a place called Cape Schanck. Nikon D700 with a 14-24mm lens at 14mm over 30s exposure with a tripod and delay. I cheated a little in Lightroom afterwards and dropped the skies a little to make the colours pop a little more and please do not look too hard as you will see some softness in the stars.

The dark area in the bottom right is Pulpit Rock and the bright spot of light just to the left I think is Venus.


**Mod edit - added image **
That is amazing for just a 30 second exposure!
 
That is amazing for just a 30 second exposure!
I did make the sky darker in Lightroom to make it pop more, but yeah, 30s did it in near total darkness.

(also I did take very very many photos before I got one I liked. It is not like I just arrived, set up, took one photo and left again)
 
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Stumbled upon Astrophotography a few days ago and have been hooked by it. No idea what I'm doing and don't have a camera (open to suggestions though budget £500) bar use of a Samsung S20. The pictures on this thread are class and I can only hope I can get some half as good in the future.

There's something magical about looking up into the stars.
 
Stumbled upon Astrophotography a few days ago and have been hooked by it. No idea what I'm doing and don't have a camera (open to suggestions though budget £500) bar use of a Samsung S20. The pictures on this thread are class and I can only hope I can get some half as good in the future.

There's something magical about looking up into the stars.

You can get some incredible pictures with a phone and phone mount mind.
 
Stumbled upon Astrophotography a few days ago and have been hooked by it. No idea what I'm doing and don't have a camera (open to suggestions though budget £500) bar use of a Samsung S20. The pictures on this thread are class and I can only hope I can get some half as good in the future.

There's something magical about looking up into the stars.
Most people tend to use a Canon or Nikon DSLR. Worth checking out places like mpb.com as they have loads of second hand stuff in good condition,
 
Most people tend to use a Canon or Nikon DSLR. Worth checking out places like mpb.com as they have loads of second hand stuff in good condition,
This.
The equipment that I use is many years old. A decent D700 should not be so expensive. The lens might be a different story though.

Good luck, and be sure to post your images 👍🏻
 
Loved it all the same like. I assume most people use lightroom or similar to tweak pics?
Most people use some sort of software , you can use Adobe ones or more specialised ones like pixinsight, star tools or gonk. Deep sky stacker is really good for getting more detail out of very faint objects like galaxies or nebulae. Mind it can be a very expensive hobby if you really get into it.
 
Anyone into it?

got myself a Sony A7II today, attached my trusty Sigma 30mm 1.4

changed my iso to 1000

set to manual, opened up the aperture and adjusted the time. Set a 10 sec timer and then manually focussed (not f’ing easy in the dark haha)

pure pitch black photos!!! Not even the light from a house over the way.

anyone any pearls of wisdom for me?
Good luck, I have so much light pollution where I am at, that I can't get a good pic of Andromeda. Hoping to rectify that this summer, taking my scope up to a new lake place (Northern Wisconsin)

Sounds like you doing everything right. Tripods and timers. The rest of it just comes from trial and error. I have a Canon Eos attached to my Celestron Powerseeker 127 for tight pictures.
 

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