Astrophotography - Camera, lens, advice?

My first pics;

DSC_0009.jpg


DSC_0008.jpg


Second one got ruined by the rotten rabbit run on top of the shed :blush:

Still have no idea what I'm doing and only managed these by following some guides/videos on youtube.

Took some pics of my dog and a rose and they came out nice anyway but they were using the 'auto' setting. Going to the library tomorrow to get some books to study :D
 
iCaptnSpaulding said:
My first pics;

Second one got ruined by the rotten rabbit run on top of the shed :blush:

Still have no idea what I'm doing and only managed these by following some guides/videos on youtube.

Took some pics of my dog and a rose and they came out nice anyway but they were using the 'auto' setting. Going to the library tomorrow to get some books to study :D

Great shots.

Can I ask what your settings are for these shots
 
Nice - but you really need to generate resized smaller images - with disk sizes 300-400k max and image dimensions no wider than about 780 and 1100 pixels long -to link to or the Mods will be after you ;)
 
Great shots.

Can I ask what your settings are for these shots

EXIF for 1st shot :)

Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D3100
Lens: 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Image Date: 2013-03-20
Focal Length: 18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
Aperture: f/3.5
Exposure Time: 30.000 s
ISO equiv: 200
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.3 (Windows)
 
Excellent for a first shot! Youtube is the best guide to go for. Next thing to do would notch the aperture up to a higher number to block out more of the light and corona from the moon. Very impressed though!!!
 
Thanks for the positive comments but apologies for the picture sizes. I've no idea how to resize them or make them clickable thumbnails :facepalm:

The only thing I changed under the manual setting was the aperture to the lowest which was f3.5, ISO at 200 and shutter speed at highest which was 30. I forgot to see if I needed to change exposure compensation or anything else - the ISS was approaching so I panicked lol.

What do you mean by aperture higher mate? All the settings confuse me as sometimes higher means a lower number lol. Do you mean f5 for example instead of 3.5 I used?

Thanks again means a lot!
 
These shots inspired me and thanks to the suggested settings i got this not more than 10 mins ago.


_DSC0168 by Stewie1979, on Flickr
 
blurred a little - was it tripod mounted ?
 
shotokan101 said:
blurred a little - was it tripod mounted ?

Yes. 2sec delay before shot to avoid camera judder. Focus maybe?
 
Hmmm... did you turn off Steadyshot ?
 
Could possibly be focus point related and the stars having a "bokeh effect if OOF" - I'd suggest reshooting using manual focus and set the lens focus to infinity - also bump the Aperture up as mentioned earlier :)
 
shotokan101 said:
Could possibly be focus point related and the stars having a "bokeh effect if OOF" - I'd suggest reshooting using manual focus and set the lens focus to infinity - also bump the Aperture up as mentioned earlier :)

Was on manual focus, don't think my lens can be set to Infiniti(kit lens)
 
shotokan101 said:
Hmmm... did you turn off Steadyshot ?

No. Should I?
 
That's certainly different - now the starts look like little doughnuts - not sure what's going on TBH - noticed you're still using wide open aperture instead of stopping down a bit - not sure if that will make any difference though...
 
For star shots I would recommend f/8 or or F/13 as this will pull out the fainter stars. Remember that the F number will reduce the light bleed and corona effect. It will also reduce the glare from nearby objects like the house roof etc.
 
My first pics;

Pity you have that long scratch on your lens.

:)

It's great capturing images of the ISS though.
Well done.

I have been trying capturing it in video mode too. That helps to give a sense of just how fast it is moving across the sky.
Haven't quite optimised the settings though yet in terms of optimal ISO, aperture, etc.
 
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Loz, have you thought about doing time lapse instead?

Yes, but as it is quite a quick event, it doesn't produce a satisfactory movie with a DSLR as there are breaks whilst the shutter closes and reopens. Or if you try to compose them all into a single frame still picture, you get breaks in the line. i.e. if you take a dozen 30s images, and then merge them down, there is a one second or so gap between each one. (especially if the camera is doing some noise processing because of the long exposure)
Stars barely move between shots, so you can use that approach. But the ISS is moving quite quickly.

I wanted to have just a smooth continuous movie of it passing overhead.
I can capture it OK, but there was a little too much noise (so I probably just need to open the lens a stop), and I didn't have the camera best positioned last night as it went behind a tree. Need to move further away from our house.

But I have a Samyang 8.5mm fish eye, so I nearly get a complete horizon to horizon shot which looks great.

the problem is, you only get 5 mins once or twice a night if you are lucky, only every umpteen weeks, when you get the opportunity to practice. And that's if the weather is OK. (unless you want to get up at dawn as well)
 
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Very true, the weather here has been a bit hit and miss! I was going to use my 50mm 1.2L for a video but by the time I set the camera up the ISS was half way over before it disappeared into the horizon! I think going with a fish eye would be absolutely perfect as it will give you a great view of the light from the stars etc!
 
Sorry haven't posted for a while, I sent the camera back for an exchange. Basically when I received the first one the caps/lids weren't on the lens and were loose in the box. It was packed quite snuggly so didn't think anything of it - that was until some condensation showed up on the lens and I could see lots of marks on it. Might not have been anything but I'd rather not take the chance whilst I still could.

Anyway, got my exchange and am yet to take photos with this one.

A quick question though if I may. I read that it's always best shooting in RAW format, so I chose RAW+JPEG so I have both. I noticed the JPEG versions looked somewhat better on some shots as the RAW pictures looks over-exposed (I think that's the right word? Basically photos have more light in them.. too much light). The photos I took in the night though look better in RAW as they look darker - the pictures I uploaded here were RAW that I imported to lightroom and exported in JPEG at full quality.
If I were to use the 'over exposed' photos in RAW format, what's the best way to make them look more natural in LightRoom? I'm sorry but this is also something I am going to have to read up on as I have no photo editing experience either :facepalm::blush:
 
Sorry haven't posted for a while, I sent the camera back for an exchange. Basically when I received the first one the caps/lids weren't on the lens and were loose in the box. It was packed quite snuggly so didn't think anything of it - that was until some condensation showed up on the lens and I could see lots of marks on it. Might not have been anything but I'd rather not take the chance whilst I still could.

Anyway, got my exchange and am yet to take photos with this one.

A quick question though if I may. I read that it's always best shooting in RAW format, so I chose RAW+JPEG so I have both. I noticed the JPEG versions looked somewhat better on some shots as the RAW pictures looks over-exposed (I think that's the right word? Basically photos have more light in them.. too much light). The photos I took in the night though look better in RAW as they look darker - the pictures I uploaded here were RAW that I imported to lightroom and exported in JPEG at full quality.
If I were to use the 'over exposed' photos in RAW format, what's the best way to make them look more natural in LightRoom? I'm sorry but this is also something I am going to have to read up on as I have no photo editing experience either :facepalm::blush:

The RAW image is basically as described - Raw. As in, unprocessed. It is the information straight off the sensor.

Whereas the JPEG is a processed version of that information. So it will have been colour and levels corrected, noise removed, contrast boosted, etc, according to whatever picture settings you have set in camera.

Whatever you are using to display the RAW image, might make a attempt to improve the picture for display purposes, but it may not do the same processing as the JPEG engine in your camera. Hence the two images look different.

However, because the RAW image contains more information than the JPEG image - because the processing has thrown some of that information away - then in a good RAW editor you have an opportunity to fine tune the processing, with more control and probably better algorithms than is built into your camera when it does the processing to produce a JPEG.

The simplest thing is to open them in Lightroom and try some of the presets and simple changes in the Library/Quick Develop window.
Then, if you are feeling more adventurous, go into develop and fine tune in there.
 

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