K-5 For Astrophotography

valy · 07-10-2013, 02:25 PM - **2 Likes**

A Solar transit from yesterday:

Attached Images

GWARmachine · 07-12-2013, 10:37 PM

Hello All! I haven't posted here in a while but I have been reading and trying to keep up. Great pics everyone! I FINALLY got some clear skies after rain season here in Japan. I'll be back in the States this September but I'm being stationed in Pittsburgh, the 3rd cloudiest city in USA...ARGH! Enjoy!

M8 & M20. Pentax K5iis, Orion ED80mmT CF + field flattener, f/6, iso3200, 106second single exposure. Tracked with AstroTrac.

Beautiful sky over our campsite on Oshima Island, Yamaguchi Japan.
Pentax K5iis, Sigma 8-16@13mm, iso1600, f/4.5, 209second single exposure. O-GPS1 used for tracking.

**Mutters** · 07-15-2013, 12:31 AM

Wow - can you tell us more about the Andromeda shot?

We Australians in the south hardly ever get to see it.

AB

GWARmachine · 07-15-2013, 06:13 AM

Originally posted by Mutters

Wow - can you tell us more about the Andromeda shot?

We Australians in the south hardly ever get to see it.

AB

Sure thing- I used a Pentax K5 with a cheap Quantaray 70-300mm lens all the way @300, f/5.6, 6 different shots, three at iso800 and three at iso1600. I used my AstroTrac for guiding and Deep Sky Stacker for stacking. The total exposure time was 16 minutes. Had to work it a bit in Photoshop too cos the lens quality isn't so great but for a couple years ago when I was first getting started I thought it wasn't too bad. I switched it to b/w cos the colors really weren't all that great. There was a lot of fringing and false colors, again cos the $100 lens I used. Now everything I shoot is through my Orion ED80mm which I'm VERY satisfied with so far. I'm glad you like it. I'd love to see the southern hemisphere skies. Maybe someday...

**Mutters** · 07-15-2013, 06:39 PM

Thanks for that. I was wondering a little about the halos, and the monochrome rendering. Still looks excellent though.
Yes, the southern skies are brilliant - especially when you get away from light pollution.
And that is reasonably easy to achieve, compared to the northern hemisphere.

AB

GWARmachine · 07-15-2013, 06:55 PM

From what I hear we (The US Marines) may be expanding there so maybe someday I can get stationed down there. If not then I'm definitely going to visit sometime in my life.

kamayok3 · 07-16-2013, 09:11 PM - **2 Likes**

Hi all, this is my latest Milky Way timelapse taken with Pentax K5 + Samyang 8mm FE lens. Hope you guys like it.

Youtu.be

**pixelsaurus** · 07-16-2013, 10:01 PM

Originally posted by kamayok3

Hi all, this is my latest Milky Way timelapse taken with Pentax K5 + Samyang 8mm FE lens. Hope you guys like it.

Pentax K5 - Milky Way Timelapse 2013 - YouTube

Very cool.

Billium28 · 07-25-2013, 09:21 PM

Originally posted by kamayok3

Hi all, this is my latest Milky Way timelapse taken with Pentax K5 + Samyang 8mm FE lens. Hope you guys like it.

Pentax K5 - Milky Way Timelapse 2013 - YouTube

I am looking to do something like this in a couple weeks while camping can you tell me what ISO, shutter speed you shot at? Thank you it looks amazing.

gs2c · 07-26-2013, 01:11 AM - **1 Like**

M8&M20
50ED+borg#7866+pentaxK-5mod+p2 filter+ieq30
L=200SX24 ISO800 FlateX6 No dark

NGC6960
L=200SX40 ISO1100 FlateX6 No dark

Billium28 · 07-30-2013, 02:06 PM

Last summer I camped out at the lake on an island and took some amazing Milky Way pictures with my KX. This summer I have camped once and will again this weekend. These are the pictures I took with the K5 I recently purchased. Could one of you give me a bit of critique so that I may improve some of the technique this weekend?

I stacked these around 5-6 pictures plus a dark field image. I felt the noise was very noticable at ISO1600. I think my settings are anywhere from 10-30 second exposures. (Each picture had 5 matching shutter speed settings though.) I can't find them on my flickr but when I do I wll post them.

Thank you.

Here they are!

**TopherTheME** · 08-02-2013, 06:16 PM - **1 Like**

The clouds finally decided to part for once last night and I was able to get a shot of M8 and M20. Seeing was kind of terrible and my mount was giving me trouble so my exposures will limited to 150 seconds, but in Michigan you take what you can get. The image is a bit noisy but I think came out rather well all things considered.

Shot with my K-5, Orion ED80 w/0.85 FR/FF, CG-5 mount autoguided with an Orion Starshoot. Also had to use my Orion Skyglow filter to actually be able to image the nebulae.

Stone G. · 08-04-2013, 11:47 AM - **1 Like**

The Perseid meteor shower should peak around 12 August. But as luck would have it, a rather large forerunner showed up last night, just as I had begun some wide field Milky Way panorama shots (at my place, this time of the year the sky is still very bright around midnight):

Pentax K-5 with smc Pentax DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens at 18mm FL. 40 second exposure at ISO 1600 and f/3.5.
Tracking by means of the Pentax O-GPS1 unit.

And to better show the colours of the meteor trail itself, here's a closer crop:

Rotated crop of the above image. Here, the horizon is to the right side of the image.

tonypysm · 08-13-2013, 02:05 AM - **2 Likes**

Perseid meteor shower ..K5+Sigma 10-20/3.5

and the milkyway

Stone G. · 08-13-2013, 04:30 AM

Originally posted by tonypysm

Perseid meteor shower ..K5+Sigma 10-20/3.5

Great shower show tonypysm!

You can really se them (most of them) radiate from the Perseus region.

07-12-2013, 10:37 PM	#452
GWARmachine Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: New Bern, NC Photos: Albums Posts: 138	It's been a while... Hi everyone! Hello All! I haven't posted here in a while but I have been reading and trying to keep up. Great pics everyone! I FINALLY got some clear skies after rain season here in Japan. I'll be back in the States this September but I'm being stationed in Pittsburgh, the 3rd cloudiest city in USA...ARGH! Enjoy! M8 & M20. Pentax K5iis, Orion ED80mmT CF + field flattener, f/6, iso3200, 106second single exposure. Tracked with AstroTrac. Beautiful sky over our campsite on Oshima Island, Yamaguchi Japan. Pentax K5iis, Sigma 8-16@13mm, iso1600, f/4.5, 209second single exposure. O-GPS1 used for tracking.

07-30-2013, 02:06 PM	#461
Billium28 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Albany, NY, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 58	Looking for opinions Last summer I camped out at the lake on an island and took some amazing Milky Way pictures with my KX. This summer I have camped once and will again this weekend. These are the pictures I took with the K5 I recently purchased. Could one of you give me a bit of critique so that I may improve some of the technique this weekend? I stacked these around 5-6 pictures plus a dark field image. I felt the noise was very noticable at ISO1600. I think my settings are anywhere from 10-30 second exposures. (Each picture had 5 matching shutter speed settings though.) I can't find them on my flickr but when I do I wll post them. Thank you. Here they are!

08-04-2013, 11:47 AM - 1 Like	#463
Stone G. Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: North Zealand, Denmark Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,516	The Perseids are coming The Perseid meteor shower should peak around 12 August. But as luck would have it, a rather large forerunner showed up last night, just as I had begun some wide field Milky Way panorama shots (at my place, this time of the year the sky is still very bright around midnight): Pentax K-5 with smc Pentax DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens at 18mm FL. 40 second exposure at ISO 1600 and f/3.5. Tracking by means of the Pentax O-GPS1 unit. And to better show the colours of the meteor trail itself, here's a closer crop: Rotated crop of the above image. Here, the horizon is to the right side of the image.

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07-10-2013, 02:25 PM - 2 Likes	#451
valy Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Bucharest Posts: 120	A Solar transit from yesterday: Attached Images

07-15-2013, 12:31 AM	#453
Mutters Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Photos: Albums Posts: 261	Wow - can you tell us more about the Andromeda shot? We Australians in the south hardly ever get to see it. AB

07-15-2013, 06:13 AM	#454
GWARmachine Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: New Bern, NC Photos: Albums Posts: 138	Originally posted by Mutters Wow - can you tell us more about the Andromeda shot? We Australians in the south hardly ever get to see it. AB Sure thing- I used a Pentax K5 with a cheap Quantaray 70-300mm lens all the way @300, f/5.6, 6 different shots, three at iso800 and three at iso1600. I used my AstroTrac for guiding and Deep Sky Stacker for stacking. The total exposure time was 16 minutes. Had to work it a bit in Photoshop too cos the lens quality isn't so great but for a couple years ago when I was first getting started I thought it wasn't too bad. I switched it to b/w cos the colors really weren't all that great. There was a lot of fringing and false colors, again cos the $100 lens I used. Now everything I shoot is through my Orion ED80mm which I'm VERY satisfied with so far. I'm glad you like it. I'd love to see the southern hemisphere skies. Maybe someday...

07-15-2013, 06:39 PM	#455
Mutters Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Photos: Albums Posts: 261	Thanks for that. I was wondering a little about the halos, and the monochrome rendering. Still looks excellent though. Yes, the southern skies are brilliant - especially when you get away from light pollution. And that is reasonably easy to achieve, compared to the northern hemisphere. AB

07-15-2013, 06:55 PM	#456
GWARmachine Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: New Bern, NC Photos: Albums Posts: 138	From what I hear we (The US Marines) may be expanding there so maybe someday I can get stationed down there. If not then I'm definitely going to visit sometime in my life.

07-16-2013, 10:01 PM	#458
pixelsaurus Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Te Kuiti, NZ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 986	Originally posted by kamayok3 Hi all, this is my latest Milky Way timelapse taken with Pentax K5 + Samyang 8mm FE lens. Hope you guys like it. Pentax K5 - Milky Way Timelapse 2013 - YouTube Very cool.

07-25-2013, 09:21 PM	#459
Billium28 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Albany, NY, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 58	Originally posted by kamayok3 Hi all, this is my latest Milky Way timelapse taken with Pentax K5 + Samyang 8mm FE lens. Hope you guys like it. Pentax K5 - Milky Way Timelapse 2013 - YouTube I am looking to do something like this in a couple weeks while camping can you tell me what ISO, shutter speed you shot at? Thank you it looks amazing.

07-26-2013, 01:11 AM - 1 Like	#460
gs2c Inactive Account Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: shanghai Photos: Albums Posts: 30	M8&M20 50ED+borg#7866+pentaxK-5mod+p2 filter+ieq30 L=200SX24 ISO800 FlateX6 No dark NGC6960 L=200SX40 ISO1100 FlateX6 No dark

08-02-2013, 06:16 PM - 1 Like	#462
TopherTheME Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Rochester, MI Posts: 147	The clouds finally decided to part for once last night and I was able to get a shot of M8 and M20. Seeing was kind of terrible and my mount was giving me trouble so my exposures will limited to 150 seconds, but in Michigan you take what you can get. The image is a bit noisy but I think came out rather well all things considered. Shot with my K-5, Orion ED80 w/0.85 FR/FF, CG-5 mount autoguided with an Orion Starshoot. Also had to use my Orion Skyglow filter to actually be able to image the nebulae.

08-13-2013, 02:05 AM - 2 Likes	#464
tonypysm Junior Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 29	Perseid meteor shower ..K5+Sigma 10-20/3.5 and the milkyway

08-13-2013, 04:30 AM	#465
Stone G. Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: North Zealand, Denmark Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,516	Originally posted by tonypysm Perseid meteor shower ..K5+Sigma 10-20/3.5 Great shower show tonypysm! You can really se them (most of them) radiate from the Perseus region.

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