Astrophotography with K-r

Swapnil · 06-10-2011, 12:40 AM

Hello Everyone,

I was searching forum, if somebody used K-r for astrophotography. This thread is in conjunction to my earlier thread "Issues with Bulb mode". I tried twice and failed as I wasnt aware of Dark Frame Subtraction.

There might be a lot of confused and aspired audience that might want to shoot clear summer sky with there beloved K-r. So I thought of starting this thread. There is a similar thread that K-5 has in its forum but we are PROUD OWNER of K-r and We should have our own dedicated thread on this topic.

With launch of new Geo-tagging device, astrophotography will be more fun!

So, K-r has got interval shooting and bulb mode. I am not sure which would be a better option for shooting star. Letting the shutter open for an hour and wait for DFS to work or use interval shooting for an hour and stack them to create one picture. I am confused and so will be others

Pour your suggestions, technique, experience with Astrophotography

Lets make this thread a good learning material for everyone.

Looking forward to see great pictures!

Ciao

Last edited by Swapnil; 06-10-2011 at 03:00 PM.

**pixelsaurus** · 06-10-2011, 12:49 AM

You could make a start here Catching the Light: Astrophotography by Jerry Lodriguss
Astro can be a simple or complicated as you like.

Elisha · 06-10-2011, 07:57 AM

^Fantastic link, thank you!! (newbie here, lol). I'll be watching this thread since I've gotten very curious about astrophotography recently despite not having much in the way of equipment. Hoping to be able to get out to my barn in the middle of nowhere to try to take starry sky photos soon!

**pixelsaurus** · 06-10-2011, 11:48 AM

You're welcome. On his site, Jerry mentions barn door mounts for tracking. He should have mentioned this site as it gives a good overall picture on designs and construction. Astronomy Boy: Barn Door Tracker

Swapnil · 06-12-2011, 09:51 PM

Originally posted by pixelsaurus

Jerry mentions barn door mounts for tracking. He should have mentioned this site as it gives a good overall picture on designs and construction. Astronomy Boy: Barn Door Tracker

Originally posted by pixelsaurus

You could make a start here Catching the Light: Astrophotography by Jerry Lodriguss

It talks about telescope and all. I am not going to shoot galaxies. Just want to keep it simple and make use of bulb mode.

Has anyone tried shooting night sky in bulb mode?

Elisha · 06-13-2011, 04:45 PM

I have, aaaannnd I failed. Just got blackness. It was at my apartment complex, though (lots of lights/interference), and I didn't leave the shutter open for very long. Will have to try again more seriously away from the city.

Swapnil · 06-13-2011, 05:32 PM

Originally posted by Elisha

I have, aaaannnd I failed. Just got blackness. It was at my apartment complex, though (lots of lights/interference), and I didn't leave the shutter open for very long. Will have to try again more seriously away from the city.

Was brooding over internet and found this www.Startrails.de-Home
looking forward to use this over the weekend

**pixelsaurus** · 06-13-2011, 05:44 PM

There is also Deep Sky Tracker DeepSkyStacker - Free

Elisha · 06-14-2011, 08:57 PM

Again the stars don't show up at the apartment but I have permission from my barn people to go out there in the middle of the night for stars so will hopefully be able to do that this weekend!! Tonight I was stuck with the moon, took THIS, HOLY WOW photographing the clouds is WAY harder than I thought it would be, look how blurry and awful lol!

I don't know how to keep them from being terribly blurry because of the movement of the clouds + shutter open time required to let enough light in to make them show up...

And they're not even cool like star trails.

**GerryJM** · 06-15-2011, 06:06 PM

I found an astronomy website with a Pentax astrophotography forum.

It's not very active but may have potential.

Pentax DSLR Astrophotography Group

mikerigel · 06-16-2011, 05:44 AM

The best is for you to try both techniques, that's what i did. And it's very fun to experiment.

This one is made of 40 photos of 25 seconds exposure, stacked in software.

This one is a 25 minutes exposure using bulb mode, with the kr, at f/5.6 and ISO200.

Here's a 12 minutes exposure

And finally, this is not a trail shot, just wanted to see the Kr ISO quality shooting wide open with my 77mm limited. This is a 6 seconds exposure at f/1.8 and ISO 800. For those wondering, this is a part of the Orion constellation, the 3 vertical stars being the belt and the red cloud in the middle is M42, the nebulae.
I am very happy with the details and the nice colors.
The Kr is an excellent performer in my opinion.

As I said, just try and you'll get some good stuff, you just need to find an interesting spot to shoot from, the darker the better.

Swapnil · 06-16-2011, 01:47 PM

Good pictures you have there mikerigel!
Its been quite a bad week here in Seattle.
Clouds, clouds and only clouds. Not a real summer actually.
Waiting for clear sky to start my next project

Philoslothical · 06-16-2011, 07:55 PM

Love the shot with the nebula. Classy, has a great feel to it.

Elisha · 06-26-2011, 05:34 AM

Okay, finally got a chance out in the middle of nowhere on a clear night!! I'm a complete n00b, and was disappointed at how fast the stars got blurry. :P EARTH, STOP ROTATING SO FAST

But here's the best shot I got - I'm using the DA L 55-300 (all I have is this and the 18-55, lol). This exposure time was like... 20 seconds I think? And I brightened the stars a smidge in photoshop because a lot of the smaller ones didn't want to show up. They just look like a bunch of little dots, nowhere near as impressive as your BEAUTIFUL nebula shot, mikerigel, but I digress... :P

Name: starssmall.jpg
Views: 3705
Size: 210.4 KB

Name: starssmall.jpg
Views: 3705
Size: 210.4 KB

Christopher M.W.T · 06-26-2011, 05:56 AM

Originally posted by mikerigel

The best is for you to try both techniques, that's what i did. And it's very fun to experiment.

This one is made of 40 photos of 25 seconds exposure, stacked in software.

This one is a 25 minutes exposure using bulb mode, with the kr, at f/5.6 and ISO200.

Here's a 12 minutes exposure

And finally, this is not a trail shot, just wanted to see the Kr ISO quality shooting wide open with my 77mm limited. This is a 6 seconds exposure at f/1.8 and ISO 800. For those wondering, this is a part of the Orion constellation, the 3 vertical stars being the belt and the red cloud in the middle is M42, the nebulae.
I am very happy with the details and the nice colors.
The Kr is an excellent performer in my opinion.

As I said, just try and you'll get some good stuff, you just need to find an interesting spot to shoot from, the darker the better.

The last one is impressively clean, goes to show how good the Sony sensors are.

06-10-2011, 12:40 AM	#1
Swapnil Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Bellevue Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 147	Astrophotography with K-r Hello Everyone, I was searching forum, if somebody used K-r for astrophotography. This thread is in conjunction to my earlier thread "Issues with Bulb mode". I tried twice and failed as I wasnt aware of Dark Frame Subtraction. There might be a lot of confused and aspired audience that might want to shoot clear summer sky with there beloved K-r. So I thought of starting this thread. There is a similar thread that K-5 has in its forum but we are PROUD OWNER of K-r and We should have our own dedicated thread on this topic. With launch of new Geo-tagging device, astrophotography will be more fun! So, K-r has got interval shooting and bulb mode. I am not sure which would be a better option for shooting star. Letting the shutter open for an hour and wait for DFS to work or use interval shooting for an hour and stack them to create one picture. I am confused and so will be others Pour your suggestions, technique, experience with Astrophotography Lets make this thread a good learning material for everyone. Looking forward to see great pictures! Ciao Last edited by Swapnil; 06-10-2011 at 03:00 PM.

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06-10-2011, 12:49 AM	#2
pixelsaurus Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Te Kuiti, NZ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 986	You could make a start here Catching the Light: Astrophotography by Jerry Lodriguss Astro can be a simple or complicated as you like.

06-10-2011, 07:57 AM	#3
Elisha Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: North Carolina Posts: 69	^Fantastic link, thank you!! (newbie here, lol). I'll be watching this thread since I've gotten very curious about astrophotography recently despite not having much in the way of equipment. Hoping to be able to get out to my barn in the middle of nowhere to try to take starry sky photos soon!

06-10-2011, 11:48 AM	#4
pixelsaurus Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Te Kuiti, NZ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 986	You're welcome. On his site, Jerry mentions barn door mounts for tracking. He should have mentioned this site as it gives a good overall picture on designs and construction. Astronomy Boy: Barn Door Tracker

06-12-2011, 09:51 PM	#5
Swapnil Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Bellevue Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 147 Original Poster	Originally posted by pixelsaurus Jerry mentions barn door mounts for tracking. He should have mentioned this site as it gives a good overall picture on designs and construction. Astronomy Boy: Barn Door Tracker Originally posted by pixelsaurus You could make a start here Catching the Light: Astrophotography by Jerry Lodriguss It talks about telescope and all. I am not going to shoot galaxies. Just want to keep it simple and make use of bulb mode. Has anyone tried shooting night sky in bulb mode?

06-13-2011, 04:45 PM	#6
Elisha Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: North Carolina Posts: 69	I have, aaaannnd I failed. Just got blackness. It was at my apartment complex, though (lots of lights/interference), and I didn't leave the shutter open for very long. Will have to try again more seriously away from the city.

06-13-2011, 05:32 PM	#7
Swapnil Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Bellevue Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 147 Original Poster	Originally posted by Elisha I have, aaaannnd I failed. Just got blackness. It was at my apartment complex, though (lots of lights/interference), and I didn't leave the shutter open for very long. Will have to try again more seriously away from the city. Was brooding over internet and found this www.Startrails.de-Home looking forward to use this over the weekend

06-13-2011, 05:44 PM	#8
pixelsaurus Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Te Kuiti, NZ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 986	There is also Deep Sky Tracker DeepSkyStacker - Free

06-14-2011, 08:57 PM	#9
Elisha Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: North Carolina Posts: 69	Again the stars don't show up at the apartment but I have permission from my barn people to go out there in the middle of the night for stars so will hopefully be able to do that this weekend!! Tonight I was stuck with the moon, took THIS, HOLY WOW photographing the clouds is WAY harder than I thought it would be, look how blurry and awful lol! I don't know how to keep them from being terribly blurry because of the movement of the clouds + shutter open time required to let enough light in to make them show up... And they're not even cool like star trails.

06-15-2011, 06:06 PM	#10
GerryJM Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Toronto Photos: Albums Posts: 53	I found an astronomy website with a Pentax astrophotography forum. It's not very active but may have potential. Pentax DSLR Astrophotography Group

06-16-2011, 05:44 AM	#11
mikerigel Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Florida Photos: Gallery Posts: 354	The best is for you to try both techniques, that's what i did. And it's very fun to experiment. This one is made of 40 photos of 25 seconds exposure, stacked in software. This one is a 25 minutes exposure using bulb mode, with the kr, at f/5.6 and ISO200. Here's a 12 minutes exposure And finally, this is not a trail shot, just wanted to see the Kr ISO quality shooting wide open with my 77mm limited. This is a 6 seconds exposure at f/1.8 and ISO 800. For those wondering, this is a part of the Orion constellation, the 3 vertical stars being the belt and the red cloud in the middle is M42, the nebulae. I am very happy with the details and the nice colors. The Kr is an excellent performer in my opinion. As I said, just try and you'll get some good stuff, you just need to find an interesting spot to shoot from, the darker the better.

06-16-2011, 01:47 PM	#12
Swapnil Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Bellevue Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 147 Original Poster	Good pictures you have there mikerigel! Its been quite a bad week here in Seattle. Clouds, clouds and only clouds. Not a real summer actually. Waiting for clear sky to start my next project

06-16-2011, 07:55 PM	#13
Philoslothical Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 1,889	Love the shot with the nebula. Classy, has a great feel to it.

06-26-2011, 05:34 AM	#14
Elisha Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: North Carolina Posts: 69	Okay, finally got a chance out in the middle of nowhere on a clear night!! I'm a complete n00b, and was disappointed at how fast the stars got blurry. :P EARTH, STOP ROTATING SO FAST But here's the best shot I got - I'm using the DA L 55-300 (all I have is this and the 18-55, lol). This exposure time was like... 20 seconds I think? And I brightened the stars a smidge in photoshop because a lot of the smaller ones didn't want to show up. They just look like a bunch of little dots, nowhere near as impressive as your BEAUTIFUL nebula shot, mikerigel, but I digress... :P

06-26-2011, 05:56 AM	#15
Christopher M.W.T Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,689	Originally posted by mikerigel The best is for you to try both techniques, that's what i did. And it's very fun to experiment. This one is made of 40 photos of 25 seconds exposure, stacked in software. This one is a 25 minutes exposure using bulb mode, with the kr, at f/5.6 and ISO200. Here's a 12 minutes exposure And finally, this is not a trail shot, just wanted to see the Kr ISO quality shooting wide open with my 77mm limited. This is a 6 seconds exposure at f/1.8 and ISO 800. For those wondering, this is a part of the Orion constellation, the 3 vertical stars being the belt and the red cloud in the middle is M42, the nebulae. I am very happy with the details and the nice colors. The Kr is an excellent performer in my opinion. As I said, just try and you'll get some good stuff, you just need to find an interesting spot to shoot from, the darker the better. The last one is impressively clean, goes to show how good the Sony sensors are.