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Jewels - Nebulas in Orion Constellation with Pentax-M 200/F4 from 1982
Lens: SMC Pentax-M 200/4 Camera: K3ii Photo Location: Ascheberg, Germany ISO: 400 Shutter Speed: Above 6s Aperture: F5.6 
Posted By: Pete_XL, 11-12-2017, 09:35 AM



Orion, Running Man, Horsehead & Flame Nebulas in the Orion Constelllation (M42, M43, IC 434, NGC 2024).
21 x 180 s ISO 400, unmodified Pentax K3ii, Pentax-M 200 mm (from 1982) @ F5.6
Processed with DSS and PS 2018CC
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11-12-2017, 11:54 AM   #2
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Can even make out the Horsehead nebula...very well rewarded for a nights photography in the cold.
11-12-2017, 12:58 PM   #3
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Wouldn't the namers of the stars be astonished to see them as the really are. Patience has definitely payed off here.
09-06-2018, 10:04 AM   #4
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I would love to learn how to do this...
Any chance of posting a short tutorial someday?!

09-06-2018, 12:39 PM - 3 Likes   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
I would love to learn how to do this...
Any chance of posting a short tutorial someday?!
I fear a short tutorial won‘t help. Depending on the starting point it may be quite a way to get there. I needed about three years to learn to make astroimages that are worth their name. Maybe 60 nights out in the cold. I allready published some tutorials but I am not sure if it helped anybody. There are already others in the internet that are better than all that I could produce.

I started with old pentax primes, the O-GPS1, astrotracer and a base knowledge in Photoshop. For the processing I searched YouTube for tutorials and step by step upgraded techniques and knowledge with refractor - travelling mount - bigger scope - bigger mount - bigger scope - bigger mount. That is where I am now. I fear that if you want to dive into that thing you will have to start in cold water and begin to swim. It helps a lot to be part if a community like our astrophotography group here or the cloudy nights community. And Youtube has a lot of grat tutorials. Just start - do it. The rest will come from alone if you get addicted.

Cheers
Peter
09-06-2018, 05:19 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pete_XL Quote
I fear a short tutorial won‘t help. Depending on the starting point it may be quite a way to get there. I needed about three years to learn to make astroimages that are worth their name. Maybe 60 nights out in the cold. I allready published some tutorials but I am not sure if it helped anybody. There are already others in the internet that are better than all that I could produce.

I started with old pentax primes, the O-GPS1, astrotracer and a base knowledge in Photoshop. For the processing I searched YouTube for tutorials and step by step upgraded techniques and knowledge with refractor - travelling mount - bigger scope - bigger mount - bigger scope - bigger mount. That is where I am now. I fear that if you want to dive into that thing you will have to start in cold water and begin to swim. It helps a lot to be part if a community like our astrophotography group here or the cloudy nights community. And Youtube has a lot of grat tutorials. Just start - do it. The rest will come from alone if you get addicted.

Cheers
Peter
Just one question. How’d you get those long exposures with a 200mm without any trailing in the stars?
09-06-2018, 06:22 PM   #7
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Beautiful! Very sharp with good color and nice deep blacks.

09-06-2018, 09:35 PM - 1 Like   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by UserAccessDenied Quote
Just one question. How’d you get those long exposures with a 200mm without any trailing in the stars?
For long exposures in astrophotography it is necessary to use a so called equatorial mount that carries the camera. Its main axis is orientated parallel to the earth‘s rotation axis and it rotates the camera/telescope with the same speed.
09-06-2018, 09:35 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by GeoJerry Quote
Beautiful! Very sharp with good color and nice deep blacks.
Thank you, Jerry!
09-07-2018, 02:47 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pete_XL Quote
For long exposures in astrophotography it is necessary to use a so called equatorial mount that carries the camera. Its main axis is orientated parallel to the earth‘s rotation axis and it rotates the camera/telescope with the same speed.
Right, I assumed an equatorial mount was used. Thanks!
Fantastic photo... Maybe one day I'll be able to do the same haha
12-10-2018, 03:18 PM   #11
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Sorry to hop onto this thread so late - but isn't the Astro capability built right into the K3-ii? Or did you, in fact, use a separate equatorial mount? If so, which mount did you use?

I've used the Vixen Polarie which was OK with a pretty rough polar alignment (naked eye through a peep-hole, basically), but I had some pretty bad "coma" (I think I'm using the right term) around the edge of the picture using an old Pentax Super Takumar 28mm f/3.5, even when it was stopped down a couple of clicks. That may very well have been the old lens, too. In order to get a better alignment, Vixen offers an addon piece that is too expensive for my taste.

Nonetheless, your photo is simply amazing. Well done! I've had it bookmarked and come back to look at it from time to time. Very impressive.
12-14-2018, 07:32 AM - 1 Like   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Reality_Check Quote
Sorry to hop onto this thread so late - but isn't the Astro capability built right into the K3-ii? Or did you, in fact, use a separate equatorial mount? If so, which mount did you use?

I've used the Vixen Polarie which was OK with a pretty rough polar alignment (naked eye through a peep-hole, basically), but I had some pretty bad "coma" (I think I'm using the right term) around the edge of the picture using an old Pentax Super Takumar 28mm f/3.5, even when it was stopped down a couple of clicks. That may very well have been the old lens, too. In order to get a better alignment, Vixen offers an addon piece that is too expensive for my taste.

Nonetheless, your photo is simply amazing. Well done! I've had it bookmarked and come back to look at it from time to time. Very impressive.


Thank you for the flowers :-)


You are right, the K-3ii has the Astrotracer built in. But I use it only for wide field astro images outside. In my experience it provides 10x to 20 x longer exposure times compared to shooting without tracking. This is not enough for longer lenses. For Deep Sky objects and longer lenses I use a guided tracking mount. This image was made with the camera mounted on a Skywatcher AZ-EQ5 mount autoguided with the MGEN guider. Before that I had a Skywatcher Star Adventuer that provided results that might compare to yours from the Vixen Polarie.
12-14-2018, 10:37 AM   #13
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Beautiful image!
Some day I'm going to have to learn this :-)
10-07-2019, 11:00 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by Pete_XL Quote

Orion, Running Man, Horsehead & Flame Nebulas in the Orion Constelllation (M42, M43, IC 434, NGC 2024).
21 x 180 s ISO 400, unmodified Pentax K3ii, Pentax-M 200 mm (from 1982) @ F5.6
Processed with DSS and PS 2018CC
awesome. well done!
10-07-2019, 11:23 AM   #15
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Wow with just a 200mm??
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