Originally posted by 08amczb Nice composition, IR works well here!
Thanks!
Originally posted by Urs I like that b&w much better the first one is way too pink for my taste
Me too. It's mostly color balance that makes a big difference.
Originally posted by aitrus3 I've been curious about using an IR converted camera that includes the 656nm of H-alpha for astro work.
I got to H-alpha the cheesy way. I modified the camera by removing the filter completely(full spectrum), then used external 2" inch IR/UV filter that was well known to pass a high percentage at 656nm. The filter was inexpensive and I am able to make changes without doing more tear downs. A clip in would be neat because I could use my 62mm and 72mm lenses without vignetting the aperture with a bunch of step down rings but clip-ins get pricey.
Originally posted by aitrus3 I'm also curious, because it's cutting out a huge amount of light, if a moonless night is really needed at that point. As the moon spreads the light energy -mostly only visible- over a broad spectrum, cutting out a majority of that spectrum -even if it's not true narrowband- should reduce the impact a full moon has on washing out the sky. I have a friend that has a new to him 590nm + up Nikon IR camera that I thought I would try and borrow if he was so willing to run this test.
And then, I thought it could make a really great luminance layer if you stripped only the red channel and converted to B&W.
If I only had the $$... but then if I did, I'd probably just buy a proper mono astrocam and set of filters.
If you go mono, be ready to deal with 4 times the number of frames per shot, and processing nightmares. In the short nights of summer that can make things very frustrating. You also need a set of filters, and a filter wheel. and a huge amount of drive space..and patience. It all adds up horribly. I cut corners whenever I can so I made my own diy motorized filter wheel from the cheapest one I could find.
Yep, on objects that have plenty of light Ir can really cut through the junk, but it can be finicky as I'm sure you already know.
If you have a camera that is passing some Ha anyway, but cuts sharply at longer wavelengths you can use an IR pass filter that includes a tiny bit of dark red spectrum effectively as a broad band filter. It's not going to be the single lum monster that a really expensive 7nm wide Ha is. I've seen the big guys(planet chasers are sensitive about telescope size) use an Ir filter to get good planetary shots in rough skies and even in daylight.
As for budgets, my wife walked in recently and said I should get a big astrocam. Seems there was a coat in blue like the one in red she has -- but I'm trained not to see such things.
I'm currently wrestling with finding a K1 I can nab on the "cheap" or spending the same too much cash on a cooled aps-c like the asi1600-pro. Since I have a couple good Pentax cameras, and way too much junk for them, the astrocam is currently winning. For me, the ROI or "region of interest" ability is enticing. But the lure of a larger mirror may win out.
^^that much rambling means I should probably plug my astro group. We're eager to please and you can get just about any question answered there in a few minutes. It may not be the right answer, but that usually just means you get to watch really smart people argue for a while. It's also let me rub elbows with some big names in astronomy, always a thrill. :P
Astro group
And HEY! we need more Pentaxians in that group. I feel like that little terrier barking around the big dogs when the canikoners start arguing which is the best. Then I recently made it abundantly clear.