M42 Orion nebula, a stack of 100 subs x 10 seconds @630mm (450mm + x1.4 tc) in crop mode on a 3LT tripod manually moved every 5 images to keep the subject in frame.

[henrikpedersen33]

M42 Orion nebula, a stack of 100 subs x 10 seconds @630mm (450mm + x1.4 tc) in crop mode on a 3LT tripod manually moved every 5 images to keep the subject in frame.

Very nice capture

[Botanizer]

M42 Orion nebula, a stack of 100 subs x 10 seconds @630mm (450mm + x1.4 tc) in crop mode on a 3LT tripod manually moved every 5 images to keep the subject in frame.

How did you get astrotracer to work @630mm focal length? It works with my 300mm Pentax and 500mm Sigma. Did you select 600mm or 700mm option or do you know a way to enter a focal length that is not one of the options? I had a K-1, now I have a K-1 II. I think I want Star Tools!!

[pichaser]

Spectacular .

[splurk]

How did you get astrotracer to work @630mm focal length? It works with my 300mm Pentax and 500mm Sigma. Did you select 600mm or 700mm option or do you know a way to enter a focal length that is not one of the options? I had a K-1, now I have a K-1 II. I think I want Star Tools!!

The camera detects your focal length. I have the 150-450mm Pentax lens and a Pentax x1.4 teleconverter which the camera says is a total of 630mm when the lens is extended to 450mm. I also shot this in APS-C mode so the viewed focal length is about 1000mm. Astrotracer doesnt care what the focal length is, it moves to sidereal rate to follow the stars and is limited in its amount of movement. So at a very long focal length I get around 7 seconds before I see star trails.
The good thing with star tools is if you have slightly elongated stars it can reshape them. It also brings out the detail of deep sky objects like nebula.

[Michail_P]

Very impressed.

[Botanizer]

I think it is a little more complicated than that. I know the camera can detect the focal length of Pentax lenses and apparently the combination with the Pentax rear adapter. I think that is why you get good images. The camera knows the focal length of my Pentax DA*300mm f4 and does not give me a choice of options. It works well with Astrotracer.

If you turn on your K-1 without a lens attached, you will see a choice of focal length options. When I put the camera on my 952mm telescope using a metal adapter or my old 500mm f4.5 Sigma, which do not communicate with the camera, just like not having a lens on the camera, the camera only gives me a choice of focal length options with 800 and 1000mm being closest to the 952mm telescope focal length. Fortunately there is a 500mm option for the Sigma. I think Astrotracer does care about the focal length, because an image made with a 24mm lens will move across the sensor much slower than an image made with 1000mm lens and the camera takes that into consideration in determining how to move the sensor to accurately track the stars. I had read that the camera does need to know the focal lenght of the lens that you are using. Having said that, my test photos with the telescope were 10 seconds, which is apparently too long, with some unusable elongated star trails that appeared to be a series of dots indicating that when the sensor moved in increments, the star moved at a slightly different speed. I will try some shorter exposures and see if that helps.

Thanks for your help Splurk!!

[Larrymc]

Wow, superb image!!!

[splurk]

I think it is a little more complicated than that. I know the camera can detect the focal length of Pentax lenses and apparently the combination with the Pentax rear adapter. I think that is why you get good images. The camera knows the focal length of my Pentax DA*300mm f4 and does not give me a choice of options. It works well with Astrotracer.

If you turn on your K-1 without a lens attached, you will see a choice of focal length options. When I put the camera on my 952mm telescope using a metal adapter or my old 500mm f4.5 Sigma, which do not communicate with the camera, just like not having a lens on the camera, the camera only gives me a choice of focal length options with 800 and 1000mm being closest to the 952mm telescope focal length. Fortunately there is a 500mm option for the Sigma. I think Astrotracer does care about the focal length, because an image made with a 24mm lens will move across the sensor much slower than an image made with 1000mm lens and the camera takes that into consideration in determining how to move the sensor to accurately track the stars. I had read that the camera does need to know the focal lenght of the lens that you are using. Having said that, my test photos with the telescope were 10 seconds, which is apparently too long, with some unusable elongated star trails that appeared to be a series of dots indicating that when the sensor moved in increments, the star moved at a slightly different speed. I will try some shorter exposures and see if that helps.

Thanks for your help Splurk!!

Botanizer, thats something I didnt know about the K1 and the option to choose the FL with Astrotracer. Ive always had lenses that communicate to the camera. I would suggest if you use a telescope that your best option is a motorised mount for the assembled equipment instead. Astrotracer is ideal for 50mm or wider where you can get several minutes of light time on the sensor, which is required to start to pick up the fainter objects out there. I did get around 9 seconds on my subs at 630mm and on some nights is was as low as 7 seconds. So with that in mind there will be several hours of taking up to 5-10 subs then re-centering and repeat over and over. It is rewarding to see the image appear and look presentable after all that time and dedication though. Good luck and I hope you get some spectacular shots.

[Katfsh]

very very cool!

[aitrus3]

Nice Good work!

[Botanizer]

Botanizer, thats something I didnt know about the K1 and the option to choose the FL with Astrotracer. Ive always had lenses that communicate to the camera. I would suggest if you use a telescope that your best option is a motorised mount for the assembled equipment instead. Astrotracer is ideal for 50mm or wider where you can get several minutes of light time on the sensor, which is required to start to pick up the fainter objects out there. I did get around 9 seconds on my subs at 630mm and on some nights is was as low as 7 seconds. So with that in mind there will be several hours of taking up to 5-10 subs then re-centering and repeat over and over. It is rewarding to see the image appear and look presentable after all that time and dedication though. Good luck and I hope you get some spectacular shots.

I agree that for the telescope I would need to get a mount, guide scope and guide camera, etc. and all of the headache and expense that comes with that. The telescope is useful for the moon and I managed to use it for the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. I get decent results with the 300mm. But I think Star Tools would improve them. I don't expect anything as nice as your excellent photo!!

[splurk]

I agree that for the telescope I would need to get a mount, guide scope and guide camera, etc. and all of the headache and expense that comes with that. The telescope is useful for the moon and I managed to use it for the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. I get decent results with the 300mm. But I think Star Tools would improve them. I don't expect anything as nice as your excellent photo!!

Its the only thing so far that I have managed to do right, but thats because its such a bright object. I have attached another attempt at it ( 50 minutes of subs) via the EQ mount and also 5 hours worth of subs for the horse head nebula as well but it still has little contrast to see it all properly. Off to a much darker sky area tomorrow night to get some more nebulas in the same area.

[Botanizer]

I can get up to 30 seconds using astrotracer with the 300mm lens. On 1/7/21, I stacked 21 light images 10 dark images and 8 flat images with Sequator and processed them with Photoshop Elements 18. Camera settings were f/4, 30 seconds, ISO 1600.

[Botanizer]

This older Sigma lens does not handle chromatic aberration as well as the Pentax. You can see a blue fringe on the stars. I took 20 second images with astrotracer on 1/9/21 at ISO 800, f 7.1, 19 light and 10 dark images stacked with Sequator and processed and cropped with Photoshop Elements 18.

[Botanizer]

Off topic, but here is a stacked image of the moon on 12/27/20 with the telescope. I used PIPP to prestack, AutoStakkert to stack, and PSE 18 to process it.