[jawats]

All,

I recently purchased a K-1, and it arrived yesterday. I put my Sigma 17-50 on it, and wow...impressed. I'm looking forward (especially) to trying out the astrotracer.

--Jonathan

[mkgd1]

Congratulations on your new camera.

[BigMackCam]

Congratulations!

If you're impressed with it in crop mode with the Sigma 17-50, wait until you fit a good full frame lens and get at all those 36MP!!

[jawats]

Congratulations!

If you're impressed with it in crop mode with the Sigma 17-50, wait until you fit a good full frame lens and get at all those 36MP!!

I have a 500mm Vivitar (refractor, not a mirror) and a couple Tamron 60-300 Adaptall-2 SPs, which I am anxious to try out. I take some moon pictures, and I am excited for the Vivitar and FF / 36 MP with the moon (and astrotracer, if it works for that).

Thanks!

[MossyRocks]

Do a pixel shift shot off of a tripod to be even more impressed. That was the first thing I did last week when I picked up a K-3ii.

[jawats]

Do a pixel shift shot off of a tripod to be even more impressed. That was the first thing I did last week when I picked up a K-3ii.

I will! Thank you!

[MossyRocks]

I am excited for the Vivitar and FF / 36 MP with the moon (and astrotracer, if it works for that).

You won't need astro tracer for the moon. Even at f/8 you will have plenty of light. Start with f/8, ISO 200 and 1/400s off of a tripod and go from there. Focus is key for the moon so figure out how to nail the infinity focus. I suggest using a bahtinov mask to do it and there are generators for them available. Basically let your long glass come to temperature to avoid things from shift from contracting as it cools, point it at a bright star and get the focus pretty good through the view finder, then go into live view and minimize the star as best you can with focus peaking off. Finally toss the bahtinov mask in front of the lens and do the fine adjustment to get it perfect. I can get my 400mm focused this way in under a minute with most of the time spend getting and keeping the bright star centered.

I should probably do another moon shot with my big 400 now that I know it better. Here is what I managed (tight crop) on the first time I had my 400 out (with a 500 on full frame yours will be smaller but not a lot) and this is overexposed with as much recovery as I could manage.

K-3
Lens: SMC A* 400mm f/2.8 ED [IF]
f/4
ISO 100
1/320s

[MossyRocks]

I will! Thank you!

And that is what I get for not paying attention to the original posters. You've seen my 400mm moon picture before over in the astro group and know all about nailing the focus. However now I wonder if it would be possible to do a pixel shift moon shot with the K-3ii and SMC A* 400. It seems like it would be possible to keep the moon movement under one pixel for the duration. I usually use 200/(focal length) as the rule for trail free astro shots without any tracking but I ran across one person who did the math and they came to the conclusion that 70/(focal lenght) gives a true no movement shot. So lets make the math easy, simple and more conservative and use 50 instead of 70 so that means I would have to get 4 samples in 1/8 seconds which seems in the realm of possibilities as I was using shutter speeds substantially faster than that and got an overexposed image. I should be able to run the lens at f/3.5, 1/640s and ISO 100 to see if things work well.

[jawats]

And that is what I get for not paying attention to the original posters. You've seen my 400mm moon picture before over in the astro group and know all about nailing the focus. However now I wonder if it would be possible to do a pixel shift moon shot with the K-3ii and SMC A* 400. It seems like it would be possible to keep the moon movement under one pixel for the duration. I usually use 200/(focal length) as the rule for trail free astro shots without any tracking but I ran across one person who did the math and they came to the conclusion that 70/(focal lenght) gives a true no movement shot. So lets make the math easy, simple and more conservative and use 50 instead of 70 so that means I would have to get 4 samples in 1/8 seconds which seems in the realm of possibilities as I was using shutter speeds substantially faster than that and got an overexposed image. I should be able to run the lens at f/3.5, 1/640s and ISO 100 to see if things work well.

Mossy - yes, I have seen the moon shot before. I am also curious about astrotracer and the moon (obviously). I've used my 500mm vivitar and 600mm (60-300, 2x TC) to good effect with the moon.

[Serkevan]

And that is what I get for not paying attention to the original posters. You've seen my 400mm moon picture before over in the astro group and know all about nailing the focus. However now I wonder if it would be possible to do a pixel shift moon shot with the K-3ii and SMC A* 400. It seems like it would be possible to keep the moon movement under one pixel for the duration. I usually use 200/(focal length) as the rule for trail free astro shots without any tracking but I ran across one person who did the math and they came to the conclusion that 70/(focal lenght) gives a true no movement shot. So lets make the math easy, simple and more conservative and use 50 instead of 70 so that means I would have to get 4 samples in 1/8 seconds which seems in the realm of possibilities as I was using shutter speeds substantially faster than that and got an overexposed image. I should be able to run the lens at f/3.5, 1/640s and ISO 100 to see if things work well.

Wait, does the FPS limitation of the K-1 apply to PS? Because if it does you won't be able to get 4 shots in under 0.8 seconds. I have to try this now...

[MossyRocks]

Wait, does the FPS limitation of the K-1 apply to PS? Because if it does you won't be able to get 4 shots in under 0.8 seconds. I have to try this now...

Well it would be 1/8 of a second or .125s not .8 seconds. Having only played a bit with PS on my newly acquired K-3ii I would think that the the FPS wouldn't apply as you don't have to deal with the mirror and shutter moving. However last night I played a bit and it seems like it takes close to a second for it to complete a PS shot even when using a fast shutter speed like 1/250s. Granted I was listening for the mirror and this was by no means a proper scientific endeavor but my experience now would seem to indicate that this is less possiable. However sticking a 50mm on the camera and doing a pixel shift shot of the moon would clearly work, but beyond that there may be issues. Now I really have to haul the 400 out to test it.

[Serkevan]

Well it would be 1/8 of a second or .125s not .8 seconds. Having only played a bit with PS on my newly acquired K-3ii I would think that the the FPS wouldn't apply as you don't have to deal with the mirror and shutter moving. However last night I played a bit and it seems like it takes close to a second for it to complete a PS shot even when using a fast shutter speed like 1/250s. Granted I was listening for the mirror and this was by no means a proper scientific endeavor but my experience now would seem to indicate that this is less possiable. However sticking a 50mm on the camera and doing a pixel shift shot of the moon would clearly work, but beyond that there may be issues. Now I really have to haul the 400 out to test it.

I mean that if the camera cannot shoot faster than the usual 4.4 frames in a second for pixel-shift, it can only process one frame per 1/5 seconds (roughly). To get four shots within 1/8 s you need a burst of 32 (!!) fps.

---------- Post added 01-17-20 at 05:43 AM ----------

Now I really have to haul the 400 out to test it.

I now want to take PS car light trails to check if it's possible to get them in Morse code

[jawats]

I mean that if the camera cannot shoot faster than the usual 4.4 frames in a second for pixel-shift, it can only process one frame per 1/5 seconds (roughly). To get four shots within 1/8 s you need a burst of 32 (!!) fps.

---------- Post added 01-17-20 at 05:43 AM ----------



I now want to take PS car light trails to check if it's possible to get them in Morse code

This last is when you know the true nerds have found your thread. It goes from "possible moon shots" to "well, now, if you just adjust the PS settings a bit, cars will be seen to vanish in a wormhole..."

[MossyRocks]

This last is when you know the true nerds have found your thread. It goes from "possible moon shots" to "well, now, if you just adjust the PS settings a bit, cars will be seen to vanish in a wormhole..."

I think this thread was born that way. We haven't yet descended into a deep discussion of how many stops/bits below the shot noise do things like amp glow and dark current show up or other such topics so we haven't completely nerded out this thread.

[jawats]

I think this thread was born that way. We haven't yet descended into a deep discussion of how many stops/bits below the shot noise do things like amp glow and dark current show up or other such topics so we haven't completely nerded out this thread.

I think you just did....