[SunValley]

Very nice details in those views! The resulting f.l. seems even longer than 1600. The average size of the moon on the sensor is given by the formula f.l./109 so at 1600 mm it should produce a full moon of 15 mm thus just fitting inside the 15.7 X 23.7 mm sensor of the K-30. Unless your image is cropped the full moon seems to be approching the 23.7 mm lenght of the sensor giving an effective f.l. of 2500 mm.

[Kendigitize]

Very nice details in those views! The resulting f.l. seems even longer than 1600. The average size of the moon on the sensor is given by the formula f.l./109 so at 1600 mm it should produce a full moon of 15 mm thus just fitting inside the 15.7 X 23.7 mm sensor of the K-30. Unless your image is cropped the full moon seems to be approching the 23.7 mm lenght of the sensor giving an effective f.l. of 2500 mm.

Thanks
The full moon with the square is cropped. The other is not. I could barley fit the whole moon in the K-30 image area with the 2x converter, so I'll go with 2500mm

[LucaBumble]

I know I know.. There's a lot that I could do better about it, and don't hesitate to name the things. BUT, before you are free to critisize whatever you want in the harshness you want I have to say a few things:

1.) I was travelling and had no Tripod. I set the Camera on a Treestomp onto my Camerabag to have something where it stands on.
2.) This was originally ment to create a Milky way Timelapse with the integrated Pentax K30 "Interval shots" which I set to every 30 seconds. But after I set it all up, started it, waited 10 shots and went away in the warm to get back in half an hour, it stopped due to the cold froze the battery.
3.) I didn't know about Darkframes/ Stacking at that time:

Here it is:

[Kendigitize]

I know I know.. There's a lot that I could do better about it, and don't hesitate to name the things. BUT, before you are free to critisize whatever you want in the harshness you want I have to say a few things:

1.) I was travelling and had no Tripod. I set the Camera on a Treestomp onto my Camerabag to have something where it stands on.
2.) This was originally ment to create a Milky way Timelapse with the integrated Pentax K30 "Interval shots" which I set to every 30 seconds. But after I set it all up, started it, waited 10 shots and went away in the warm to get back in half an hour, it stopped due to the cold froze the battery.
3.) I didn't know about Darkframes/ Stacking at that time:

Here it is:

Um, kinda hard to criticize that shot. Just stunning. The no light zone must make a big diff in catching everything.

---

Last edited by Kendigitize; 02-06-2015 at 12:14 PM.

[loco]

That is absolutely fantastic, LucaBumble!! Wow!

[LucaBumble]

Thank you very much Kendigitize and loco.. Happy to hear that.. I think the area really makes a difference. In that area there's no light pollution at all and no flights (at least I didnt see airplanes). So it is really really dark. Also there are no major cities in the area and its next to mountains. So all in all a great spot for spotting stars.

I think, the greenish and reddish colours on the bottom of the picture are a little interfering and also it is not 100% even.. But I tried my best, so I'm really really glad you like it.

@Kendigitize: Your moon photos are stunning ! Didnt see such a close of the moons surface for a long time. Great to look at that !! and @loco I just followed you on flickr. All your pictures are simply breathtaking !

[VoiceOfReason]

That shot is beautiful and well worth the like I gave. I wish I could grab a Milky Way shot like that here!

[Ex Finn.]

I agree with previous comments, stunning, thank you for sharing.

[loco]

Many thanks for the kind words and the follow, LucaBumble! Your Flickr photostream is amazing.

[TER-OR]

I like the 'aw crap, all I got was this stunning single image.' With that as a starting point, I'm sure you're going to get the timelapse you're after.

[LucaBumble]

@VoiceofReason and @Ex Finn. Thank you very much !!

@loco ur welcome.. I have to thank you for uploading those images . I'm glad you like my other pictures too !

@TER-OR You made me laugh very loud .. It's kind of true !! At that time I my thoughts were just "why the heck did the timelapse stop... whyyy" . But looking at this picture afterwards recompenses that.

[Kendigitize]

Some shots of Sirius using a barn door tracker. K-30 & SMC-A 135mm 2.8. One is several images stacked in Deep Sky. The one with the star centered, is one 58sec exp. The links to Flickr really let you see the details.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/millermagic/16526946712/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/millermagic/16526960852/

[bavd]

I know I know.. There's a lot that I could do better about it, and don't hesitate to name the things. BUT, before you are free to critisize whatever you want in the harshness you want I have to say a few things:

1.) I was travelling and had no Tripod. I set the Camera on a Treestomp onto my Camerabag to have something where it stands on.
2.) This was originally ment to create a Milky way Timelapse with the integrated Pentax K30 "Interval shots" which I set to every 30 seconds. But after I set it all up, started it, waited 10 shots and went away in the warm to get back in half an hour, it stopped due to the cold froze the battery.
3.) I didn't know about Darkframes/ Stacking at that time:

Here it is:

Nice shot. Could you elaborate on how you made/processed this shot? Specifically, since you said no stacking, is this a single frame? Or in camera stacking? Since the foreground looks sharp as do the stars I am a little confused. Or s it multiple frames put together in photoshop?
Thanks!

[LucaBumble]

@Kendigitize : This looks simply great ! I really want to learn how to do something like this ! But first of all I think I need to improve my Astronomic knowledge a little bit Really nice to see that with just a normal camera you can get so close and take a picture of a planet so far away... ( I guess you used a very good magnifying lens or a telescope?)

@bavd : Of course I can

1.) First of all I set the focus on manual and set it on "endless"
2.) I activated the RAW-Mode which is really important
3.) I put the camera on the treestomp as I said
4.) I tried to get it even with the integrated electronic water level
5.) I turned off the Image Stabilisation of the Camera
6.) I set the exposure time manually on 30seconds (which is a bit too much, if you zoom in on the picture you can clearly see short startrails, so the stars arent really "sharp")
7.) I chose an iso-value that I thought is suitable
8.) I did a single exposure of the Milky way...

Thats how the image was created. One single exposure. No stacking at all, It's one single frame. I guess because it was so cold I was able to use higher ISO than normal, but with that I'm not sure.

In Photoshop I used the "tonal correction" or "levels" and dragged the slider from the right (where the light colors are) to the left. If you do that you can clearly see what you change and just take what you think looks best. Then I went to the "color correction" because in the dark the white balance often isnt right and set it to a value that looked good ... Thats all. But really, there are much better ways to do this. You should read some other articles from people that know what they're doing

[Kendigitize]

@Kendigitize : This looks simply great ! I really want to learn how to do something like this ! But first of all I think I need to improve my Astronomic knowledge a little bit Really nice to see that with just a normal camera you can get so close and take a picture of a planet so far away... ( I guess you used a very good magnifying lens or a telescope?)

@bavd : Of course I can

1.) First of all I set the focus on manual and set it on "endless"
2.) I activated the RAW-Mode which is really important
3.) I put the camera on the treestomp as I said
4.) I tried to get it even with the integrated electronic water level
5.) I turned off the Image Stabilisation of the Camera
6.) I set the exposure time manually on 30seconds (which is a bit too much, if you zoom in on the picture you can clearly see short startrails, so the stars arent really "sharp")
7.) I chose an iso-value that I thought is suitable
8.) I did a single exposure of the Milky way...

Thats how the image was created. One single exposure. No stacking at all, It's one single frame. I guess because it was so cold I was able to use higher ISO than normal, but with that I'm not sure.

In Photoshop I used the "tonal correction" or "levels" and dragged the slider from the right (where the light colors are) to the left. If you do that you can clearly see what you change and just take what you think looks best. Then I went to the "color correction" because in the dark the white balance often isnt right and set it to a value that looked good ... Thats all. But really, there are much better ways to do this. You should read some other articles from people that know what they're doing

Thanks-
I used a K-30 and Pentac SMC A-135 2.8mm lens with the same settings you used for your great shot. And the tracking device I built for $15