"The Great Orion Nebula"
An example of astrophotography, the old fashioned way. All equipment was traditional 1970's Pentax gear. The Spotmatic has been at the service of my astrophotography for almost 30 years and has been through some harsh times. A CLA in 2006 made it like new again. The tracking platform for the time exposure is a vintage Meade 2080 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain that was I purchased new in 1983. If you compare the above image to modern DSLR's I think you will agree, that the best Pentax camera for astrophotography is still a film camera. Viva Film!
A satellite coincided with the time exposure and can be seen running diagonal across the frame.
Date: March 12, 2012
Equipment: Pentax Spotmatic II 35mm SLR with 300mm f/4 SMC Takumar wide open. Camera piggybacked on Meade 2080 SCT.
Tracking: Manually corrected via illuminated reticle eyepiece and drive corrector.
Sensor: Kodak GA 100-7 ISO 100 (Gold 100)
Exposure: 30 minutes (continuous)
Sky Quality: SQM 21.4 mags/sq arc sec. Mag limit 6.7 + at zenith
Location: Flanders Pond Observatory, East Sullivan, Maine