Im going out tonight in hopes of catching the MW center around 10pm or so. If you have any MW center photos, tips, tricks, or feddback, please do share!!!
This one's from a few summers ago. This time around, I am trying the get sahuaros in there as the subject.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make Canon Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows Photographer Gordon Bates Maximum Lens Aperture f/2.8 Image-Specific Properties: Image Width 3000 Image Height 4800 Number of Bits Per Component 8, 8, 8 Pixel Composition RGB Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 300 dpi Vertical Resolution 300 dpi Image Created 2013:10:21 21:05:20 Exposure Time 30 sec F-Number f/4.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 3200 Lens Aperture f/4.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Subject Distance Infinity Metering Mode Spot Flash No Flash, Compulsory Focal Length 19.00 mm Color Space Information Uncalibrated Image Width 300 Image Height 480 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard
Here's one from the night. Ill post more tomorrow.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make Canon Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows Photographer Gordon Bates Maximum Lens Aperture f/2.8 Image-Specific Properties: Image Width 3264 Image Height 4896 Number of Bits Per Component 8, 8, 8 Pixel Composition RGB Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:06:04 01:55:17 Exposure Time 15 sec F-Number f/4.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 3200 Lens Aperture f/4.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Subject Distance Infinity Metering Mode Spot Flash No Flash, Compulsory Focal Length 26.00 mm Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 667 Image Height 1000 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard
>>2855381
How did you light up this cacti?
>>2855389
You can use any type of direct light source in a long exposure to brighten up the foreground. Just flash a flashlight on whatever you want illuminated for a second or two while the shutters open.
>>2855389
I had 2 flashes, one on each side of the cactus, about 30 ft away, on radio triggers.
The MW center doesnt come above the light pollution until about 10:30 or 11pm, by which point I was about ready to drive the 2 hours back home. Totally worth it though. Ima go out again on the next moonless weekend.
>>2855020
Here's another.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make Canon Camera Model Canon EOS 7D Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows Photographer Gordon Bates Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:06:04 09:04:25 Exposure Time 30 sec Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 6400 Exposure Bias 0 EV Metering Mode Pattern Flash No Flash, Compulsory Focal Length 50.00 mm Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 1000 Image Height 667 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Manual Scene Capture Type Standard
>>2855515
50mm?
>>2855521
Not him, but clearly an adapted lens that confused the camera.
>>2855522
yeah, it was an 8mm manual lens at 3.5. There arent any electronics, so nothing to communicate the lens data.
>>2855515
6400's really pushin it on the 7D. Even for Noiseware, that's pretty gross.
>>2855020
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make Canon Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows Photographer Gordon Bates Maximum Lens Aperture f/2.8 Image-Specific Properties: Image Width 4896 Image Height 3264 Number of Bits Per Component 8, 8, 8 Pixel Composition RGB Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:06:04 10:58:04 Exposure Time 30 sec F-Number f/4.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 3200 Lens Aperture f/4.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Subject Distance Infinity Metering Mode Spot Flash No Flash, Compulsory Focal Length 31.00 mm Color Space Information Uncalibrated Image Width 1000 Image Height 667 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard
>>2855020
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make Canon Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows Photographer Gordon Bates Maximum Lens Aperture f/2.8 Image-Specific Properties: Image Width 3264 Image Height 4896 Number of Bits Per Component 8, 8, 8 Pixel Composition RGB Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:06:04 10:58:02 Exposure Time 30 sec F-Number f/4.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 3200 Lens Aperture f/4.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Subject Distance Infinity Metering Mode Spot Flash No Flash, Compulsory Focal Length 20.00 mm Color Space Information Uncalibrated Image Width 667 Image Height 1000 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make NIKON CORPORATION Camera Model NIKON D5100 Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows) Maximum Lens Aperture f/3.5 Sensing Method One-Chip Color Area Color Filter Array Pattern 804 Focal Length (35mm Equiv) 27 mm Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:05:06 15:14:36 Exposure Time 20 sec F-Number f/3.5 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 3200 Lens Aperture f/3.5 Exposure Bias 0 EV Metering Mode Pattern Light Source Tungsten Flash No Flash Focal Length 18.00 mm Color Space Information Uncalibrated Image Width 4928 Image Height 3264 Rendering Custom Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Manual Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control High Gain Up Contrast Normal Saturation Normal Sharpness Normal Subject Distance Range Unknown
>>2856479
Sweet, was that this year?
>tfw you live in a city and there are no stars
Gonna go out to the country this summer though. Would a 5D1 with 50mm f/1.8 be any good for this sort of thing?
>>2856641
Should work fine. 50mm might be a little to much tho. You have something more along the lines of a 18mm?
>>2856605
Ya, at the beginning of May in Pennsylvania
>>2856660
Sigma 20-40 f/2.8
North or Walsenburg Co
I'm new to star shooting, so my biggest problem was focusing. I've heard different methods like.. focus during day/tape on lens, and that its just short of infinity. In the end though, it ended up with me just tweaking it left or right after each long exposure.
Any tips on getting quick fast focus?
>>2856641
will it work, yes, it will. The poor high-ISO performance of that ancient sensor will give you grief, though. If you have a modern APS-C body, and a decently fast lens of the FoV you prefer to go with it, it'd probably do a better job despite the smaller sensor. ISO 3200 or 6400 really helps.
You can take dark frames though. Shoot your picture, then take a picture of the inside of a lens cap at the same ISO and shutter speed. (do this in raw, btw) When you get home, you use software to "subtract" the dark frame (which contains no image, just noise) from the real picture. Is it magic, no, but it does help and you don't need to buy more gear.
>>2856690
if your camera does magnified live view you should use it, focus on a bright star. It's going to be unavoidably finicky because all modern lenses assume that everyone uses autofocus and rarely if ever focuses manually, so they typically have an extra-short focus throw (kit and consumer lenses especially) since that makes AF faster, all else equal. They also typically focus past infinity.
You can also buy or make bahtinov masks that you put over the front of your lens to focus. It's a plate with a bunch of slits in it that causes big diffraction spikes around stars, looks like an X with a vertical line through it. When that line perfectly splits the two sides of the X, you're properly focused.
Typically you don't want the moon out when you take these pictures, but if it is, its bright enough for autofocus to lock on to. Use live view since you're more concerned about it being accurate than fast.
>>2855020
Do you take requests for the text by light?
I'd like "ayy lmao" and "fuck off m8, we're full"
>>2856641
If you want to get the appearance of star streaking down, there's an estimation of 500/focal or 600/focal length, and that is the number of seconds exposure you should go for (600/50 = 12 seconds). My exposure is f/4 3200, 30econds. You could pull f/1.8, 3200, 30 seconds and get comparable exposure.
My tripod sucks... but I still love this pic.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make NIKON CORPORATION Camera Model NIKON D5000 Camera Software Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0 Windows Maximum Lens Aperture f/4.0 Sensing Method One-Chip Color Area Color Filter Array Pattern 858 Focal Length (35mm Equiv) 82 mm Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 300 dpi Vertical Resolution 300 dpi Image Created 2016:05:25 16:09:02 Exposure Time 30 sec F-Number f/4.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 400 Exposure Bias -1 EV Metering Mode Pattern Light Source Cool White Fluorescent Flash No Flash Focal Length 55.00 mm Color Space Information sRGB Image Width 4288 Image Height 2848 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Manual Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control Low Gain Up Contrast Normal Saturation Normal Sharpness Normal Subject Distance Range Unknown
>>2856826
pretty poorly masked, dont you think?
>>2856826
do you live in Quake 1?
>>2855626
re-edit
That's about as high as the center got before I called it a night.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make Canon Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows Photographer Gordon Bates Maximum Lens Aperture f/2.8 Image-Specific Properties: Image Width 4896 Image Height 3264 Number of Bits Per Component 8, 8, 8 Pixel Composition RGB Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:06:05 19:28:34 Exposure Time 30 sec F-Number f/4.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 3200 Lens Aperture f/4.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Subject Distance Infinity Metering Mode Spot Flash No Flash, Compulsory Focal Length 31.00 mm Color Space Information Uncalibrated Image Width 1000 Image Height 667 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard
Thank you for not posting star trailing crap/badly understood astrophotography. Wish you luck for the next photosessions, astrophotography is really frustrating sometimes, you really need good weather and the moon out of sight, which really leaves you with just 12 timeframes a year in theory, which could still be fucked up by bad weather... And of course have a free day after the night.
>>2856690
If you got a lens with a focus clutch, just focus on a distant mountain in daylight and don't touch it anymore, if you don't have it, do the same and remember the position/sign it. Provided you are working with an ultrawide, for teles heavy temperature shifts may shift your focus point too.
The infinity mark isn't always telling the truth.
>>2856935
Is it weird that I immediately saw two cactus fucking, the one in front waving at the camera?
I've spent too long on 4chan
[EXIF data available. Click here to show/hide.]
Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make Canon Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Camera Software Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows Photographer Gordon Bates Maximum Lens Aperture f/2.8 Image-Specific Properties: Image Width 4896 Image Height 3264 Number of Bits Per Component 8, 8, 8 Pixel Composition RGB Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:06:05 19:28:34 Exposure Time 30 sec F-Number f/4.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 3200 Lens Aperture f/4.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Subject Distance Infinity Metering Mode Spot Flash No Flash, Compulsory Focal Length 31.00 mm Color Space Information Uncalibrated Image Width 1000 Image Height 667 Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard
>>2856913
heh
>>2856990
Luckily, I get summers off from work, so I'm'a hit it hard this summer. But yeah... there is a tight window, and especially tighter when you consider moon, light pollution, atmospheric pollution, clouds, and rain. AZ doesnt really get rain except for, inconveniently, during monsoon season, which lies right there in the milky way center season.
>>2855627
Holy Edge Enhancement Batman
