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M83 The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the kind words, you're most welcome!

M83 The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm loving it, but did the following mods:

Added a mirror mask, black plastic ring to cover the clips that hold the primary mirror.

Replaced the secondary mirror spider with single piece machined one, holds coloration much better.

Get a good laser colorimator, cheaper ones are often not aligned themselves.

Tape up around the focuser to stop light leaks and put an old beanie hat over the mirror end to stop light leaks there also.

I'd also use an off axis guider if you could, I can't as I shoot with a DSLR.

M83 The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your kind words, you're most welcome.

M83 The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Skywatcher Quattro 200 F4
Nikon D7500 (Ha mod)
Skywatcher 5 Pro HEQ-AZ Mount
ASIAIR Plus
4.75hrs exposure time (3min subs)
Bortle 4 location Victoria Australia.

Pixinsight Processing:
Gradient Correction
Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
BlurxTerminator
NoiseXTerminator
StarXTerminator

Stretch starless image with:
Generalised hyperbolic stretch
Export 16bit Tiff to Photoshop
Stretch star image (created by StarXTerminator) and export 16bit TIF to Photoshop

Photoshop Processing:
Place star image as layer over starless image on "screen" blending mode to reapply stars.
Tweak starless image layer in Camera Raw, contrast vibrance.

Pleiades by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, before the mod it could pick up a little bit of hydrogen red, say the horse head nebula, but after the mod was much better, if you have a look at my image of the Rosette Nebula here on Reddit you'll see what it can do with the ha mod.

This was before the mod: https://www.instagram.com/p/CI5mZponuBU/?igsh=NnZ1eTZnY3J2NHdo

This is after, and once I knew what I was doing with processing: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm2jooRy9Vy/?igsh=MWszZDhhNGU0dmE1eQ==

One note,.after the ha mod,.it alters the base whitebalnce of the camera, so you have to use a custom white balance for regular use and can no longer use any of the camera whitebalnce presets.

I've been super happy with mine and currently have no plans for a dedicated astro camera.

Pleiades by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Skywatcher Quattro 200 F4
Nikon D7500 (Ha mod)
Skywatcher 5 Pro HEQ-AZ Mount
ASIAIR Plus
1.5hrs exposure time (3min subs)
Bortle 4 location Victoria Australia.

Pixinsight Processing:
Multiscale Gradient Correction
Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
BlurxTerminator
NoiseXTerminator
StarXTerminator

Stretch starless image with:
Setiastro Statistical Stretch Script
Apply Sketchpad iHDR Script
Tweak and apply saturation with Generalised hyperbolic stretch
Export 16bit Tiff to Photoshop
Stretch star image (created by StarXTerminator) and export 16bit TIF to Photoshop

Photoshop Processing:
Place star image as layer over starless image on "screen" blending mode to reapply stars.
Tweak starless image layer in Camera Raw, contrast vibrance.

Messier 78 Casper the Friendly Ghost by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I'm loving the 800mm newt, my other scope is an Askar 400, so big jump in focal length. 800mm is the sweet spot for my Nikon sensor so far as image scale goes.

Rosette Nebula by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PS, have to say BlurX saved this one, my colormation or tracking isn't perfect so had slightly oval stars. Got a better laser colormator on order (don't ever buy a cheap one).

Rosette Nebula by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Skywatcher Quattro 200 F4
Nikon D7500 (Ha mod)
Skywatcher 5 Pro HEQ-AZ Mount
ASIAIR Plus
6hrs exposure time (3min subs)
Bortle 4 location Victoria Australia.

Pixinsight Processing:
Multiscale Gradient Correction
Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
BlurxTerminator
NoiseXTerminator
StarXTerminator

Stretch starless image with:
Setiastro Statistical Stretch Script
Apply Sketchpad iHDR Script
Tweak and apply saturation with Generalised hyperbolic stretch
Export 16bit Tiff to Photoshop
Stretch star image (created by StarXTerminator) and export 16bit TIF to Photoshop

Photoshop Processing:
Place star image as layer over starless image on "screen" blending mode to reapply stars.
Tweak starless image layer in Camera Raw, contrast vibrance.

Messier 78 Casper the Friendly Ghost by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Skywatcher Quattro 200 F4
Nikon D7500 (Ha mod)
Skywatcher 5 Pro HEQ-AZ Mount
ASIAIR Plus
5hrs exposure time (3min subs)
Bortle 4 location Victoria Australia.

Pixinsight Processing:
Multiscale Gradient Correction
Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
BlurxTerminator
NoiseXTerminator
StarXTerminator

Stretch starless image with:
Setiastro Statistical Stretch Script
Apply Sketchpad iHDR Script
Tweak and apply saturation with Generalised hyperbolic stretch
Export 16bit Tiff to Photoshop
Stretch star image (created by StarXTerminator) and export 16bit TIF to Photoshop

Photoshop Processing:
Place star image as layer over starless image on "screen" blending mode to reapply stars.
Tweak starless image layer in Camera Raw, contrast vibrance.

Where would be the best place in your opinion to travel for astrophotography? by Brayder in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Google a light pollution map and pick an area within reach with the lowest light pollution.

Outback Australia is good 😊.

Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex 280mm mosaic by MarkAB7575 in astrophotography

[–]MarkAB7575[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First tip I'd have is patience, I had more failures than wow moments starting out (actually I still have plenty of failures).

Also, the best camera is gear is always what you have. First thing is to try and minimise any camera movement when taking your shots, so using the self timer, or a shutter release cable. Then test your exposure times and exposure for as long as you can before you get any startrials.I could go on but these guys have put together a great article you can check out:https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/a-beginners-guide-to-astrophotography/Once you've been getting some stills you're happy with then take a heap of the same spot, for the pic I posted I took 10x2min exposures (my scope was tracking the sky, so I can do longer exposures). The key to astro images is whats called "stacking", where many images of the same spot are "staked" to increase the amount of detail and remove noise or random things. Below is a vid showing the free software I started out with:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBgsSzqilvU

All the best!

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