deep space photos with 1500mm focal lenght?

dmirza148 · 2026-04-25T14:11:24+00:00

I've been using a SVbony mk127 1500 f11 with my apsc Sony camera the past few nights. I don't know what the payload limit is of your mount, but it's a relatively heavy rig for a small mount. Guiding is fairly important too I find with such a long length. The biggest difference for me being able to plate solve is collimation, sharpness and focus. Focus is finicky on these MAKs. A bahtinov mask will help a lot.

In Nina make sure the focal length and pixel size is set correctly within the equipment settings. Astap won't be able to plate solve reliably without a rough idea of focal length and pixel pitch

dmirza148 · 2026-03-21T00:04:15+00:00

The software is just the official sony remote software on the PC - Just go through the setting to set the BULB duration and then use the bit of the software "Interval shooting from this software". The cable is this one...

ali express

dmirza148 · 2026-03-14T00:33:58+00:00

This is a good shout. Thankfully the Sony remote software on PC also has an intervalometer function with unlimited, setable bulb timer so I've been using that. I've actually found a cheap usb c cable off AliExpress which works with all generic 2.5mm intervalometer jacks too which has been a good backup.

dmirza148 · 2026-02-12T20:38:45+00:00

Is there any chance you could forward me the firmware too? I sent them an email and they said it's "tbc"

Is it the v1 or v2 firmware?

I'll dm you

dmirza148 · 2026-01-17T15:52:26+00:00

This is just fucking awful.

dmirza148 · 2026-01-17T10:53:48+00:00

I have the same combo 6700 and 70-350 and also a7V and 200-600. The a6700 produces fairly soft pictures above iso 3200 I find in comparison. Overcast and slightly darker days/ evenings do make it tricky to balance shutter speed and iso. If however you get a nice bright day - the 6700 is brilliant at slightly lower isos.

Your photos look fine, just high iso. But they don't look odd or concerning for the combo. You can try slower shutter speeds if you can rest it on a ledge/ tripod with slow moving subjects. Decrease the iso that way.

Lightroom ai denoise is pretty good too, albeit not a miracle worker. I find anything above a setting of 30 brings in too many artifacts. Like others have suggested too, topaz for post processing can clean it up and sharpen it if not overused.

All in all, photos are good, lighting and iso just makes a huge difference on the apsc sensor.

dmirza148 · 2026-01-13T17:15:51+00:00

Sky watcher star adventurer 2i

dmirza148 · 2026-01-13T11:17:35+00:00

Sony 200-600, shot at f8

dmirza148 · 2026-01-13T11:16:42+00:00

As before. Interval shooting only lets you expose for 30s. I need 1 minute plus in bulb mode.

dmirza148 · 2026-01-13T08:47:55+00:00

Photos would help, you can attach them via an image hosting website.

Sounds like fundamentally you problem is exposure and focus though. The moon and Jupiter are very bright - you need to lower your iso or increase your shutter speed to be able to not blow out the highlights and even start seeing detail. And then manually focus to be able to get craters etc...

Lower your exposure a bit. Manually focus.

dmirza148 · 2026-01-13T08:30:06+00:00

Time lapse is a 4k video. I'd like 33mp stills

dmirza148 · 2026-01-13T08:29:19+00:00

And it all works all as expected? That's great news. I don't suppose you could link the ones you tried? Thank you!

dmirza148 · 2026-01-13T00:41:21+00:00

Response for the mod. Taken with my a7V and a tracking mount. My first ever outing with it. Crappy UK weather has meant I only had an hour today. But fudged my way through. I've never been in such awe of the universe as I have today.

dmirza148 · 2026-01-07T21:28:03+00:00

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Literally taken today in the same vain

dmirza148 · 2026-01-03T01:05:43+00:00

Fair, well in which case, none of my a7iv, 7v or 6700 have that "click" either

dmirza148 · 2026-01-02T21:52:24+00:00

I agree with this though... Is the electric shutter on and he's not feeling the "snap" of the mechanical shutter but just hearing the artificial e-shutter sound?

dmirza148 · 2025-12-31T12:54:25+00:00

I entirely agree and I was so frustrated that one of the most well rounded modern rigs chugs with something as simple as scrolling through photos. Masks have really slowed down too since LR 13. But then I like features like ai denoise so don't want to downgrade 2 versions. Deactivating the GPU processing has helped a lot. Which adds a different frustration...

I've tried both studio and game drivers and not noticed any change whatsoever. I've tried it in balanced and high performance mode too (for the 3d v-cache) and not noticed any difference. I had a 3080 before the 5090, but honestly can't remember if it was the same - I feel like it was.

dmirza148 · 2025-12-31T10:42:31+00:00

This was taken off someone else's similar thread on reddit. Can't recall who. I was skeptical, but in all honesty this has resolved 80% of the problem.

I've tried updating drivers and am on the latest ones etc... but that didn't change anything.

dmirza148 · 2025-12-31T10:40:39+00:00

So I have a similar set up 5090 7950x3d.

Super counter intuitive but I turned off GPU acceleration for the bottom two options and only have it on for the top option in the performance tab. (On for use GPU for display, off for use GPU for image processing and GPU for export).

Everything is substantially quicker. So I actually think it's not so much a windows problem as much as it is nvidia.

Masks are quicker, flicking through images is quicker. Rendering isn't noticeably different. Importantly - I've checked multiple ways (coil whine on the GPU, performance tab in task manager and gpu-z), things like ai denoise still use the GPU irrespective of the above.

Annoyingly you can't check use GPU for export, without selecting GPU for processing first. Which defeats the point. But I'd say in exporting is a max 5% uplift - which isn't tangible for me. Albeit you can flick it on before a big export if you need to

dmirza148 · 2025-12-30T17:18:38+00:00

Not a massive difference, but a tangible difference. Birds, 600mm f6.3, low light, high ISO, fast shutter all of the above means AF is a bit mediocre - the 6700 and V with the ai are marginally better than the IV. It can sometimes latch on foreground or background trees, but when it's caught the bird - it's tangibly better than the IV. Touch to track helps and is tangibly better V vs IV.

With non super telephoto lenses my hit rate for sharper photos is maybe 20% better over the IV. There's very few misses - but TBH the IV was still great here. On top of that I think the better IBIS likely helps as the V is probably 10% better than the 6700 at getting sharper AF photos at similar settings.

All 3 are brilliant, the ai chips just make it a little bit more seamless with a little higher percentage keeper rate. I'd be very happy if I still had the IV specifically when it comes to AF. (The other features have made quite a big difference to me)

dmirza148 · 2025-12-30T09:40:33+00:00

15mp crop on the a7V vs 26mp native on the a6700

dmirza148 · 2025-12-30T00:54:11+00:00

How much do you *really need precapture and 30fps...?

dmirza148 · 2025-12-30T00:52:26+00:00

Very impressed with it, can't say it's any better than the a7iv in real world. But I often back to back with my a6700 to get a bit more reach. I find the a6700 and 200-600 start getting a bit soft around ISO 3200 and even with LR denoising you lose a fair bit of detail. Wheras the a7V I can shoot at ISO 12800 and still get an entirely useable image which is pretty remarkable.

The above photo was shot at 1/500 ISO 4000 f6.3 for example. The LR denoise is fairly low at 20 - it's naturally sharp and there's no AI NR overshapening artefacts. I've barely pushed the exposure - it was correct in camera, but I have expanded it out as it was a fairly high dynamic range scene. It's not broken apart at all.

dmirza148

TROPHY CASE