Star trails + Geminids

[Brian larmay]

I got lucky last night with cloudless skies so I did some lazy astro work and set up the tripod and camera and let the eos utility tool do the rest, while I got some rest.

 

I got many more geminids than what are shown on the star trail pic, but most of them were going along the same path as the stars trails so..bla

The meteor sare kind of dim, no fireballs

 

This is about 256 stacked images, with the camera aimed just over my house.

Imaging detail below the picture

 

http://cygnusxone-telescopiceye.smugmug.com/Nature/Astrophotography/16098654_DT7Hrx#!i=2272855294&k=Zr3Tz9G&lb=1&s=XL

 

Brian

 

45.588000N,87.995000W

[Vikram Chhatre]

Brian -

Very nice!  Speaking of star trails, here is one I captured on 12/12/12 around midnight (f 7.1, exp 60 min).  I was hoping to get geminids last night, but I don't have a timer for the camera, only a one button shutter release remote.

http://www.crypticlineage.net/Astrophotography/Star-Trails-121212.jpg

By the way, I am new to the list and hoping to learn so much from you guys.

In your star trails picture, I take the brightest trail belongs to Jupiter, is that correct?  Also, my picture is continuous exposure, not stacked.  I need to learn how to minimize the noise.

Thanks

Vikram

[Brian larmay]

Thanks Vikram and welcome to apml!

 

Traditionaly this is a film list, but at times, we get ccd or digital images in here, moreso now than later times.

Lots of people dropped from the list and went to digital or wherever. APML back in its hayday was the place to be, now its a shadow of its frmer self, but still there are people here that still do shoot and deserve the respect of still shooting film.

 

I still have two film cameras that need fixing, and a bunch of old pj400 left over as well as supra and tech pan, which could use some hypering.

 

Brian

 

45.588000N,87.995000W

From: Vikram Chhatre <cryptic...@gmail.com>
To: Brian larmay <power_wi...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 4:27 PM
Subject: Re: [APML] Star trails + Geminids

Brian -

Very nice!  Speaking of star trails, here is one I captured on 12/12/12 around midnight (f 7.1, exp 60 min).  I was hoping to get geminids last night, but I don't have a timer for the camera, only a one button shutter release remote.

http://www.crypticlineage.net/Astrophotography/Star-Trails-121212.jpg

By the way, I am new to the list and hoping to learn so much from you guys.

Thanks

Vikram

On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 4:16 PM, Brian larmay <power_wi...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Vikram Chhatre]

Thank you for the welcome and about information on the list.  I did not read through the description of the list, just searched for an astrophotography related one and found this.  Thus I had no idea it was mainly for film photography.  I definitely agree that a channel needs to exist for film photography.  

Sadly, my submission was not film.  You seem like a film camera connoisseur, I will be sure to check out your other work.

Thanks again

V

[Brian larmay]

Yes its Jupiter.

 

What iso settng was your picture taken at? If you do high speed, keep the exposures short and many. chances are, you will not need dark frames at short exposures.

If its a lower ISO, you can go longer in exposure without adding much noise, but you might need dark frames.

Processing your images can create noise as well. by boosting your curves, you ampify as you dig out the detail.

 

The image I created were all done at 45 secs at 6400 ISO which is pretty up there in speed for a dslr. alot of aplification is going on there, "but" I did minimal processing, and stacked 256 frames together distributing the snr.

 

I also useda stacking software for statrails called "startrails" http://startrails.de/ The link will take you there.

 

Hope this helps!

Brian

 

45.588000N,87.995000W

From: Vikram Chhatre <cryptic...@gmail.com>
To: astro...@seds.org
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 4:32 PM
Subject: Fwd: [APML] Star trails + Geminids

[Vikram Chhatre]

I believe I used either ISO200 or ISO400, so pretty low to minimize the noise.  But I still have it due to long exposure.  I would prefer to not stack the pictures if possible.  But will check out the software you linked.

Can you explain what you mean by 'you might need dark frames'.  Does that approach involve stacking?

6400 ISO is pretty fast.  I don't know how far my Canon goes (Rebel XS).

I would really like to shoot some meteors, but you need luck on your side in order to make that happen, unless you can sit outside for several hours, doing 20 second exposures.  I did a 2 hour exposure last night and got nice star trails but only one meteor crossed my path and it was very very faint.

Can you offer some advice on shooting meteors, assuming I am going to time my exposures manually?

Thanks again Brian.

V

[Brian larmay]

Sorry to say, but if you want the noise out of your pictures, you have to stack to get more signal. especially in long exposure.

 

You do need to havesome luck yes, but it also helps if you have a fast sharp lens. The faster, the better for meteors, but fast usually means lesser detail and

the lens flaws are more apparent in astrophotography. Faster is also beter for capturing meteors, fast iso, and fast optics.

Fast gives you noise, so there is no escape from it really.

 

As far as sittng outside for hours, even if you are in heavy light pollution, you can still do well, not as well as in the country, but u can do pretty good.

Heres how.

If you hook up your camera to your computer, and use the canon eos utility tool that came with the camera software, you can use your computer as the remote timer like i did.

I just plop the camera out of the window, feed the usb from camera to my computer, activate the eos utility tool,set the eos timer for how many exposures

I want, and how much time to expose each frame for, and then I goto bed. As simple as that

Tht is how I got my star trail picture.

If you are in moderate light pollution, bracket your exposures to what looks like a good enough exposure for your area, and shoot accordingly.

Star trails are possible in medium sized cities now with the advent of digital cameras. Film you could do that, but you were probably using like 5 rolls of film to do it, then you get gaps in your startrails, not to mention back in the day, you had to stack them either by hnd, or in photoshop each individual frame.

If you get more into astrophotography, you will have to face dark frames, it just a matter of time. Its not all that intimidating as long as you are having fun doing it.

 

When you are ready to deal with them, you will make the jump. Its not as hard as it seems.

So far looking at your image, I dont seea whole lot of noise yet, but any longer, you are doomed to dark frame subtraction. The only way to do what you wat at this point is to do film, and get some provia 100F or 200F and let the exposure go for 20-30 mins at f/8 if you are just ouside of the city.

 

Brian

 

 

 

 

45.588000N,87.995000W

From: Vikram Chhatre <cryptic...@gmail.com>
To: astro...@seds.org

Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: [APML] Star trails + Geminids

[Steve Banbury]

Hi Vikram (and Brian!)
Welcome to APML--there's quite a few of us old film users still hanging around here despite the fact we've mostly run out of film to shoot with.

Brian I had not seen the Startrails software before, and look forward to giving it a try.
Yours certainly came out beautiful!

I never seem to have much luck capturing meteors in timed exposures. 
I've sort of just given up and just use the Mark 1 eyeballs.

Vikram for noise reduction and image stacking, you might look up Images Plus software by Mike Unsold.
It will automagically register and stack multiple images and subtract off dark frames.  And Mike provides excellent support.
I simply can't say enough good things about how helpful he has been.

Some DSLR's cameras allow you to shoot a picture, and then will automatically take their own dark frame (same exposure time without opening the shutter),
I have found them kinda slow.  I find for temperatures above 55 deg F with 3 minute subexposures and shooting at ISO800, noise reduction is necessary for my Canon Xsi.
What has worked well for me is at the end of my imaging session while I'm putting stuff away, I take 3 to 10 darks at what ever length of time I'm using for my individual subexposures
These are then averaged in Images Plus and saved as a "master dark".
 When processing several subexposures, the 'master dark' is subtracted from each subexposure before they are registered and added together. 
This explanation takes more time than the act of doing it!

Have fun learning and experimenting--that's what its all about!

Steve 




On Fri 14/12/12 14:54 , "Vikram Chhatre" cryptic...@gmail.com sent:

[Loren]

Brian -
 Love the picture and thanks for the reference to the star trails software.  I love your choice of pointer in the picture, but am not quite sure what it was "supposed" to be pointing at.  Jupiter perhaps ;-)
Cheers
Loren

[Brian larmay]

Thanks Steve and Loren!

 

The antenna was just there, not pointing at anything specifically. That wouldnt be a bad idea next shower to try and have it point at the radiant. 

 

I was thinking of building a big stone cairn in the yard for a silouette for the aurora or other stuff, to get kind of artsy.

Kind of like this stuff: http://pinterest.com/blucy/rock-my-world/

We have more than enough rocks around here.

 

Believe it or not, I have a load to pick up tonight so I wish you guys a good evening!

 

Brian

 

45.588000N,87.995000W

From: Loren <lban...@sonic.net>
To: astro...@seds.org
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: [APML] Star trails + Geminids

http://cygnusxone-telescopiceye.smugmug.com/Nature/Astrophotography/16098654_DT7Hrx#%21i=2272855294&k=Zr3Tz9G&lb=1&s=XL

 

Brian

 

45.588000N,87.995000W