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Posts for: bwana
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Apr 19, 2024 18:58:39   #
24Megapixseal wrote:
Great capture bwana!!..those spots are way bigger than yesterday's!

I went out yesterday and took a picture, after looking at the SOHO website... Yeah, now's a good time to live up north... I'd love to go there and see the Aurora Borealis with my own eyes and try capturing some pics

This photo taken with a Nikon D3500, F/11 300.0mm 1/800s ISO-100...K&F Concepts ND100000 filter...
Color added in LR...(I just like yellow suns...🌞)... Original was quite white!

The regions have moved a fair distance in one day.

bwa
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Apr 19, 2024 18:43:25   #
I shot two one minute 8K video sessions with a Sony A7R V, Bresser MC-100 and Orion glass solar filter on an Evolution mount.

Processed the video in PIPP to select the best 10 frames from each video then manually selected the best of the best.

Ol' Sol has lots of potential for some major CME's and magnetic decoupling. Keep an eye open for Auroras in the offing.

Open the Download for the full sized image.

Enjoy!

bwa

Just look at all those active regions!

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Central area 2x resized in Topaz GigaPixel AI

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Apr 19, 2024 12:01:07   #
KenProspero wrote:
Anyone ever deal with a company called Mercari?

It's supposed to be a consumer-to-consumer site. They claim that their policy is that they don't process your payment until three days after you receive a product, and that you can return it within the three-day period.

I've seen a few websites say they are legit.

Sounds Great.

They have a BBB rating of A

Sounds Great.

Their customer rating on the BBB site is 1.06 stars out of five (over 1000 reviews). WHAT? Given that some people misclick, I wouldn't have thought that was possible.

I see a listing for a Nikon Z 7 ii today for Under $400 -- with the 24-70 claiming that it has about 300 clicks. What????

My first, second and third reactions are this has got to be a scam. But if I'm not charged until I receive the item, I'm not sure I'm seeing what it is.

Anyway -- comfortable in the belief that if it looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is. I'm not going to bite.

But does anyone know what the play on the part of the seller is here.
Anyone ever deal with a company called Mercari? br... (show quote)

If a company is legit enough to allow payment by PayPal, I'll buy from them; otherwise, forget it!

bwa
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Apr 19, 2024 01:19:46   #
Nantahalan wrote:
If I want to improve a Nikon D500 image (20.5 mb), can it be made comparable to that of a D850 (45.4 mb)?

If so, how? Is that equally so for JPEG and RAW formats?

What are the trade offs?

Many thanks! I feel the way I did in analyzing family finances to pay for three undergraduate degrees at state schools in NC. The goals were for all of us to be debt free when they graduated. The kids were 1, 4, and 8. I could define various goals, factors, and assumptions. But I was never confident in my ability to set up the equations accurately. FYI the Andrew Tobias Managing Your Money program had a fill-in-the-blank section that handled it well. The upshot was that I needed to make more money and I figured the potential of my day job exceeded that of any side enterprises.
If I want to improve a Nikon D500 image (20.5 mb),... (show quote)

I quite often up-size small crops out of images (from both from low and high resolution cameras). Topaz GigaPixel AI does a great job. Just makes the images easier to visualize.

bwa
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Apr 19, 2024 01:06:40   #
24Megapixseal wrote:
Agreed, zero concern using my only cameras....once a legit solar filter of 16.5 stop or more is installed, it's perfectly fine to point a multi-thousand dollar camera at the sun all day long....and I even survived with my eyesight after using the viewfinder to look thru and focus the camera....(This is my 5th end of the world that I've survived!...lol)...if it's safe enough for my sensor, it's safe enough for my eyes

I used a K&F ND100000, worked perfectly as advertised!

The settings the OP used were way overexposing, in my experienced opinion.... And no need to wait until an eclipse to practice... I got my filter a month before the eclipse and simply used it on the first sunny day, at 1:40 pm, to duplicate the sun's altitude, to practice...

I used 1/800th, f11, ISO 100 as a starting point, and used my single point auto focus on the edge of the sun, looking thru the viewfinder, once the camera locked focus, I simply turned the auto focus off (switched to MF)... And snapped several photos and second or two apart.... removed camera from tripod, went inside, looked at the photos on the back of the camera, and was surprised to see everything I expected to see: sharp edges on the disk, sunspots in great detail (for a 300mm lens on a cropped sensor), and even the texture of the suns surface... Replaced the camera on the tripod, changed the shutter speed up and down from 1/800th, went back inside, slower ss overexposed, faster ss the disc looked too dark....so I was lucky with my initial guess

Preceding the eclipse day, I took photos on any day that the SOHO website showed a decent amount of sunspots... There was zero doubt in my mind that I could capture all photos of the eclipse pre and post totality... And I did, every one in perfect focus, with the couple of sunspots that were there the day of the eclipse, with a D3500 and a non-VR 70-300mm kit lens on a tripod

After reading much about the totally different exposure setting for the totality, I simply guessed and had to make small adjustments, settling on F/6.3 300.0mm 1/80s ISO-100 for totality.... And F/6.3 300mm 1/1600s ISO -100 for Diamond Ring and Bailey's Beads.... All of totality was handheld using a 70-300 VR lens on a D5600, using single point auto focus, focusing on the outer ring... Camera grabbed auto focus every time.

Another note I would suggest, I to NEVER, EVER simply rotate the lens to "infinity" and expect it to be in focus.... Some lens are, many are not... Use your autofocus, pre focus, then switch lens or camera to Manual Focus and don't touch the focus ring
Agreed, zero concern using my only cameras....once... (show quote)



bwa
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Apr 16, 2024 13:55:13   #
jerryc41 wrote:
It seems that our universe is expanding faster than the speed of light, and that imposes several restrictions on us. If we were able to travel a certain distance from earth, we would never be able to return because of the rapid expansion. Also, distant light will never reach us because it is moving away from us too fast.

When the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy collide in millions of years, not one of the billions of stars will collide with another. A spaceship traveling at the speed of light could travel indefinitely in a straight line and not crash into anything. These are two results of the universe being incomprehensively large.

Unrelated, but interesting:
When you shuffle a deck of cards, you will get a result that has never been gotten before.
There are more trees on earth than stars in the universe.

This guy is interesting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FxTgaHnbXE
It seems that our universe is expanding faster tha... (show quote)

The area of the Earth is ~330 trillion sq. inches. Some galaxies have at least a trillion stars and there are billions, if not trillions, of galaxies so the earth has far less trees, assuming one tree per sq. inch, than stars in the universe.

bwa
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Apr 16, 2024 13:41:36   #
jerryc41 wrote:
A window popped up on my computer after using my Epson L2350DW laser printer. It was a "WARNING" telling me that the toner was running low. I'm assuming that this is because the toner that shipped with the printer was a smaller amount than usual. I'll keep an eye on it and replace the cartridge before it runs out and stops printing. Or, maybe I should wait until it says it can't print anymore. I have two standard cartridges standing by.

Take the cartridge out and give it a good shake. Normally gives you another several hundred prints.

bwa
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Apr 15, 2024 12:00:58   #
Just Fred wrote:
Some quick hit-and-run shots taken by me today of landmark Sydney, Australia. Later this week I'll be getting a tour of the Opera House and attending a show. But for now, this is a taste.

Wow, now I don't have to spend a fortune to fly to Australia to see Sydney.

bwa
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Apr 15, 2024 11:54:40   #
SkyKing wrote:
…lots of sun spots…will that influence aurora borealis here…?

If a few of the ones facing Earth start blowing off material it could definitely result in Auroras. Even a glancing blow can give rise to an Aurora.

bwa
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Apr 14, 2024 23:52:16   #
Just a few big clouds floating through so fired up the Astro-Tech 64EDQ with a Hershel Wedge Prism and Baader Solar Continuum filter. I used a QHY 715C astro-cam for this imaging session; 1st light for this high resolution color camera. Double the resolution of my QHY 462C and about 2.5x the resolution of my Sony A7R V.

I was going to shoot two long video sessions, top and bottom halves, of the sun; however, I ended shooting five sessions because of annoying clouds putting an end to video sessions. I salvaged 1000 frames of the bottom half and 743 frames of the top.

Processed the video in PIPP to select the best 10 frames from each half, then manually selected the single best frame from these. Used AutopanoGiga to combine the halves for a full solar image (the 1st image below).

I then extracted six active regions from the two halves and processed them separately.

If any of these active regions is going to cause problems, it will probably be the one shown in the 2nd last image; lots of magnetic cross-bridging just waiting to 'pop'.

Enjoy!

bwa


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Apr 14, 2024 16:56:46   #
claytonsummers wrote:
While setting up for M81 and M82, I took a couple of snapshots of the comet. This is 120 seconds iso 400 (644mm focal length at f/5.6) and is unprocessed, SOOC. I did convert it 8 bit to get under 20MB. It gets nice and dark out in the desert.

Really a lovely image after a bit of postprocessing!

bwa


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Apr 14, 2024 12:55:20   #
Craigdca wrote:
Beta released January 2024

https://www.autostakkert.com/wp/

I've used Autostakkert over the years but have never had much success with getting it to align and stack properly. However, it does a decent job of determining the best quality frame/image in a set.

bwa
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Apr 13, 2024 23:40:35   #
Railfan_Bill wrote:
my photo of the M101 with the supernova. June 17, 2023
RFB

M101 has had several Supernovas. I was an hour late in discovering SN 2011fe in 2011. It was a bright one as well.

bwa


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Apr 13, 2024 12:20:40   #
I chased the comet right into the clouds and trees on the horizon but it never got dark enough to really get a good result; however, here's the best of the worst...

bwa


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Apr 13, 2024 12:17:35   #
The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy about 170,000 light-years in diameter and probably contains in the order of a trillion stars, about double the size of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. It is approximately 21 million light-years from Earth.

Captured with a Sony A7R V and Astro-Tech 65EDQ on an Evolution mount.

Shot 252x10sec. subs @ ISO3200.

Preprocessed in Lightroom. Aligned and stacked in PixInsight. Postprocessed in Lightroom/Photoshop.

I fought thin cloud/haze for most of the imaging session, obvious from the fuzzy stars, but still a reasonable night under the stars.

Enjoy!

bwa

Messier 101 and Friends

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Messier 101 - Full Size

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