A few of deep sky 'test' shots
Jan 3, 2020 15:21:19 #
I acquired a Sony FE 200-600mm lens in late November and immediately had to try it for astro-imaging. Sky conditions were general crappy for all my imaging session but if I could see stars I went for it.
My first night out I simply mounted the lens and Sony A7 III on a tripod and shot some short exposure / high ISO subs to see how the edges of the lens behaved. Good stars to the edges with only a very small amount of stretching in the corners, and this was with a wide open aperture; quite happy with the performance. The last three images attached were shot off a tripod. And yes, those ISO's are all above 25600, although I did limit the upper ISO to 51200. It is quite amazing what one can actually capture with 1-2.5 sec. subs but REALLY noisy!
My next venture into the cold was with lens and camera mounted on a Celestron Evolution (Alt/Az) mount. With this configuration I shot 30 sec. subs, wide open, Auto ISO. The first five images attached were shot with this setup.
In all testing I went with full aperture, set the exposure and used Auto ISO. This seemed to compensate for the thin cloud present while shooting.
Preprocessing was done in PixInsight with some postprocessing done in Lightroom / Photoshop.
As I mentioned in my previous 'Many Moons' post, testing to this point has convinced me to sell a couple of Canon lenses and two scopes that overlap the focal range of the Sony FE 200-600.
I will, however, retain my Sky-Watcher 190 Mak-Newt / QHY 163M (and filterwheel) combo for narrowband imaging from the observatory. Just hoping for sky conditions worth the effort of firing it up!
Enjoy!
bwa
.
My first night out I simply mounted the lens and Sony A7 III on a tripod and shot some short exposure / high ISO subs to see how the edges of the lens behaved. Good stars to the edges with only a very small amount of stretching in the corners, and this was with a wide open aperture; quite happy with the performance. The last three images attached were shot off a tripod. And yes, those ISO's are all above 25600, although I did limit the upper ISO to 51200. It is quite amazing what one can actually capture with 1-2.5 sec. subs but REALLY noisy!
My next venture into the cold was with lens and camera mounted on a Celestron Evolution (Alt/Az) mount. With this configuration I shot 30 sec. subs, wide open, Auto ISO. The first five images attached were shot with this setup.
In all testing I went with full aperture, set the exposure and used Auto ISO. This seemed to compensate for the thin cloud present while shooting.
Preprocessing was done in PixInsight with some postprocessing done in Lightroom / Photoshop.
As I mentioned in my previous 'Many Moons' post, testing to this point has convinced me to sell a couple of Canon lenses and two scopes that overlap the focal range of the Sony FE 200-600.
I will, however, retain my Sky-Watcher 190 Mak-Newt / QHY 163M (and filterwheel) combo for narrowband imaging from the observatory. Just hoping for sky conditions worth the effort of firing it up!
Enjoy!
bwa
.
Alnitak and Flame & Horsehead Nebulas(600mm,f6.3,32x30sec,ISO6400)_PI_MStretch_ABE_LR_PS_LR-Alt/Az Mount
(Download)
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) (400mm,f6.3,33x30sec,ISO12800)_PI_MStretch_ABE_PS_LR-Alt/Az Mount
(Download)
California Nebula (NGC1499)(400mm,f,27x30sec,ISO10000)_PI_MStretch_ABE_PS_LR-Alt/Az Mount-Reasonably happy with Ha response
(Download)
The Pleiades (M45) (600mm,f6.3,31x30sec,ISO5000)_PI_MStretch_ABE_PS_LR-Alt/Az Mount
(Download)
Triangulum Galaxy (M33) (600mm,f6.3,24of31x30sec,ISO12800)_APG_PS_LR-Alt/Az Mount
(Download)
Alnitak (600mm,f6.3,20x2sec,ISO51200)_PI_ABE-Tripod
(Download)
Orion (200mm,f5.6,25x2.5sec,ISO25600)_PI_ABE-Tripod
(Download)
Orion (600mm,f6.3,21x1sec,ISO40000)_PI_ABE-Tripod
(Download)
Jan 3, 2020 15:52:20 #
I am not into stars as such but the colors are wonderful, esp #1.
Jan 3, 2020 16:03:15 #
robertjerl wrote:
I am not into stars as such but the colors are wonderful, esp #1.
Yes, the colors are great; however, the only way to see them is via long exposure photography. The human eye simply doesn't have the sensitivity to see color in these faint objects...
bwa
Jan 3, 2020 16:15:55 #
bwana wrote:
I acquired a Sony FE 200-600mm lens in late Novemb... (show quote)
BWA, Outstanding Astro images. Thanks for sharing
Jan 3, 2020 19:33:19 #
They look great!!! Good lens.
Do you have step down rings to reduce the aperture rather than using the aperture adjust? The star spikes are rather large and a step down ring(s) would certainly make that go away.
Do you have step down rings to reduce the aperture rather than using the aperture adjust? The star spikes are rather large and a step down ring(s) would certainly make that go away.
Jan 4, 2020 04:15:54 #
Jan 4, 2020 12:42:31 #
Great to see more work from you Brian.
Quite amazing what you've gotten.
Quite amazing what you've gotten.
Jan 10, 2020 20:20:46 #
Awesome detail Brian you're pulling with the SonyA7 . Noise is something you live with I guess , without regulating the cooling of the sensor . That's what I should expect from a high end camera like the A7. That is a sony sensor isn't it?
Jan 13, 2020 19:15:39 #
Very nice series of shots.
I think that’s a keeper lens.
Well done all around.
I think that’s a keeper lens.
Well done all around.
Jan 16, 2020 12:49:25 #
Jan 16, 2020 13:14:32 #
One quick question.
Is that camera modified or self stacking?
I cannot pull that amount of color or detail with my Canon 7d at the single exposure settings you used. I can pull much better with my modified T2i.
Thanks,
Jim
Is that camera modified or self stacking?
I cannot pull that amount of color or detail with my Canon 7d at the single exposure settings you used. I can pull much better with my modified T2i.
Thanks,
Jim
Jan 31, 2020 12:12:04 #
JimH123 wrote:
They look great!!! Good lens.
Do you have step down rings to reduce the aperture rather than using the aperture adjust? The star spikes are rather large and a step down ring(s) would certainly make that go away.
Do you have step down rings to reduce the aperture rather than using the aperture adjust? The star spikes are rather large and a step down ring(s) would certainly make that go away.
I have the rings, might give this a try BUT I do like shooting full open.
bwa
Jan 31, 2020 12:14:10 #
stepping beyond wrote:
Awesome detail Brian you're pulling with the SonyA7 . Noise is something you live with I guess , without regulating the cooling of the sensor . That's what I should expect from a high end camera like the A7. That is a sony sensor isn't it?
Noise is definitely something you live with at ISO51200. When I get past my testing stage I'll probably drop the ISO to the 3200-12800 range and up the number of subs.
bwa
Jan 31, 2020 12:19:12 #
Albuqshutterbug wrote:
One quick question.
Is that camera modified or self stacking?
I cannot pull that amount of color or detail with my Canon 7d at the single exposure settings you used. I can pull much better with my modified T2i.
Thanks,
Jim
Is that camera modified or self stacking?
I cannot pull that amount of color or detail with my Canon 7d at the single exposure settings you used. I can pull much better with my modified T2i.
Thanks,
Jim
The camera is unmodded and not self stacking except for its four shot noise reduction feature which I don't use. I'm finding its Ha response to be quite good, per a recent image.
bwa
Feb 1, 2020 11:15:12 #
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