Scraping with a razor blade will indeed scratch the surface of the DVD. This is not harmless. Contrary to your statement, the data layer is just below the top of the disk. Any scratches will likely render the disk unreadable or at least damage some of the data.

Beautiful shots, hettmoe. Gives me a higher bar to aspire to.

Hi Sark,

I have a Neewer EZa-C1. It couldn't be easier to program. If you're at all tech-savvy, you'll master it in a few minutes. It does come with a small instruction sheet.

It controls delay, length of exposure, interval and number of exposures. Battery (2 AAA) last FOREVER, has a red lit screen. On Amazon for about $22.

Be sure to get the one for your brand of camera.

Quixdraw, not sure what you have a previous version of. If it's Win10 Photos, what option am I looking for, exactly?

Thanks for any addition light you can shed on it.

Not sure what you have a previous version of.

This is the same photo I posted earlier today. It was "brightened" in the stock Windows 10 app, Photos. It does show a little more definition of the Milky Way, but I'd like to find out how to bring out more detail and color.

(Download)

I will post a new topic in this section with a version of that same photo that was simply brightened. It was done in the stock Windows 10 app, Photos. It does show a little more definition of the Milky Way, but I'd like to find out how to bring out more detail and color.

Hi Sark17,

This is a response to your post earlier today. I was unable to attach a file in the reply screen, so I started another topic. The file attached is directly from the camera without any processing or editing.

I was just at Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County, PA (a highly touted dark site).

This is a shot of the Milky Way.

I took many shots trying to come up with optimal exposure. Finally settled on f/4.5, ISO 3200, 30 seconds (max time exposure for Canon T6 without going to bulb & an intervalometer). Taken with kit lens, 18-55mm, at 18mm. Focus is difficult, so I just kept taking pics and checking the LCD screen for focus.

This is the best I got.

I'd like some suggestions on post processing to bring out more detail and color on a free photo-editing program. I do have Canon Digital Photo Professional. I can download others per responder's suggestions.

(Download)

I was just at Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County, PA (a highly touted dark site).

I took many shots trying to come up with optimal exposure. Finally settled on f/4.5, ISO 3200, 30 seconds (max time exposure for Canon T6 without going to bulb & an intervalometer). Taken with kit lens 18-55mm at 18mm. Focus is difficult, so I just kept taking pics and checking the LCD screen for focus. This is the best I got.

(There doesn't seem to be a way to include a photo here, so I'll just post it in a new item with the subject: Response to "Pre edited Milky Way photos"

OP said it's a new computer. It should have the latest OS (Win 10-1903) or maybe one version back from current (-1809). Probably not an issue with the OS.

Thanks for the encouragement and info on the AutoStakkert software. Once I get the AVX going, I will give it a try. I'm actually excited about this.

Thx stepping

Thanks, Europa.

I do have an AVX mount that I can put my camera on. I will try that next.

I have a few questions about using the AVX:

How much better a photograph can I expect with tracking? Any possibility of seeing any detail on Jupiter?

How critical is polar alignment when shooting with a 300mm lens?

Any recommendations for exposure if I am using a tracking mount?

Read recently that Jupiter and the Galilean moons were visible with binoculars, so I wondered if I could capture a pic with my Canon T6 with 70-300mm telephoto lens. I learned that exposures longer than 1 second would start to "track."

After playing around for a couple nights with ISO, shutter and aperture, I got the enclosed shot at 1 sec. f/5.6, 300mm, 800 ISO.

When I took the pic, Europa was behind Jupiter. The other moons from closest out are: Io, Ganymede and Calisto.

I welcome feedback on how to improve on this.

(Download)

The sequence was: 8" floppy, 5" floppy, 3.5" floppy. The first two had flexible outer shells, the third had a rigid case, but all had a thin, flexible inner disk with magnetic coatings. The term "floppy" actually referred to the inner media disk.