My nocternal imaging view

[Comet Hunter]

Trying out my new Iaowa f2 x 17mm lens mounted to my R8, the shot below is a 3 sec exposure at iso 800
I was trying for a Milkyway while imaging with my telescope last night.

I did pick up the tale of the milkyway as shown below but the brighter core was way below the trees.
I guess I have to wait now till next spring for the center of the milkyway

Below is the best I could do with whats left of the Milkyway. I need lots more practice developing these night shots.
I played with ISO Settings from 3200, 1600, 800, and 400.

Please offer any advice or tutorials I can learn from
Thanks and clear skies.

This one is 15 sec shot at iso 3200.

This one is ISO 400 at 15 sec's

 

[JimFox]

Which Laowa lens did you end up getting? It looks good.

These look pretty good Ed, but as long as you are shooting in the city, the Milky Way is always going to be washed out no matter what you do. You need to drive outside the city to a more dark location. It doesn't have to be perfectly but you don't want a bunch of houses around.

At f1.8 I normally shoot at ISO 2000 to 3200. But that all goes out the window when you shooting in the city. If you undereexpose too much to compensate for all of the houses and lights on the ground you will be dropping out stars and detail in the MW.

I just show the core of the MW nice and bright 2 days ago, but it was out in a dark area away from city lights.

 

[Comet Hunter]

Which Laowa lens did you end up getting? It looks good.

These look pretty good Ed, but as long as you are shooting in the city, the Milky Way is always going to be washed out no matter what you do. You need to drive outside the city to a more dark location. It doesn't have to be perfectly but you don't want a bunch of houses around.

At f1.8 I normally shoot at ISO 2000 to 3200. But that all goes out the window when you shooting in the city. If you undereexpose too much to compensate for all of the houses and lights on the ground you will be dropping out stars and detail in the MW.

I just show the core of the MW nice and bright 2 days ago, but it was out in a dark area away from city lights.

So has anyone tried a light pollution filter with the dslr? I ended up with the laowa 15mm f/2 zero d lens Which takes a 72mm filter. If it dropped it one stop, I would still be at f2.8

 

[JimFox]

So has anyone tried a light pollution filter with the dslr? I ended up with the laowa 15mm f/2 zero d lens Which takes a 72mm filter. If it dropped it one stop, I would still be at f2.8

You wouldn't want an Astro LP filter like the L-Pro, I have tried, they don't work well. But there are some companies that make LP filters for regular cameras, but they won't help with the Milky Way, they only restrict the wavelengths of LP, they won't change the fact that the Light itself is washing out the Milky Way.

Ed, if you want good Milky Way shots, you just won't get them from shooting them in the city, you need to travel and go to a dark area.

Don't shoot the lens at f2.8, if it's a f2 lens, shoot it at f2. If you are trying to reduce a stop of light, you don't want to do it by going to f2.8. The point of a fast lens is to shoot it fast. Decrease the ISO or the shutter speed to reduce the light. But unless you go to a darker sky, it won't matter.

 

[Comet Hunter]

You wouldn't want an Astro LP filter like the L-Pro, I have tried, they don't work well. But there are some companies that make LP filters for regular cameras, but they won't help with the Milky Way, they only restrict the wavelengths of LP, they won't change the fact that the Light itself is washing out the Milky Way.

Ed, if you want good Milky Way shots, you just won't get them from shooting them in the city, you need to travel and go to a dark area.

Don't shoot the lens at f2.8, if it's a f2 lens, shoot it at f2. If you are trying to reduce a stop of light, you don't want to do it by going to f2.8. The point of a fast lens is to shoot it fast. Decrease the ISO or the shutter speed to reduce the light. But unless you go to a darker sky, it won't matter.

Got it, thx for the advice

 

[JimFox]

Got it, thx for the advice

My ideal spots, as I always drive to darker areas to do my Milky Way imaging, is an area where I can set up some cameras for the Milky Way and also set up my telescope and now capture DSO's with it from the same location. Sometimes it's one or the other, but that's usually my goal. When I went to capture the comet the other night in the Snowy Range in Wyoming, I had 2 cameras set up for MW, and then a camera set up for the comet, and my regular astro rig set up. I ended up not using my Astro Rig as it was just too windy, but I had it set up. So that's the trifecta for me.

 

[Comet Hunter]

I live close to the Blue Ridge mtns, I need to plan some trips along the BlueRidge Parkway for some MW and time lapes shots. You got me inspired lol