WOLFMAN GRAPHICS -- ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Here’s a quick overview of the equipment I’ve decided to use, and to show the results (photo page) of that use.  I may, at a later date, seperate each optical tube’s photo into various pages, with the best of the lot on one page.

Thanks for your viewing, and also for your interest.

This is one of the newer additions to my equipment; and it is most welcome!  The XLT is lightweight, very easily carried to the viewing site, has rather bright views, with a little bit higher contrast than normal Schmidt-Cass telescopes of the same size.  I found that viewing was extremely easy on the eyes, with good eye relief for those of us who use glasses; as well as NOT having a problem with dew or other issues that may come from viewing the sky in early morning conditions.  Admittedly, this makes my 5” Mak look like something that one would put on Ebay’s website for selling, but both of these telescopes have their place and their functions which will be explored more later.  I found that using the Nikon equipment (both the DSLR and the F3) are just as easy as using any other equipment, and it doesn’t present a problem with weight imbalance for this tube.  I really appreciate the ease of this telescope.  I consider this particular telescope a compliment to the other 8” Reflector that I’d purchased a bit ago;

Now, in my photography (both regular and Astro), I use unaltered (I say unaltered, because these days, there are those who have their DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) equipment altered by removing a filter that blocks IR, UV, and certain other wavelengths of light that will alter your regular photographs , as well as block the light coming from emission nebulae, and other deep-sky subjects) NIKON equipment....one body is the D40x, the other a F3.  Also, for those times where I want a large negative to work with, I use a Mamiya 645 Pro in projection astrophotography.  I will eventually come to this subject, but for right now, will concentrate locally on photographs of the stars with the camera guided, the Moon and planets, and bright nebulae which present themselves at the particular time of year that it is up.  As for photographic equipment, I will be concentrating on Nikon and Mamiya issues only, as there seems to not be a whole lot of information out here concerning Astrophotography using these cameras........although there is more information concerning the Cannon camera than the aforementioned, I find that in order to use ANY camera properly, one must be true to the “feel” of one’s equipment, and Cannon doesn’t feel that good in my hand when I shoot, whereas the Nikon (esp. the D40X), and the Mamiya 645 fits like a glove.   It is a lot to put down into words, but the best scientific method ALWAYS requires the researcher to have good notes...............so, I’ll just have to write them here!  If you have any question or comment, please email me at psroberts7@mac.com.

Another thing that the beginning user might want to consider is his/her choice of photo editing software; at the time of this writing, not only is Photoshop the standard, but also you may want to take a look at a program called “NEBULOSITY”, which is extremely helpful with “stacking” your photos for more detail with deep-sky subjects.  This program works with both Mac and PC’s, and is invaluable for getting fine detail out of your photographs.  I will be writing about this program as we go along; but from what I’ve seen, it is a MUST HAVE for those interested in Deep-sky photography.  And, speaking of which, most of the Astronomical software that will help you is written for the PC; but more and more is being written for the Macintosh computer, and for good reason.  We’ll be concentrating on the Mac, using it in Astrophotography, with various software packages that will help you along---there’s enough out there for the PC users (so, call me a sucker for the underdog; but I literally will not trust my hard work to any machine that has Microsoft running it).

Now, on to the issues of Equipment, and what is the “right” camera to use..............

Most of what you’ll read here is MY OWN OPINION; and is from experience gleaned over years and years of experimental photographic techniques. 

Contrary to some, I prefer Nikon and Mamiya equipment; the Nikons are BOTH digital and film; and the Digital camera equipment that I use are about to get a upgrade to the Hutch modifications so that the nebulosity can be photographed without problem.  (NOTE HERE: June 5, 2008 -- Right now the jury is out on getting this upgrade; more work with the present cameras are needed before I spend 1200.00 to have this done.  I am not rich by no means, and need to keep a eye on budgetary issues, so for right now, Filters, but NO HUTCH).  You see, most if not all of the DSLR’s today come with a filter which filters out light that, albeit is not wanted in regular photography, is VERY NECESSARY in Astrophotography.  Most of the interesting nebulae (North American, California, etc.)  glow in a light which is high in Hydrogen and Oxygen; and appears in the Red area of the visual spectrum to our eyes.  But to the camera, if this filter wasn’t in place, then the photographs that you take on the beach or of your family would have a huge color shift, and would be unusable!  However, for the purpose of Astrophotography, the filter that produces these wonderful photos of the kids’ birthday party are also the culprits that keep you from getting a really good photo of the aforementioned Nebula, and therefore must be replaced by a filter which would not block out the light you are trying to capture.  In a nutshell, the only place where I’ve found this filter is on the Astro Hutech webpage (http://www.hutech.com/), where they sell not only the filter you might need, but also the camera body with the filter already installed.  And, don’t worry---if you install this filter, you can still use your camera for those shots of little Suzy chowing down on birthday cake---it’ll just take another filter to correct the one you’ve installed.  Go to Hutech’s website and take a look.  And, yes, they support Nikon.  Which, brings us back to the issue about using a Nikon camera for Astrophotography.  There are some DEFINITE items which you will need, and I list them here for both Digital and Film.  Also listed is recommended film to use with your camera, and the development procedure that has worked for me with my B&W images.  At the time of this writing, I will be testing out  several types of film for astrophotography; Fujifilm Neopan 1600 (B&W), Ilford HP5 Plus, Kodk Tmax 100 and 3200 films.  For Color, the Kodak Elite Chrome 400 at the moment.  Development times will be given, along with the outcome of the image---from what I’ve seen on the web, I’m sure that these films will prove to have qualities that I’m unaware of at this time, but will be happy with.   

YOUR TELESCOPE MOUNT:

Another important matter is in your mount and in your guiding for astrophotography; at this time, I’m using a Orion Sky View Pro Equatorial mount with RA and DEC drives, but need to further refine my tracking via the Off-Axis method.....this will entail sitting at the telescope, viewing thru a device which will allow me to make modifications to the tracking and yet not interfere with the photograph being taken at the same time.  Even though I am using the 80mm Refractor to guide with, I still need a really good guide eyepiece for the telescope; so I am investigating who has a good guider eyepiece, and when found, will make my recommendations here.

UPDATE:

I’ve recently purchased the aforementioned Equatorial mount, and have found it to be a complete and total MUST-HAVE purchase:

This is the EQ-G GOTO mount; and it is sturdy, very lightweight for how much so, but more importantly, it comes RIGHT OUT THE BOX with functionality that makes it a must-have for any decent astrophotographer!  The mount must have either a Power Supply---either moble (sold by Orion) or just simply a wall plug (ditto) to run the mount, but the GoTo function as well as the clock drive runs completely on AC, so it’s a necessity.  Speaking of the GoTo, it is really easy to setup and use---I set it up within 10 minutes (pointed it at Polaris area, then started programming in the information to the hand controller (had to look up my Longitude and Lattitude), and once entering in the information, also chose one star for the mount to slew to.  It found the star, and asked me to center said star.  After setting up this, it was able to find objects (including Neptune, no less) that was up in my area of the sky.  it worked flawlessly, and moreover, kept the object in the center of the field until I plugged in another object for it to take a look at!  This was a total pleasure to use, and I cannot wait to use it again JUST TO SEE if what my experience was last night will happen again.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

I will create a page that will give information on using regular Rollfilm in Astrophotography---to this date, there’s still film available to use, albeit a dwindiling amount from the US.....but, Fujifilm, Ilford, Agfa and others will be around long after the US has quit making film for the camera.  I’ve also found limitations on the use of Digital cameras in Astrophotography, and am still in the process of comparing it to rollfilm cameras in quality alone.  From what I’ve gathered, most photographers of this gendre will use a camera specific to the task, like the Orion or Meade series of Astro-cameras, but they require (at the time of this writing) a seperate laptop to download and process the image as well as other electronic functions.  I’ll have to dig deeper into this to find out what will work the best for me, and jot down the findings when I arrive at them.