Everyone likes getting gifts. I’m no exception. So I was delighted that my dad sent my son home with some old camera gear that was just collecting dust around his home. All cool stuff that I’ll find plenty of good use for – thanks, dad! The cherry on top of this excellent delivery was an evening of clear skies. Happy times. But there was a little work to do in order to get ready to test out my new astrophoto toys. I’ll go over that and some updates on my current projects and a few thoughts on my future plans.
What’s Going on With Gamma?
I’m getting really close to unveiling the final version of the Gamma Star Tracker. Right now I’m working on the electronic box. This is the last difficult piece of the final design to finish. But I’m down to only having 4 more parts to print and then I’ll be able to throw it all together. There’s a bit of wiring that I also need to take care of and it’s really all down to finding the time to sit down and crank it out. Soon though. Very soon.
Nonetheless, I’m still putting the Gamma test rig through its paces. A clear, albeit humid, night gave me an opportunity to continue photographing Andromeda. I managed to shoot for about 3 hours taking 45-second exposures. When it was all said and done, I had 176 stackable photos to produce the following image.
Honestly, the scaling and jpeg compression really doesn’t do this photo justice. The integration time of just over 2 hours is one of the longest images I’ve taken and I’m pretty happy with the results. The sky glow was pretty horrible but somehow I managed to get most of it out in post-processing. At the time, I was thinking this would be the last time I image Andromeda for a while unless I have an opportunity to get to darker skies. And then….
Some New Astrophoto Toys Were Delivered
Dad sent my son home with a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 telephoto lens, and a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. There are some other bits and bobs that I need to get through to see what I can use for Astrophotography. But that will have to wait. Given the clear skies, I thought it would be a shame not to test out some of the new gear tonight. In order to do that though, I’d need to fire up the 3D printer and make a lens hood for the 75-300mm lens.
I didn’t have time to design my own, but fortunately, I found a model over on Cults by TheSerialScientist that would work and that I could have ready by the evening. The lens hood came out just fine. Unfortunately, though, I didn’t have time to print a Bahtinov mask for this session but managed to do so the following morning. So what should I shoot? Andromeda of course!
So there were a couple of issues that I encountered. First, my focus was marginal at best. I did the best I could by sight on my monitor but I know once I use the Bahtinov mask things will be much better. Second, at 300mm f/5.6, I can only see a couple of stars in the sky with my light pollution conditions. This made finding Andromeda a bit challenging. But I eventually succeeded. And finally, post-processing was a bit difficult as there were some chromatic effects that cropped up in my final image. But it was fun to image at 300mm and I’m going to give it another whirl the next clear night I can get out.
Canon EOS Rebel T3i and 18-55mm Lens
What shall I do with another DSLR camera? Well, I already know. I’m going to astro-modify it. I’ll talk more about what this entails once I work up the nerve to crack the camera open and start performing surgery. The reason I want to pursue this is to be able to capture more color information from emission nebula that is usually filtered out with an unmodified camera.
Next, I’ve been thinking hard about trying to shoot more wide-angle astrophotography. The 18-55mm seems to be just what the doctor ordered. I almost purchased a pancake lens about a month ago but I really just couldn’t find what I wanted at a price range I was comfortable with. Now, I’ll have the opportunity to experiment with this lens and then decide if jumping to a faster prime lens is where I want to go. I know that the prime season for shooting the Milky Way is behind us this year. But that just gives me plenty of time to prepare for next year.
Next Up
The skies have clouded over a bit again so it may be a while before I get outside again. That’s OK though. It’s given me the time I need to print an Arca-Swiss plate cradle for the 75-300mm lens. Now I’ve got everything I need to take more photos with this new “for me anyhow” lens.
Having all these new astrophoto toys has sidetracked my Gamma progress a bit. But I should get back to it by the weekend. Sometimes the last leg of the journey is the hardest to finish and that’s about where I am right now with Gamma. But the test rig is working so well that I’m really not in any rush to get it completed. Again, I just need to find some more time. Maybe I’ll have more to say about Gamma next time. Stay tuned!