In Praise (or Mourning the Loss) of an Old Astrophography Film

The excellent results from the Canon 60Da for astrophotography reminds me of 1 roll of film I once had that gave some good results without any special treatment (like hypering or cooling). The film, Kodak Professional Ektapress PJ400, was discontinued by Kodak in 2003. If anyone has some rolls of this, they are gold. If I could get another roll or 2, I'd be tempted to give one of my old film cameras another shot at the night sky.

Here are a few examples of how well it records the H-alpha radiation. They were captured from Paulina Peak (elevation ~8,000 ft., 2440 meters) on the rim of Newberry Crater, an old volcano in Oregon, USA. All images obtained with a Mamiya-Sekor 55mm f/1.4 lens @ f/2.8, 15- to 20-minute exposures, piggyback on a Celestron-8.

Milky Way in Cygnus showing the North American Nebula

The following are crops from a panorama extending from Perseus to Scutum. First the North end:

Milky Way from Perseus to Aquila

Here's a crop on the South end:

Milky Way from Cepheus to Scutum

The panoramas were assembled using Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor, a free download). I hope you have enjoyed these images.

Best Regards,
Russ