Perseids 2020

Enders Shadow said:

cheddarman said:

Somewhere in what has become a long thread that I started, someone mentioned the reason for the long delay after taking a long exposure photograph with "Long Exposure Noise Reduction "ON", in that the camera takes a second photograph of the same exposure but with the shutter shut and then subtracts the "bad pixels" found in the second exposure from the first.

I just took a "second" 30sec exposure with the shutter shut and this is the result - not a lot of "bad" pixels in. there - with the naked eye I can see four??

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Look again at 100%. I stopped counting at 15 just looking at 1 quadrant.

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cheddarman said:

Yikes Phil, I think I'll leave it there, far too complicated for an old man to come to grips with and quite honestly, with the millions of stars one captures during these long exposures, a handful of extra rogue ones are hardly noticeable (to me). I'm just enjoying this new found branch of photography and I can sit out in the garden on a starry night and relax

One thing I'm pleased about is that I'm starting to get repeatable, acceptable focus at last. I now initially focus on a bright object, usually Jupiter at the moment, then crank up the ISO to max, 12,800 and move to a fainter star near where I want to be shooting, then just my new 10X Loupe on the screen to fine adjust. Then I MUST remember to put the ISO back to 1600!!! I took several "white:" shots last night

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Enders Shadow said:

cheddarman said:

Yikes Phil, I think I'll leave it there, far too complicated for an old man to come to grips with and quite honestly, with the millions of stars one captures during these long exposures, a handful of extra rogue ones are hardly noticeable (to me). I'm just enjoying this new found branch of photography and I can sit out in the garden on a starry night and relax

One thing I'm pleased about is that I'm starting to get repeatable, acceptable focus at last. I now initially focus on a bright object, usually Jupiter at the moment, then crank up the ISO to max, 12,800 and move to a fainter star near where I want to be shooting, then just my new 10X Loupe on the screen to fine adjust. Then I MUST remember to put the ISO back to 1600!!! I took several "white:" shots last night

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It's great you're getting the focus issue under control. There's generally multiple solutions to the problem. Whichever one works best for you. I use several techniques (or a combination) depending on a number of factors.

The hot pixels in your camera are likely fairly typical. Never really examined a 1" sensor before. Last night I viewed your example on a tablet and today on my normal editing system. I just noticed a bit of what's called amp glow along the right edge. It's probably a characteristic of the sensor and one of things that LENR can't correct. Yet another problem that has a effective solution in post processing.

Astrophotography is a big tent sort of field. Basic meteor shots occupies just a tiny corner. Frankly, they do little to get my creative juices flowing. Now combine a meteor shower with a starry nightscape and it becomes more of a artistic endeavor.

Until earlier this year my understanding of AP techniques was pretty basic. I wondered why I couldn't get shots like others using the same gear. The answer is obvious, they developed far better skills. Been digging into the areas I'm interested in for months. Fortunately I have a neighbor with decades of experience who helps when I find contradictory or vague info. Just itching for this lockdown to lighten up a little. Shooting from my backyard is somewhat limiting.

Now that focusing isn't a show stopper for you, look to expand your subject matter. Also take the time to advance your PP skills. It's key to producing great shots. It's also a good way to keep your brain stimulated.

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cheddarman said:

Not at all sure what all the activity was last night over SW England Captured three trails in the space of 30 seconds, two crossing top centre and one bottom right. Sorry for the usual crap (manual) focus!!!

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cheddarman said:

Got several "hits" last night, out of about 60, 30sec exposures over an hour and a half vigil, these are the best three.

Seem to have got the focussing about right but it took about five attempts of focussing on a bright star, swivelling to required location, exposing a shot, removing SD card to computer and checking. On the back screen all shots looked good so that can't be relied on especially as I didn't want to use the zoom function or anything else vaguely attached to the lens!

These are the best three...........thought I was shooting RAW but turns out it was JPEG Extra Fine! Oh well........

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cheddarman said:

Digital Shutterbug said:

cheddarman said:

Many thanks DS, most helpful and yes, beginning to sort out this crop factor thing!

Last night I took many shots, experimenting, only a couple had a meteor in them as they're not peaking for another couple of days but it was a nice clear sky.

The best setting I ended with was ISO320, a 1minute exposure with wide open lens. Not sure about the 12.04mm, must have moved the zoom ring, should have been 8.82mm.

In this, and all images, top left seems very sharp but bottom right looks blurry. Is this a lens issue? Meteor trail bottom left.............

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That's a pretty impressive image to me when you consider your level of experience. I'm considering making a trip tonight to get to a small mountain well above city lights. It will be my first real attempt at this kind of photography, so I go into it with very low expectations. Due to the weather, tonight will probably be my best night for seeing any meteors. I'll use your settings for a starting point.

I saw Phil's explanation of the blurriness in the corner. That's the kind of basic knowledge that is extremely helpful to you and me. It's so evident when someone explains it, but baffling at the knowledge level you and I have. And, you have several month's of experience ahead of me. I will be super happy if I can shoot anything close to this image. Keep up the good work.

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Many thanks DS, makes an old git feel good, always nice to have one's efforts appreciated. Just taken from my back garden with a fair bit of light pollution from street lights and neighbours. Might head down the road into a big field away from it all if it stay clear tonight!

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WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Not at all sure what all the activity was last night over SW England Captured three trails in the space of 30 seconds, two crossing top centre and one bottom right. Sorry for the usual crap (manual) focus!!!

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These look like satellites to me. There are so many up there now, especially with Musk's starlink batch, it is hard to take an astro image without capturing some. This is why when stacking, one uses Sigma Clipped Medium to remove them.

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WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Digital Shutterbug said:

cheddarman said:

Many thanks DS, most helpful and yes, beginning to sort out this crop factor thing!

Last night I took many shots, experimenting, only a couple had a meteor in them as they're not peaking for another couple of days but it was a nice clear sky.

The best setting I ended with was ISO320, a 1minute exposure with wide open lens. Not sure about the 12.04mm, must have moved the zoom ring, should have been 8.82mm.

In this, and all images, top left seems very sharp but bottom right looks blurry. Is this a lens issue? Meteor trail bottom left.............

Click to expand...

That's a pretty impressive image to me when you consider your level of experience. I'm considering making a trip tonight to get to a small mountain well above city lights. It will be my first real attempt at this kind of photography, so I go into it with very low expectations. Due to the weather, tonight will probably be my best night for seeing any meteors. I'll use your settings for a starting point.

I saw Phil's explanation of the blurriness in the corner. That's the kind of basic knowledge that is extremely helpful to you and me. It's so evident when someone explains it, but baffling at the knowledge level you and I have. And, you have several month's of experience ahead of me. I will be super happy if I can shoot anything close to this image. Keep up the good work.

Click to expand...

Many thanks DS, makes an old git feel good, always nice to have one's efforts appreciated. Just taken from my back garden with a fair bit of light pollution from street lights and neighbours. Might head down the road into a big field away from it all if it stay clear tonight!

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Hey Cheddarman, I am not trying to be a pain but you captured an iridium flare, not a meteor. The skies at night are just full of this kind of stuff. I am far from any sort of authority on the night skies but I have captured my share of these.

The important thing is if you are capturing these, you are doing everything right. Astro imaging has a huge learning curve and you have climbed well up on that curve. Keep up the good work!

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Digital Shutterbug said:

Cheddarman, please excuse me for appending this to your thread. It's on the same subject so I hated to start another thread.

I gave a shot at astrophotography last night for the first time. Many years of photography, but I've never attempted anything in this arena.It has a rather steep learning curve, for sure. Cheddarman, I now fully understand all your problems a few months back about focusing on stars. It's not the same as taking more conventional photos. The ones I got are more by accident than by a knowledgeable procedure.

So, this is the photo I have some questions about. You folks that know something about astronomy will be able to explain a few things I question about this photo.



If you look over on the right side, there are two streaks running parallel to one another. Would this be common for two meteors to travel parallel like this? Or, are they even meteors?

Secondly, toward the upper left corner, and down toward the bottom of the two streaks I'm currently describing as meteors, you will see a string of multiple lights forming more or less straight lines. They are not just dots, like stars, but are short lines as if moving. What do you think they are? I have another photo taken immediately after this one, that show the exact same strings of lights, in exactly the same places. That photo doesn't have the three meteors, but is otherwise the same.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

--
Steve

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WildImages said:

DS, those two parallel streaks are Elon Musk's Starlink satellites. He put up a rocket 6 or more months ago that had 90 of these things. It is quite a trick to dodge them on some nights.

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WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Got several "hits" last night, out of about 60, 30sec exposures over an hour and a half vigil, these are the best three.

Seem to have got the focussing about right but it took about five attempts of focussing on a bright star, swivelling to required location, exposing a shot, removing SD card to computer and checking. On the back screen all shots looked good so that can't be relied on especially as I didn't want to use the zoom function or anything else vaguely attached to the lens!

These are the best three...........thought I was shooting RAW but turns out it was JPEG Extra Fine! Oh well........

Click to expand...

I think all of these are satellites. Meteors burn green, yellow, white and blue. While I did not use a RX 10 IV to take this image, it gives you an idea of what a Perseid looks like. That is Andromeda in the upper right.

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cheddarman said:

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Got several "hits" last night, out of about 60, 30sec exposures over an hour and a half vigil, these are the best three.

Seem to have got the focussing about right but it took about five attempts of focussing on a bright star, swivelling to required location, exposing a shot, removing SD card to computer and checking. On the back screen all shots looked good so that can't be relied on especially as I didn't want to use the zoom function or anything else vaguely attached to the lens!

These are the best three...........thought I was shooting RAW but turns out it was JPEG Extra Fine! Oh well........

Click to expand...

I think all of these are satellites. Meteors burn green, yellow, white and blue. While I did not use a RX 10 IV to take this image, it gives you an idea of what a Perseid looks like. That is Andromeda in the upper right.

Click to expand...

That's impressive! I guess this was a long exposure focussed on the Radiant? Would love to get something like that. I think It's impossible these days to get a star picture without satellite streaks in them, there are just so many of them up there!

Click to expand...

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Got several "hits" last night, out of about 60, 30sec exposures over an hour and a half vigil, these are the best three.

Seem to have got the focussing about right but it took about five attempts of focussing on a bright star, swivelling to required location, exposing a shot, removing SD card to computer and checking. On the back screen all shots looked good so that can't be relied on especially as I didn't want to use the zoom function or anything else vaguely attached to the lens!

These are the best three...........thought I was shooting RAW but turns out it was JPEG Extra Fine! Oh well........

Click to expand...

I think all of these are satellites. Meteors burn green, yellow, white and blue. While I did not use a RX 10 IV to take this image, it gives you an idea of what a Perseid looks like. That is Andromeda in the upper right.

Click to expand...

That's impressive! I guess this was a long exposure focussed on the Radiant? Would love to get something like that. I think It's impossible these days to get a star picture without satellite streaks in them, there are just so many of them up there!

Click to expand...

Removing satellite and airplane tracks is another advantage of stacking. The stacking software I am famiar with compares one image to the next and depending on the method chosen to stack, in my case Sigma clipped average, removes the offending trace.

The above image is first a stack to sort out the background, then grabbing the meteors from different images and using "paste in place" in Photoshop, combining them into what you see here.

Astro imaging involves heavy post processing. It can wear one out!

Click to expand...

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Got several "hits" last night, out of about 60, 30sec exposures over an hour and a half vigil, these are the best three.

Seem to have got the focussing about right but it took about five attempts of focussing on a bright star, swivelling to required location, exposing a shot, removing SD card to computer and checking. On the back screen all shots looked good so that can't be relied on especially as I didn't want to use the zoom function or anything else vaguely attached to the lens!

These are the best three...........thought I was shooting RAW but turns out it was JPEG Extra Fine! Oh well........

Click to expand...

I think all of these are satellites. Meteors burn green, yellow, white and blue. While I did not use a RX 10 IV to take this image, it gives you an idea of what a Perseid looks like. That is Andromeda in the upper right.

Click to expand...

That's impressive! I guess this was a long exposure focussed on the Radiant? Would love to get something like that. I think It's impossible these days to get a star picture without satellite streaks in them, there are just so many of them up there!

Click to expand...

Removing satellite and airplane tracks is another advantage of stacking. The stacking software I am famiar with compares one image to the next and depending on the method chosen to stack, in my case Sigma clipped average, removes the offending trace.

The above image is first a stack to sort out the background, then grabbing the meteors from different images and using "paste in place" in Photoshop, combining them into what you see here.

Astro imaging involves heavy post processing. It can wear one out!

Click to expand...

cheddarman said:

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Got several "hits" last night, out of about 60, 30sec exposures over an hour and a half vigil, these are the best three.

Seem to have got the focussing about right but it took about five attempts of focussing on a bright star, swivelling to required location, exposing a shot, removing SD card to computer and checking. On the back screen all shots looked good so that can't be relied on especially as I didn't want to use the zoom function or anything else vaguely attached to the lens!

These are the best three...........thought I was shooting RAW but turns out it was JPEG Extra Fine! Oh well........

Click to expand...

I think all of these are satellites. Meteors burn green, yellow, white and blue. While I did not use a RX 10 IV to take this image, it gives you an idea of what a Perseid looks like. That is Andromeda in the upper right.

Click to expand...

That's impressive! I guess this was a long exposure focussed on the Radiant? Would love to get something like that. I think It's impossible these days to get a star picture without satellite streaks in them, there are just so many of them up there!

Click to expand...

Removing satellite and airplane tracks is another advantage of stacking. The stacking software I am famiar with compares one image to the next and depending on the method chosen to stack, in my case Sigma clipped average, removes the offending trace.

The above image is first a stack to sort out the background, then grabbing the meteors from different images and using "paste in place" in Photoshop, combining them into what you see here.

Astro imaging involves heavy post processing. It can wear one out!

Click to expand...

So can you do all this stacking etc in Photoshop? maybe I should look at getting a copy??? I really cannot justify any great outlay on what is after all jus part of a hoby

Click to expand...

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

WildImages said:

cheddarman said:

Got several "hits" last night, out of about 60, 30sec exposures over an hour and a half vigil, these are the best three.

Seem to have got the focussing about right but it took about five attempts of focussing on a bright star, swivelling to required location, exposing a shot, removing SD card to computer and checking. On the back screen all shots looked good so that can't be relied on especially as I didn't want to use the zoom function or anything else vaguely attached to the lens!

These are the best three...........thought I was shooting RAW but turns out it was JPEG Extra Fine! Oh well........

Click to expand...

I think all of these are satellites. Meteors burn green, yellow, white and blue. While I did not use a RX 10 IV to take this image, it gives you an idea of what a Perseid looks like. That is Andromeda in the upper right.

Click to expand...

That's impressive! I guess this was a long exposure focussed on the Radiant? Would love to get something like that. I think It's impossible these days to get a star picture without satellite streaks in them, there are just so many of them up there!

Click to expand...

Removing satellite and airplane tracks is another advantage of stacking. The stacking software I am famiar with compares one image to the next and depending on the method chosen to stack, in my case Sigma clipped average, removes the offending trace.

The above image is first a stack to sort out the background, then grabbing the meteors from different images and using "paste in place" in Photoshop, combining them into what you see here.

Astro imaging involves heavy post processing. It can wear one out!

Click to expand...

So can you do all this stacking etc in Photoshop? maybe I should look at getting a copy??? I really cannot justify any great outlay on what is after all jus part of a hoby

Click to expand...

There is free stacking software in the public domain but I am only familiar with software for the PC. Deepskystacker, skystakkert and others are free. Stacking in PS would be tough, I would not try it. I think you are on a Mac and unfortunately I don't know what's out there. You might post a message on the astro forum here on dpReview and ask that question.

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