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Anybody using MFT bodies for astrophotography?

Started Oct 8, 2016 | Discussions thread
j y g
j y g Regular Member • Posts: 204
Re: Anybody using MFT bodies for astrophotography?
3

I have an E-M5 Mk 1 and have been struggling for years to do decent astrophotography with it. In full disclosure, I'm a seasoned amateur astronomer, a half decent photographer and a pathetic image processor. I live in a Bortle 8 zone, in which I use a half decent tracker to get tack sharp images 240s @ 150mm (i.e. 300mm FF equiv) with my Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro. Tack sharp and utterly disappointing.  I've pretty much lost the will to keep trying.

I do understand how all of those things will affect the final outcome. But, what mostly kills me is how someone with a Canon Rebel will will have single subs that look better than the final output of my best astrophoto ever, a 90 min integration from my E-M5!

Here's that 90 min integration, using lights, darks and flats. The post-processing was done by someone who, with his own albeit superior but under the same sky, produces images that rival what is seen on nasa.gov. This is all he could do with what I gave him: 125 exposures of 43s, 200 ISO, f/2.8.  (FWIW, I've tried other configs of higher and lower exposure, ISO up to 1250, f-numbers down to f/5 and backing out the lens from 150mm to 100mm. Nothing really helps, despite my goal .)

 j y g's gear list:j y g's gear list
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Panasonic Lumix G 20mm F1.7 ASPH Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro Tamron 14-150mm F/3.5-5.8 Di III Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 Pro
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