Astrophotography with GPS O-1 !

[stephp]

Hardware: a K-5, a DA*200/2.8 wide-open, a (solid) tripod and the GPS O-1
Software: Astrotracer function, DeepSkyStacker & Lightroom
Photos: ISO 1600 & 45 seconds for each raw image
Location: 50km south of Paris
Conditions: Slightly hazy sky

The Great Andromeda galaxy (8 raw images stacked):





North America nebula (7 raw images stacked):

 

[MightyMike]

Wow, impressive
--
Mike from Canada

"I am not a great photographer! God is a great creator! All I do is capture His creation with the tools He has provided me."

'I like to think so far outside the box that it would require a telephoto lens just to see the box!' ~ 'My Quote '



http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?sort_order=views%20DESC&first_this_page=0&page_limit=180&&emailsearch=mighty_mike88%40hotmail.com&thumbnails=

 

[miles green]

Stunning!!! Very very cool shots...
I wish I could do that with my 200mm!!

--
-----------------------------------------------
Miles Green
Corfu

 

[Bart Roskam]

That is very neat! With what program did you stack the pictures?

--
http://flickr.com/photos/bartroskam/
WSSA Member#250PX

 

[stephp]

These images were stacked with DeepSkyStacker

 

[baldeagle21b]

Excellent work, well done!

 

[uliw]

Nice ones!

below a wide angle shot I just brought home from vaction. ISO 1600, f6.3, 241 sec exposure. I used the 10mm fisheye. Unfotunately, the lens is not very sharp. I also tried the 12-24mmm but than, the astrotracer can only correct for the stars in the center of the image.

cheers

Uli



--
http://uliw.zenfolio.com

 

[ozdean]

That looks good.
--
Regards Dean - Capturing Creation
N.B. All my Images are Protected by Copyright

 

[Colorado CJ]

Wow, that's great! I wish they would make this backward compatible with the Kx, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. I've been looking for a tracking setup for my Kx, but everything I've found is just too expensive.

I wonder if Pentax will ever make this backward compatible, or if it's possible.

I might need to upgrade to a K5 sooner rather than later.

 

[blowfish23]

Wow, these are definitely the best pictures I've seen yet with the gps unit.

 

[stephp]

Of course you can !!
It's very easy. Thanks to Pentax
You just have to perform the precise calibration of the GPS unit.

Stunning!!! Very very cool shots...
I wish I could do that with my 200mm!!

--
-----------------------------------------------
Miles Green
Corfu

 

[Ishpuini]

Great results!

Could you provide details on how you shot them?

Questions I have:

• are these cropped or not?
• did you reposition your camera for each shot in a stack?
• why did you use as many as 7 or 8 45s exposures? whereas you could have done it in fewer exposures (at 200mm exposures up to 110-300s are possible depending on the declination).
• why did you decide on ISO1600?
• did you focus at infinite? (focus is critical since wide open aperture giving small depth of field)

Tx! Wim

--
Belgium, GMT+1

 

[stephp]

Great results!

thanks

Could you provide details on how you shot them?

Questions I have:

• are these cropped or not?

yes for M31: from horizontal to vertical (roughly 1.5x magnification)
no crop for NGC7000

• did you reposition your camera for each shot in a stack?

no, just perform precise calibration at sunset and put the camera on the tripod

• why did you use as many as 7 or 8 45s exposures? whereas you could have done it in fewer exposures (at 200mm exposures up to 110-300s are possible depending on the declination).

In order to reduce the signal/noise ratio. Unfortunately, I was not able to get good results beyond 45s exposures.

• why did you decide on ISO1600?

2 reasons:

• up to 1600 ISO no in-camera raw noise reduction
• light pollution is still present even at 50km from the big city (@12800 the sensor was completely saturated)

• did you focus at infinite? (focus is critical since wide open aperture giving small depth of field)

Using the live-view function, indeed it's the most critical part of the process.

Tx! Wim

--
Belgium, GMT+1

 

[Gmbal]

Impressive, I was hoping that this kind of results would be possible now,and apparently it is. Well done.

 

[Ishpuini]

Tx!! Great info.

Still not sure whether I should or should not get one... I love what it allows to do, but fear its use for travelling may not be ideal.

I mean, in order to get the coordinates onto my images, it needs to sit on the camera all the time, since putting it on and taking it off everytime I take the camera out of my bag or put it in again is something I won't keep up for three weeks or more. So in the end I will either have it on the camera in the bag too (space, risk of damage when bumping the bag while hiking), or not use it at all... What would you say?

The astrotracker function is secondary to me, even though it's fascinating of course.

Wim

Great results!

thanks

Could you provide details on how you shot them?

Questions I have:

• are these cropped or not?

yes for M31: from horizontal to vertical (roughly 1.5x magnification)
no crop for NGC7000

• did you reposition your camera for each shot in a stack?

no, just perform precise calibration at sunset and put the camera on the tripod

• why did you use as many as 7 or 8 45s exposures? whereas you could have done it in fewer exposures (at 200mm exposures up to 110-300s are possible depending on the declination).

In order to reduce the signal/noise ratio. Unfortunately, I was not able to get good results beyond 45s exposures.

• why did you decide on ISO1600?

2 reasons:

• up to 1600 ISO no in-camera raw noise reduction
• light pollution is still present even at 50km from the big city (@12800 the sensor was completely saturated)

• did you focus at infinite? (focus is critical since wide open aperture giving small depth of field)

Using the live-view function, indeed it's the most critical part of the process.

Tx! Wim

--
Belgium, GMT+1

--
Belgium, GMT+1

 

[Gmbal]

Imagine that the light you caught started its voyage towards us some 2.5 million years ago and finally ended up inside your K5... That is some old light you got there.

 

[Jarda_Houdek]

Great! I can't wait to get my O-GPS1. The andromeda galaxy is superb!
--

Through a Pentax Limited prime things may appear sharper than they actually are...
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/jaroslavhoudek

 

[stephp]

Thanks

Great! I can't wait to get my O-GPS1. The andromeda galaxy is superb!
--

Through a Pentax Limited prime things may appear sharper than they actually are...
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/jaroslavhoudek

 

[stephp]

One more: Messier 33, the Triangle Galaxy





stack of 40 images @ 60sec - 1600ISO - DA*200/2.8 stopped down to f/4

so so sky conditions: haziness, high light pollution, object at 25-35° above skyline
mag. limit ~ 16.0

 

[Gmbal]

Amazing!