thinker

With Stellarium I just noticed that the moon illuminations were 72% (not 64%) and 80% . After processing the stacks for each day, there appeared to be a minor difference in contrast, but the OIII o ...

[...] Read noise is a sensor property , so NR definitely off . While I’m still a beginner (but perhaps not ‘complete’ beginner), my approach (for now) is that blown-out stars is a ‘feature’. There ...

While it doesn't answer you specific 'Best MFT lens' question, Aurora Photography by Roger N. Clark should provide you with extremely valuable (general) info for your expedition..

[...] At ISO 8000 a text pops up saying ‘ Extension ’ (but no different colour that I can notice), and the read noise curve becomes completely flat at 1.6 electrons after ISO 6400. Which (combined) ...

[...] Yes, a big jump in QE, but even bigger dive in read noise at ISO 6400 which is now my favourite ISO! Wei-Hao Wang just posted his thoughts at the Cloudy place about Canon 5D2 versus Nikon 800 ...

The Olympus E-PL6 doesn’t seem to be there, but E-PL5 and E-PL7 are both there, and they are both very similar ( both QE of 59%), so I don’t think it is unreasonable to assume that the E-PL6 is in ...

Thank you! The potential gain of being able to image in moonlight was so much larger than the cost of a potential failure and selling the filters with a small loss. I got carried away when I began ...

Thank you for the kind words! Efficiency and more time required for imaging is indeed the central argument against using narrowband filters with DSLRs and other OSC cameras. However, when you ...

Thank you! No, I didn’t use filters that caused the vignetting. I wrote ‘ TS 0.79 + Metabones 0.71 causing severe vignetting ’, which means that I used a 0.79x reducer/flattener and then added a ...

Thank you for the kind words! The PE (in isolation) may be a strong contributor, but high PE may (I’m just thinking loud here) correlate with a higher-quality sensor with low read noise and ‘what not’.

I’ve read that narrowband Ha filter is a “complete waste of money” with stock, unmodified DSLR cameras. But last Wednesday and Thursday (Nov 6 and 7) the moon was 64% and 80% (average) while I ...

While I did read your concern about weight due to lugging the gear to and from the yard/park, I wonder if handling/lifting the 17+kg EQ6-R is part of the concern? If it is, don’t even think about ...

' Opacity ' adjustment of the top (duplication) layer, right?

Thank You! An absolutely lovely and effective ‘fix’ for people not-too-fond-of-PP like myself. A quick-and-dirty (beginner’s) test-run below. BTW (for others reading), I’ve noted that during this ...

The 'Use Photo' method does not appear to work at all with my un modified D5300 either. Try Measure / “Measuring a Value for Preset White Balance” instead of 'Use Photo' if you haven't already. ...

Yes, I’ve read about automation in the imaging process. But if one (like me) has to/wants to travel to a dark site or doesn’t want to leave the gear unattended outside the house, it isn’t that ...

Very nice! Good to see that it is possible to spend money on this hobby! ( irony ) I just hope it (this hobby) can't become time-consuming and addictive! ( irony #2 )

Thank you for the feedback! I can see what tricks the mind was playing me.. Talking about the mind, some weeks ago I tried using red light (too bright, I know) when imaging, for the first (and ...

I agree with Alen. Check FAQ in Polemaster User Manual #8 ( all four points). If it was a tracking error and not a PA-alignment error, the star trails should follow the rotation with the RA axis ...

I sent it to Rawtherapee where I applied a 'huge' amount of saturation (but not max) and also 'considerable' amount of contrast, both on the exposure tab, just to test. The result does not look ...