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Michael Lloyd
02-12-2009, 08:06 AM
Every now and then I point my 600 f4 up at night and see what I can capture. This is a shot of a nebula in Orion that is slightly visible to the naked eye when the seeing is good.

Camera: EOS 1DsMKiii (used the timer to trip the shutter because I didn't feel like dragging out the cable release.)
Lens: 600 f4L IS

Mounted on a tripod. Wimberly head.
Manual Mode. AWB. RAW format
ISO 1600
2s@ f4

At 2s there is some slight streaking (star trails). I elected to accept that over dealing with the noise at ISO 3200.

José Rodríguez
02-12-2009, 10:15 AM
Amazing. I didn´t know such results could be achived with a DSLR. Just stunning. My congrats!

Michael Lloyd
02-12-2009, 10:25 AM
Amazing. I didn´t know such results could be achived with a DSLR. Just stunning. My congrats!

DSLR sensors are pretty good these days. The image that I posted last night is a full frame shot. Here is a nearly full moon shot that is heavily cropped (also shot last night). All in all, still not too bad.

1DsMKIII Manual mode
600 f4L IS tripod mount

Slight amount of fill from the sun :)

ISO 100
1/50s @ f8

Roman Kurywczak
02-12-2009, 09:31 PM
Hey Michael,
You know I'm a huge fan of the night........so this was very well done!....and with the 600! You must live in a really dark area of Texas......no way i get that in Jersey! BTW.....I use the Mark 3 at ISO 6400 al the time......just needs extra PP......Orion would really pop even more then!

Michael Lloyd
02-12-2009, 10:55 PM
Hey Roman, I hauled my 200 f2 out and gave it a shot. I'm getting way too much motion for "real" astronomical photographs but you have to pixel peep to see the "wiggles" so I guess it's all good. I shot the Pleiades (Subaru aka Seven Sisters) too but I don't want to flood the thread. I also used my DMKIII but the motion blur was terrible. I should probably lock the mirror up. I never think about it. This shot is full frame.

1DsMKIII
ISO 3200
8.0s@ f2.0

Robert Amoruso
02-13-2009, 08:55 PM
Michael,

I think I like the second image best. The three bright stars diagonal long the top balance well with the nebula.

Michael Lloyd
02-15-2009, 11:14 AM
Thanks Robert,

I agree. Even if the viewer doesn't recognize this is the lower half of the constellation Orion (the 3 stars are called Orion's belt) the three stars seem to anchor the image and make it more interesting. Nebulae alone are cool if you know anything about astronomy but are kind of ho hum if you don't.

Thanks for the comment.

Michael