Milkyway nightscapes

The Moon and Venus setting under the arch of the Milky Way last night. Panorama taken from Wivenhoe Dam just west of Brisbane.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mnW​7iV

S.R.M. wrote in post #19282053
The Moon and Venus setting under the arch of the Milky Way last night. Panorama taken from Wivenhoe Dam just west of Brisbane.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mnW​7iV Moon and Venus under the Milky Way by Stephen Mudge, on Flickr

^^ Is that really at ISO 32000? Wow. Impressive work. How did you handle the noise, or perhaps it wasn't an issue? Thanks,

One more from the Maker of Peace statue. Question: I have some oversaturated purple stars / pixels. Any thoughts on how to handle? Did I over-saturate this image? Thanks!

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mo9​MxS

GlimmerMan wrote in post #19282192
One more from the Maker of Peace statue. Question: I have some oversaturated purple stars / pixels. Any thoughts on how to handle? Did I over-saturate this image? Thanks!

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mo9​MxS (2021-0904)-MakerOfPeace-XT3-700-Mean Min Hor Noise by Super Nobody, on Flickr

Love the image even with the purple. Could it be purple fringing? What lens was used?

Dunkery Beacon, highest point on Exmoor, Somerset, UK

GlimmerMan wrote in post #19282190
^^ Is that really at ISO 32000? Wow. Impressive work. How did you handle the noise, or perhaps it wasn't an issue? Thanks,

No, that is my mistake... it was actually 3200 iso I had to enter the details manually because there was no EXIF in the stitched panorama. I'll fix that now.

Eddie wrote in post #19282280
Love the image even with the purple. Could it be purple fringing? What lens was used?

This image is with a 12mm Roko. That's a good thought about fringing. I went back and, with some masking, pulling down the purples outside the eye. I'm gonna check out noise reduction options, too.

Ok Ok! Last one from this shoot. I'll stop milking it! But here's a fisheye take on the scene. Had a bit of trouble processing it because it wasn't as bright or clear as the 12mm. Cheers!

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com​/gp/glimmer_man/Pm1C76

Astro can be tough!

I'm convinced there just really isn't a one size fits all setup. It's either the lens, the camera, light pollution, lack of sleep, etc...

Nice job and atleast you know how that lens will behave for future use

GlimmerMan wrote in post #19283380
Ok Ok! Last one from this shoot. I'll stop milking it! But here's a fisheye take on the scene. Had a bit of trouble processing it because it wasn't as bright or clear as the 12mm. Cheers!

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com​/gp/glimmer_man/Pm1C76 (2021-0904)-MakerOfPeace-XT3-258 copy by Super Nobody, on Flickr

Hello,

I am new to this forum and have questions regarding taking pictures of the Milkyway nightscapes because I want to do it in October at Anza Borego SP camp (SoCal desert). How to setup in R6 using with 15-35 f2.8? Thanks for help.

Canonlover58 wrote in post #19285697
Hello,

I am new to this forum and have questions regarding taking pictures of the Milkyway nightscapes because I want to do it in October at Anza Borego SP camp (SoCal desert). How to setup in R6 using with 15-35 f2.8? Thanks for help.

Hey, welcome. Start off with focus at infinity at 15mm for wider field, iso 3200 or 6400 and go for 15 seconds. If you are confident to manual focus on a bright start, try that. Have a play with settings and or time of exposure depending how they look. You can also stack shots. Take 10 shots and combine them in software like Sequator for pc or Starry Star Stacker for mac. Stacking will reduce noise.

I shoot a lot at iso 10k on my Sony a7iii with Zeiss Batis 18mm at f2.8

Looking forward to seeing your shots.

General rules:

- Put camera in to live mode and use the digital zoom on the brightest star(s) and focus manually until they are sharpest on screen.

- Divide 500 by focal length, this is max exposure length for a full frame. For crop it's different but the below should help:

FF sensor * 500 / focal length = exposure time
500 / 15mm = 33.33 seconds

Crop sensor * 500 / (focal length * crop)
500 / (15mm * 1.6) = 20.83

- Shoot at your widest aperture to start so you can find the ISO that gives you the exposure you are looking for.

From there, you might try closing the aperture one full stop while increasing ISO one full stop. During post processing, compare the wide open shots vs stopped down aperture to see how it might have affected sharpness of the stars.

And don't forget to turn off in-camera noise reduction (!).
I never knew, until very recently, why it took my LE shots so long to process in the camera...

My favorite on-line info outside of POTN is this fellow from New Zealand: tb-photography.co.nz Thomas Busby.
He has cheat sheets for lens that give a starting point. Top rate images and top rate content.

The Perseid Shower didn't work out for me, but the hotel where I stayed had a dark sky area and on-site decorations, like this windmill.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mxw​7H1