Lagoon Nebula (M8) first try!

This was one of my first attempts with my new Sky Watcher Star Adventurer. I was object hopping on my first good night out so there wasn't much data to work with (I'm a total noob anyways). I stacked 15 light frames with no darks etc. Exposure was 15s at ISO 1600 with my 400mm f5.6 on an unmodified 7D (full frame no cropping). I opened the DSS file in photoshop and played with curves for a bit, then I brought it back in to light room and messed around some more.

A question for the more experienced AP folk, what are you aiming for with your final colours/white balance etc? Do people try to copy Hubble images or is it personal taste?

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/vB9S​PL

This is damned impressive, first attempt or not. Well done.

I have to agree with what Mark said. That's a beautiful image.

Incredible results! Good job!

Allan.L wrote in post #17628464
A question for the more experienced AP folk, what are you aiming for with your final colours/white balance etc? Do people try to copy Hubble images or is it personal taste?

First, That's a fine first attempt. It's way better than my 21st attempt was.
Second, to answer your question. I try to adjust so the sky is as dark as possible and for the colors I try to match known professional images. Of course no two of those are alike so it's really just a ballpark area you try to get to.

Thanks everyone! I'm itching to get out again.

Thanks for the tips SiriusDoggy!

Very nice capture and editing Allen . Really liking the framing also . Keep on posting .

The wide view looks great!

Sorry I am new at forum, do you shoot those with telescopes? Can you suggest one for me?

chaturanga wrote in post #17641421
Sorry I am new at forum, do you shoot those with telescopes? Can you suggest one for me?

Welcome to the forum.
The camera/lens combo is mentioned in the original post. The trick is the Skywatcher tracker that allows the long telephoto lens to actually track the sky to allow the long time exposure needed for such a shot.
If you are brand new to the idea of astrophotography I would suggest starting with simple wide-angle star trails and stacking images. Lots of samples around here and plenty of people to help.

Nicely done Allan! What is the maximum sub length you have tried with the 400mm and the star adventurer?

I have gone as long as a minute but it had a bit of elongation. When I checked the polar scope again my alignment was clearly off, I think minute long subs shouldn't be a problem. I had only tried alignment twice before that (briefly) so I'm still a rank amateur.

I also think I need a sturdier tripod!

I've managed two minutes with the 135L on a 550D so far. As with anything I think the more I polar align the easier it will get, plus the balance thing can't be understated, I initially struggled to get over 30 seconds until I sorted my balance issues out! Did you get the star adventurer bundle?

OK I had a different post with:

I was thinking about buying an Eos-m and getting a conversion to full spectrum and then purchasing a couple filters...an IR and a visible h alpha filter. My goal is to be able to have fun with IR and be able to take better photos of the milky way and some nebulae. My question is would the converted eos-m and a 100-400 let me take photos of galaxies or nebulae? Does a visible h alpha filter improve the look of the Milky Way...does full spectrum for that matter? Is this worth doing?

Looking at your result it would seem that eos-m with a 100-400 definitely could take pictures of nebula…I would assume with full spectrum conversion and h alpha I would get a couple stops better and I could use ISO 6400 (as a start) and with 4 stops better total could decrease the exposure to 1-2 seconds and could take a photo without the tracker…

This photo would be an important proof of concept for my wife to allow me to then purchase something like Sky Watcher Star Adventurer!!

I wouldn't recommend the EOS-M. Does it even do bulb exposures? It's not known for being very clean at higher ISO #'s either. Better off saving a bit and getting a 60Da. IMHO