First attempt at Orion Nebula 55mm untracked

This is the first time that I have managed to see Orion since April. Where I normally stay, there is a hill towards the south, and thus often I cannot see Orion.

It was done at 6 second exposure at 1600 ISO. I now know that 10 seconds would have been the limit, just wondering how much better the extra 4 seconds would have been.

Comments and criticism would be appreciated. I don't have any form of tracking, but may think of trying to make a barn door tracker.

Forgot to mention that it was extremely cold outside. Also stack of 21 at 6 seconds each, ISO 1600 and on a tripod. There were 15 darks as well. f/5.6

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Stars are all still quite round at 6s, so 10s might have been do-able, but I'm not sure it would have made a great deal of difference to be honest. I'll have to try this with my 50mm f/2.5 lens, as I really miss astrophotography.

Adrena1in wrote in post #11623904
Stars are all still quite round at 6s, so 10s might have been do-able, but I'm not sure it would have made a great deal of difference to be honest. I'll have to try this with my 50mm f/2.5 lens, as I really miss astrophotography.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to try extra long exposures, there was some thin cloud. I am happy at my first attempt though, although I will learn to increase the exposure time. I am sure with a barn door mount, I will get longer exposures.

well I can show you what about 70 images stacked looks like at various speeds and iso at 55mm on my t2i.

I dont know the exact number of pictures for each setting but I do know it came to a little over 5 mins of exposure. My max was 10seconds at iso 1600, then i went down to 8 seconds at iso 3200 then 4 seconds at iso 3200 at 55mm. All i had was a tripod and trigger release. Here is a cropped picture

Thanks for the pictures Chad. The 10 second ISO 1600 looks promising, although I would like to know that the f number was for your lens. I only have the kit lens and due to an accident, that is the only lens that I can have. It's stuck. So, that has a minimum of f/4.6 at 18mm, otherwise f/5.6 at 55mm. The 350d's highest ISO rating is 1600.

Next time I get a chance, I will have a go at longer exposure times.

That's it, as soon as there's a clear night at home I'll go out and see what my 50mm f/2.5 can do, and what sort of time it takes before the star-trailing becomes too much. I'm also seriously thinking about making a simple Barndoor Tracker, as I don't have any sort of tracking options anymore.

Adrena1in wrote in post #11630536
That's it, as soon as there's a clear night at home I'll go out and see what my 50mm f/2.5 can do, and what sort of time it takes before the star-trailing becomes too much. I'm also seriously thinking about making a simple Barndoor Tracker, as I don't have any sort of tracking options anymore.

You might be able to squeeze a little more then 10seconds, with that lens. I made a barn door tracker and well...... i made a manual one.... make it motorized unless you have a steady hand and can do the 1 min rotation lol. imma just wait till i get my scope and i can piggy back it lol

naddieuk wrote in post #11630483
Thanks for the pictures Chad. The 10 second ISO 1600 looks promising, although I would like to know that the f number was for your lens. I only have the kit lens and due to an accident, that is the only lens that I can have. It's stuck. So, that has a minimum of f/4.6 at 18mm, otherwise f/5.6 at 55mm. The 350d's highest ISO rating is 1600.

Next time I get a chance, I will have a go at longer exposure times.

no problem!, I was using the 55-250mm lens at 55mm when i took it, the f/ was at f/4. Ive shot orion a few times and what has helped me out tremendously is finding a dark place to shoot. I hate that about your camera though, still a good pic you took. im a big fan of orion. Im hoping here soon to get that 50mm f1.4 or 1.8 and have a go at it.