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Archive 2014 · 5D3 astro settings

skid00skid00
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 5D3 astro settings

As long as I'm posting here, I'd also like to share my findings shooting astro from a suburban back yard...

I have had excellent results shooting at f2.8, 20s, at ISO 8,000. I then reduce exposure in LR to taste. I have previously shot at 3200, but just didn't pick up those fast-moving meteorites. Only the most bright couple of stars show some blowout at this exposure.

I noticed that when the stars trail a bit at 20 seconds (vs 15s), that LR gives more consistent star color. This may be due to atmospheric distortion, or the noise reduction action on pixel-sized stars...

With minimal NR, ISO 8,000 looks better than 3200 with optimal NR, with the additional light allowing negative EV in post, and they also better hide impulse noise at the pixel level.

The 5D3 at 8,000 is way better than my very old 1Ds at 1250!

Aug 23, 2014 at 04:28 PM

Paul Tessier
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 5D3 astro settings

I gave up on the high iso stuff and made a barn door style astro tracker. The materials were only a few dollars at the Depo. A Google search will reveal plenty of plans for them. I shoot 4 minutes at iso 800. One exposure tracked and one still if there is foreground and combine the two. The noise color and ability to tweak the file are all better this way

Aug 23, 2014 at 05:02 PM

skid00skid00
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 5D3 astro settings

A tracker won't work for meteorites, though. Maybe when I decide to use a 400mm for deep-sky...

Aug 23, 2014 at 05:04 PM

Klaus Priebe
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 5D3 astro settings

skid00skid00 wrote:
A tracker won't work for meteorites, though. Maybe when I decide to use a 400mm for deep-sky...

Why wouldn't a tracker work for meteorites? A long tracking exposure would catch them as well as start trail method, I have shot 8-10 minute exposures at iso 800 with very good results on a tracking mount. Lower iso and longer exposures gives you a better file to work with. Stacking several exposures together gives you images like this.

Aug 23, 2014 at 10:03 PM

dgdg
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 5D3 astro settings

Skidoo,

Glad you are enjoying astro images with the 5D3. It is a great camera.
You didn't mention your focal length, so your exposure time for pin point stars does not mean much to others. I assume you are at 24mm? For untracked imaging, most people will pick exposure time = 500/focal length.

Suburbs are full of light pollution, so things will only look fair at best. It's good practice though. The ideal ISO for wide field images is actually determined by your histogram. Generally, you should aim for the histogram peak to be around 30% (in between the 20 and 40% markers). For more narrow fields like Klaus's wonderful image or very bright light pollution sources, this rule does not necessarily work but it is a good place to start. The key, like any image, is to use the histogram as an exposure guide.

Trackers are great for meteorites. I have wonderfully sharp meteorites in my tracked images. Never a bad one. One day I hope to catch a meteor shower radiant when the moon is dark and skies are clear. Stacking all the meteors into one image will be easy since the field of view never changes with each image.

David

Aug 23, 2014 at 10:36 PM

skid00skid00
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 5D3 astro settings

Most of the meteorites I have captured required 3200+ ISO to show up. This is due to the extremely short duration of light hitting a given pixel as the meteorite's image passes thru it. And since I'm shooting from a suburban location, there's too much light pollution to allow long-duration exposures.

Aug 24, 2014 at 12:08 AM

skid00skid00
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 5D3 astro settings

David, yes-24mm @ 15-20 seconds. Good catch.

Aug 24, 2014 at 12:10 AM

dgdg
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 5D3 astro settings

skid00skid00 wrote:
Most of the meteorites I have captured required 3200+ ISO to show up. This is due to the extremely short duration of light hitting a given pixel as the meteorite's image passes thru it. And since I'm shooting from a suburban location, there's too much light pollution to allow long-duration exposures.

It's not your camera of course. Light pollution is as the name implies. Just find darker skies nearby if you can. Milky Way, meteorites, stars - they all like dark skies. I can capture all of them at 800 iso with a tracker. You will too. Put a general location in your profile.

David

Aug 24, 2014 at 11:16 PM

DmitriM
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 5D3 astro settings

Klaus Priebe wrote:
Why wouldn't a tracker work for meteorites? A long tracking exposure would catch them as well as start trail method, I have shot 8-10 minute exposures at iso 800 with very good results on a tracking mount. Lower iso and longer exposures gives you a better file to work with. Stacking several exposures together gives you images like this.

Wonderful image Klaus!
When you say stacking, do you mean taking different exposures of the same object(area) and then merging into 1 picture in the HDR kind of way? How would 1 image look without stacking?

Aug 25, 2014 at 12:40 AM

dgdg
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 5D3 astro settings

Stacking typically combines multiple images at the same exposure to increase the signal to noise ratio.
For bright images with a high dynamic range one can blend multiple images just like we do with traditional landscapes.
My casual reviews have not found an astro processing program that automatically does both at the same time.

Aug 25, 2014 at 06:12 AM

Kenneth Farver
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 5D3 astro settings

for what you call stacking do you use the "average" item in photoshop.
I have heard you can take multiple shots at the same exposure and then average them as each time the camera shoots the noise will move about within the frame. This average then seems to pretty much remove the noise in the final image.
Is this the same as what you are saying by stacking?
Thanks for your time.

Aug 25, 2014 at 07:00 AM

dgdg
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 5D3 astro settings

No, I don't use PS for 'noise' stacking. I use dedicated stacking software, then load the stacked image into PS. Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) is free and works well. There are others out there of course. I found astro image processing to have a steep learning curve - I want all the detail and structure without it being too saturated and crunchy. I think I have finally settled in with a consistent DSS/PS workflow for wide field image processing (ie milky way) that works for my tastes. Finding and blending a good foreground is the most difficult part for me now.

Yes, that is what is meant by stacking an astro image to reduce noise. I don't know how the software technically works but the principal you mentioned is correct. Noise is random, signal is constant. By analyzing each image, noise can be removed for the resulting composite image.

Since we are sharing images, here is my latest stacked Milky Way shot using a tracker, taken locally with dark skies and a new moon.
24mm, ISO 800, exposure 3.75 minutes x 6, f/2.8.
Twilight foreground from the same date, location and direction was blended with the final sky image.

David

http://davidsphotography.zenfolio.com/img/s2/v73/p908637384-5.jpg

Aug 25, 2014 at 07:23 AM

Paul Tessier
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 5D3 astro settings

Not only does processing of astro images have a steep learning curve but the final results are highly, highly subjective. Just look at the two images here, both very good and although the FOV is different the color, contrast, apparent star size and effects chosen by the artist are extremely different.

Aug 25, 2014 at 09:58 AM

voltaire
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · 5D3 astro settings

Amazing images, Klaus and David.

Aug 25, 2014 at 10:00 AM

Kisutch
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · 5D3 astro settings

Skid00 can you post examples of your images shot at ISO 8000 and 3200 (or point me to some)? I have some night shots in mind for a project, where tracking is not possible because i want to light the foreground. It'd be great to see what your 5D3 is giving you at 3200 vs. 8000, in terms of illumination and noise in the night sky. I'm weighing an upgrade from the 7D. Thanks

Aug 25, 2014 at 05:58 PM


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