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Archive 2016 · D500 for Astronomy

  
 
morrismike
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · D500 for Astronomy


Andromena was in the direction of the full moon and town. I just pointed it straight up in no particular direction. This was a stack with 600mm f/4 having 80 seconds total exposure (around 100 shots) at 6400 iso. I could do more exposure at iso 800 but I'd like to get andromena if I do that. Tell me exactly what to shoot for you and I'll do it. I'd like to learn as much as you'd like to find out about D500.





80 seconds exposure iso 6400 600mm f/4




Aug 20, 2016 at 12:07 AM
morrismike
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · D500 for Astronomy


I tried getting Saturn, but a 600mm f/4 with a 1.4 TCIII does create a capture of saturn with enough pixels to do anything with. I suppose I could use a 2.0 TCIII at 100 iso and stack about a 100 shots but I'd only have a few thousand pixels of Saturn.

I have a 1000mm nikkor reflex I could use with a TC300 and Nikon 1 V3. That might get me to 10,000 pixels of Saturn.





massive crop of saturn




Aug 23, 2016 at 08:52 PM
ljkamler
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · D500 for Astronomy


Here are three tracked images with the D500 and two with the D810 for comparison. Contrast, color, and chromatic abberation corrections in Lightroom. No noise reduction. No in-camera noise reduction. Base 25 sharpening. Exported as full resolution jpegs.

I was surprised at how good the D500 files were. I'm used to shooting shorter exposures at much high ISOs for astro. At full resolution, noise levels seems fairly close between the two bodies. I don't know if the additional cost of the D500 is worth it over a D7200. I would guess the D7200 would perform fairly closely. But if you also have a need for the D500's AF, or just want a build/layout like the D810, then I don't think you can go wrong with the D500.

If you want to mess with the D500 raw files, I can upload them to dropbox and send you a link.

LJK_2282 by Louis Kamler, on Flickr

D500, 50mm, f/2.8, ISO 800, 180 sec

LJK_2283 by Louis Kamler, on Flickr

D500, 50mm, f/2.8, ISO 800, 180 sec

LJK_2284 by Louis Kamler, on Flickr

D500, 50mm, f/2.8, ISO 400, 360 sec

LJK_5191 by Louis Kamler, on Flickr

D810, 50mm, f/2.8, ISO 800, 180 sec

LJK_5192 by Louis Kamler, on Flickr

D810, f/3.5, ISO 400, 360 sec



Aug 30, 2016 at 08:56 AM
morrismike
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · D500 for Astronomy


The 810 pixel density is not that far off from 500s and the 500 has the latest "secret sauce". It's not surprising the pictures turned out so well.


Aug 30, 2016 at 09:34 AM
ljkamler
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · D500 for Astronomy


Here's a D500 astro image that was a little more involved. I believe this ended up being 40 sub frames at 90 seconds each, iso 1600, 600mm focal length, 80mm refractor, 10 dark frames, 15 flats. I originally hoped for 90 frames, but had to throw a good amount out due to some slight trailing. There is some noise in the lighter portions, but nothing I'm concerned about. I hope to get more frames, autoguided, to add to the stack in the future.

andromeda by Louis Kamler, on Flickr



Sep 01, 2016 at 06:53 PM
Jawnath1n
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · D500 for Astronomy


Man, these shots are so cool. As a 'astronomy' and 'space' enthusiast (I watch a lot of Star Trek) I am envious of these photos. I gotta figure out how to do this. I don't have any astro tracking devices, just a camera and a tripod.

Is there a basic guide for someone new? Looks like the general idea is to shoot up in the sky with low iso, long shutter times, with many frames, then layering them together to get the exposure right? Do you guys stack via photoshop or a different tool?



Sep 02, 2016 at 12:42 PM
ljkamler
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · D500 for Astronomy


If you want to go the low iso/long exposure route, you'll definitely need a tracking device. The Astrotrac is a good portable option. The Vixen Polarie might be even more portable and cheaper. I recently just went from the Astrotrac to a telescope and equatorial mount with the telescope mounted on my DSLR like a lens with adapters. You could also just go with the equatorial mount and mount your DSLR/lens on it without a telescope. That option might actually end up being cheaper than the Atrotrac and just as good for tracking.

You can also get into astrophotography without a tracking device. Orion is a great target with a cheap 50mm. You can shoot 10 sec exposures at f1.8-2.8, iso 5000-10000 depending on your DSLR. Grab 30 or more frames and stack them. If you're on windows, I believe deep sky stacker works pretty well and is free. I use Nebulosity on a mac. You can also stack in photoshop, but there might be limitations depending on what version you have. I've used the median stacking tool early on with decent results. The benefit of stacking in the most basic terms is that it gives you more information to play with during processing and dramatically reduces noise. There's a steep learning curve with astrophotography, but it's a lot of fun when you put together an image of something that is barely detectable with the naked eye.



Sep 02, 2016 at 01:05 PM
Jawnath1n
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · D500 for Astronomy


Thanks for that!

I have a D600 and D500, so I have a few options on sensor and format. I also have a 50mm 1.8G, which is a 75mm FOV on a D500, is that alright or do you recommend a 50mm FOV? I could use a 35 1.8G on DX that'll get me right about there.

How do you deal with the noise at 5000+ ISO?

I primarily use a Mac but I can boot into Windows. I will look into both Nebulosity and and Deep Sky Stacker.

Thanks again.



Sep 02, 2016 at 01:22 PM
Todd
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · D500 for Astronomy



ljkamler wrote:
If you want to go the low iso/long exposure route, you'll definitely need a tracking device. The Astrotrac is a good portable option. The Vixen Polarie might be even more portable and cheaper. I recently just went from the Astrotrac to a telescope and equatorial mount with the telescope mounted on my DSLR like a lens with adapters. You could also just go with the equatorial mount and mount your DSLR/lens on it without a telescope. That option might actually end up being cheaper than the Atrotrac and just as good for tracking.

You can also get into astrophotography without a
...Show more

Thanks for the samples! I will look into it more this evening on the computer. As for the tracking mounts, I have the AstroTrac and I have gotten some great results from it. I was just curious to see how the D500 was going to handle noise at ISO 400 and 800 for example. You produced a fairly nice Andromeda galaxy photograph. I have a good one myself but I did not take any dark frames or any flats it was just a single eight minute exposure with a Nikon 500mm mirror lens. When using lightroom to process my photos, the lens profile is usually in the software and flats are no longer needed. I appreciate your Milky Way photos to those look pretty good. Keep them coming, however I'm probably not going to purchase the D500. At one point I was considering it but now I think I will pass. Here is my Andromeda galaxy photograph Along with a couple of more. The Horsehead was with the Nikon 500mm and all of these photographs are single exposures.



















Sep 02, 2016 at 01:46 PM
Todd
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · D500 for Astronomy




ljkamler wrote:
Here are three tracked images with the D500 and two with the D810 for comparison. Contrast, color, and chromatic abberation corrections in Lightroom. No noise reduction. No in-camera noise reduction. Base 25 sharpening. Exported as full resolution jpegs.

I was surprised at how good the D500 files were. I'm used to shooting shorter exposures at much high ISOs for astro. At full resolution, noise levels seems fairly close between the two bodies. I don't know if the additional cost of the D500 is worth it over a D7200. I would guess the D7200 would perform fairly closely. But if you also
...Show more

Good shots. The Milky Way is a little bit on the blue side for my taste, I would add some warmth to it personally but that's just me. I certainly appreciate all of your efforts and sharing your awesome photographs with us and with me.

Todd



Sep 02, 2016 at 01:49 PM
ljkamler
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · D500 for Astronomy


75mm FOV should be fine. I'm pretty sure I cropped a fair bit when I shot Orion with a 50mm on FF. The process of stacking will actually do quite a bit in removing noise. Much better than just trying to remove the noise with software. I was actually blown away by what you can accomplish with stacking the first time I tried it.


Sep 02, 2016 at 03:07 PM
ljkamler
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · D500 for Astronomy


No problem. I would typically go with a warmer version as well, but didn't really spend more than a couple minutes running these through lightroom. I might go out tonight an shoot something around 100mm. Awesome Horsehead and Orion. Looking forward to those guys making their appearance in the coming months.


Sep 02, 2016 at 03:12 PM
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