SingAstro

hi guy,im a newbie here wanna shoot star with my dslr.i'm using a canon 7D...do i need to modifity my camera?wat equiment i need to buy??any pro here willing to share?or meet-up for a pratical session?=)

Hi uenuei,

i'm sure you are eager to take shots of the heavens as they are so beautiful and magnificent! However as I have started this hobby a couple of months ago, I have not realised that actually trying to snap with a camera on a telescope is not just ABC. Its easy only if you spend time reading and learning the correct steps and sequence. I have spent time reading in the library again after not stepping in for 15 years of my life, looking for ways and skills to improve my skills over the internet, and seeking advices from experience friends who has been in the hobby for a long time. Of course, i was once told, theory without applications is foolish and true enough by just reading i couldn't fully understand the information that was in the book/net.
What i may propose as did by Gary to me is to read a book like Backyard Astronomy or borrow some from the library. You dun need expensive gears to start observing the skies but u will need to conjure more dough if you wishes to proceed to Astrophotography.

There are many groups within Singastro that ventures to different parts of Malaysia, for example like Punggai, Sedili and Mersing.
The NUS also has a astronomy club and from time to time they do conduct local sessions in the university thou i have not been there yet.
Gary also conduct free Astro sideway in Toa Payoh whenever its clear in the skies, last week i went to Rlow's Tiong Bahru to have a taste of his 15" Dob.

Simple astronomy terms like Refractor, APO, CAT, Mak, New, Dob was foreign to me when i first joined the forum. Slowly i got to learn more and bit by bit everytime. Then came along GEMs, Alt Azi, Goto, Polar allignment, drift allignments, pre processing, post processing... is just only a fraction of what i need to learn.

I'm not sure what is your level of understanding in Astro, but like a good friend of mine sometimes reminded me to slow down when i subconsciously advance to0 fast and ended up learning nil on the ropes of astro.

Do join local groups up north to malaysia to experience how its like to see good skies under ideal conditions. Even without a scope, a bino will blow your mind away when you see the details in everypart of the sky.

Regards,
Elton Shirox

Hi uenuei. Welcome to Singastro.

This article may be useful to get you started:
http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/forums/t/45250.aspx

Borrow and read astrophotography books in the library:
http://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/ (search using the term "astrophotography")

Digital SLR Astrophotography by Michael Covington is a good book:
http://goo.gl/PNEfS (google preview)

A practical meet-up session is indeed one of the fastest and most efficient way to learn about this subject matter.

Good luck and have fun!

Welcome to the "club"
Actually its not really that complicated. Don't expect magazine- quality pictures with basic equipment, but even a simple point-and-shoot (not to mention a fantastic Canon 7D) can take star photos enough to identify constellations without any special equipment except a tripod.
Basically the shorter your focal length (i.e. wider shot), the longer you can expose for before the stars start to move in the sky. So grab your widest lens (doesn't have to be a "premium" one),
1. Use a stable tripod (or a table and bean-bag/pillow/pile of books if you don't have a tripod),
2. Align it to the rough area of sky you want to snap (make sure no clouds or moon!),
3. MANUAL FOCUS,
4. Manual exposure mode (so you can control everything)
5. Set timer delay (important! To prevent your pressing action from shaking the photo)
then fire away! If you're using a non-premium lens, do stop it down a bit so the edges are reasonably sharp. Try 30s, 15s, 8s etc etc exposures until you hit the longest exposure you can get with sharp stars.
Using your camera's long exposure noise reduction will result in a pretty nice picture already, unless you're a pixel peeper

If you want a bit more advanced, then take maybe 30-100 pics of the same spot of sky (depending on how much time you have) and stack it in a program called "Deep Sky Stacker" (freeware) which will reduce your noise and increase some of the faint signals (faint stars)
That will definitely do the stars If you want to get more advanceed then the costs and complexity add up but this is a great and simple start

To show you what's possible with just a DSLR and non-pro lenses on a simple (actually rather unstable, cheapo) tripod:

This was my first pic, taken in New Zealand, using a Tamrom 18mm lens and 1min exposure on a simple photo tripod


And this was my first shot processed with DSS, a series of 5 sec exposures using a 50mm lens taken in light polluted Singapore, showing the constellation of Scorpio, part of Sagittarius, M6 and M7 open clusters.


Hope it helps!

thank for all the link and advice! bro cloud cover,why your star 1minute but no trail?

Because I was using an 18mm lens The smaller your focal length, the longer your exposure can be before trailing starts. So as you can see, taking "widefield" pictures is easier than taking telescopic pictures and cal also look nice.
Incidentally, the stars do appear smeared outwards - that's cos' I was using a non-premium lens (Tamron) and at that time I didn't know enough to stop down my lens to avoid this effect.
In the 50mm shot (a cheap prime lens), this effect is absent because I did stop down the lens.

cool!!!where will u recommend to shoot star in singapore?

Hey uenuei! Do join us for the Eunos session tomorrow if you can. Show you a pointer or two on astro-imaging!

rcj wrote:Hey uenuei! Do join us for the Eunos session tomorrow if you can. Show you a pointer or two on astro-imaging!

sure!!!!!give me a message at 97878151 k?thank alot!

Hi Cloud_cover, your shots are breathtaking. I'm taking pictures from my driveway, so I always have the same view of my neighbor's rooftop.

It's challenging to shoot with the streetlights, I've tried positioning my camera behind my wall or my bush to "hide" from the light noise, but it still affects the shot.

BTW, the first shot you posted (the one with the trees in NZ), do you still have the specs for it? 1 minute exposure on that. What F were u using? ISO at 200?

Do you have a favorite shooting place in Singapore? I'd like to try, but honestly, sometimes, parking myself out in the middle of the night, on the end of the street (cul de sac) which I did once, was pretty creepy. If someone were to mug me, I couldn't really call for help. Wonder if there's any nice safe spot in Singapore to shoot?

Thanks.