QUICK DASH TO SELE HAVN WITH SONY A7S and TAKUMAR 28MM F3.5

 I didn't know really what to expect at first, the day looked reasonably nice for autumn and evening sky looked quite cloudless ...so made a quick dash to Sele Havn to see if I can catch some stars maybe even Milkyway!

This actually 3 shots (Iso 3200, f3.5 and 15 secs) each a single exposure image. The 2 shots on top were stitched using Microsoft ICE, and the bottom image was PS'ed in later. Top 2 shots focussed on the foreground rocks.

 This is actually a composite of two images nicely separated by the bank of clouds moving in from the North Sea.

The bottom image is the same as the shot above, the top portion image was focussed at infinity to get sharp stars. At 15 secs there were start trails though not noticeable until magnified 200%.

As I was leaving the clouds from across the North Sea completely took over the sky.

Takumar 28mm f3.5 with lenscap and lenshood, the leather cases weren't actually part of the sale.

The output was quite good if I may say so myself. Other then the difficulty of composing on the viewfinder in the dark due to the dark screen as a result of maximum aperture of 3.5, so long as you have other source of light on the horizon, the task of composing is manageable.

At f3.5 there isn't any distortion of the stars observed. The were some vignetting at the extreme corner but it's nothing that cannot be fixed is post through "vignetting" or "light fall-off" corrections.

I think this lens ha spotential to complement my bag of tricks for night sky shooting. Coupled with the Star Adventurer tracker it could prove very usable on the coming months. 

If only we can deal with cloudy nights on the west coast ...

The night sky from the center of the city's light pollution

The night sky from the center of the city's light pollution.

Skywatcher EQM 35 Pro Skyscan Goto Mount

I thought the Skywatcher EQM35 Skyscan Goto Mount would be an ideal entry into nightsky imaging following the little that I have managed to get done with the Star Adventurer after 3 years of owning it. This larger mount would drag my reluctant sorry little ass into astrophotography slowly but surely.

EQM 35 will allow simple star tracking and nightsky photography with current DSLRs that I own with the added ease of Skyscan and Goto capabilities. And when I am done and ready with that it will also allow for more serious astrophotography with flatfield apochromatic ed triplet proper telescope attached to a DSLR for more dedicated astro imaging. That's the plan trajectory anyways, has been for the past 6-8 years.

After Star Adventurer, this heftier unit should be able to handle the use of the Sigma 300/2.8 and the EF400/4.0. The EF400/4.0 was originally purchased when it came out with the intention of picking up Orion's Nebula but was never actually tested on the Adventurer after some weight considerations. The EQM35 which is heftier is rated to be able to carry up to 10kg load so it might just be possible.

The completed package for observing with telescopes as well as imaging.

EQM 35 for nightsky tracking and imaging with DSLR.

The business end of star tracking.

The foldable travel tripod for the EQM35 mount, nifty folded size for travel when the need arises.

The above set up should be able to cover Milkyway widefield as well as deeper targets. With the Adventurer it may be slightly risky to use the long heavier SLR lenses and DSLR due to weight considerations, I'm sure how the motors would behave with larger load.

The following is possibly the route that will be taken for astro imaging if all goes well and according to plan:

Skywatcher Esprit 100ED Super APO Triplet Refractor (includes 3" focuser, 2" diagonal and finder scope with right angle viewer).

Field flattener

Adapter from field flattener to Canon EOS mount.

Canon EOS77 Astro APC camera wo IR cut Filter, 24 MP, Digic 7

And these hopefully will be able to target these as part of the earning curve to master going futher into astro imaging :

Andromeda

Orion's Nebula

Pleiades

Considering that they are only 7 days of clear sky in total with a dark night here in Norway, it'll be a while yet before these objects get their due coverage. Maybe the sun could also be a viable target, in that case a 150mm sun filter would be required. For  both the Sun and the Moon, a 2x Barlow might be useful to achieve 1100mm.

The night Aurora G2 Storm Never Came

It's not the first time all the fillibuster about the massive CME coming our way broken by one portral spread like wildfire by others got folks all excited about an aurora that might show all the way south to NYC. If it's gonna hit NYC it'll definitely be a big show in Stavanger, KP5 is an event, KP6 you can watch from your porch from anywhere in the city.

A few hours before nightfall doubts started to permeate. Then a couple of posts about how it might not actually take place at the estimited time. Even SolarHam put out a post about how the CME on Wednesday might be directed away from the earth and how it's travelling at slower speed that earlier projected.

Having stumbled upon aurora in Stavanger a few years back while photographing Milkyway in Sele, posted a timelapse of it on Stavanger Aurora Chasers (created by a friend who was excited about the phenomenon), I have experienced this anti-climax many times having relied purely on published CMEs and forecasts. After numerous instances of freezing under subzero temperatures in the oddest locations I've grown wary of predictions, and almost never relied on any of those aurora apps.

These days, I only go out if I've actually seen it myself or have seen photos of it being seen. No more predictions. I much more enjoy looking at the night sky with the stars and Milkyway. If there's aurora I'll record it. It cold sitting around waiting for an aurora in the middle of the night in winter. It's colder still if aurora never came.

All shots with EF50/1,2 on Canon 6D: WB=5000K, Curves tweaked in CaptureOne.

Reworking the starry night sky with post-processing

Ideally in order to get proper astro shots of the night sky in it's proper accepted colors you'd have to modify the camera by getting rid of the infra red filters in the camera (within the filter layers of the "sensor" construct) according the resulting images more reds. Mode-ing the camera costs money and at the same will render the camera useless for shooting normal daylight pictures. It will affect autofocussing which means relying more live lcd focussing.

I have been meaning to modify my Canon 6D for a while now however kept balking due to in my mind unjustifiable cost it'll incur and consequential limited daytime use. So I tweaked the images in post processing instead trying out different post processing flow combinations.

These are the last few shots of the Milkyway made in Nov 2018 in Fidgeland. I retweaked these sample images from RAW files in CaptureOne:

WB 3250
Tint 1.4
Highlight 0%
Shadow 50-60%
Clarity 45
Structure 45
Luminosity 80
Detail 20
Color 80

these settings reveal slightly the remaining reds in these images. The images are then exported in JPG and tweaked again in Photoshop. Here I ADJUST COLOR and boost Saturation to +50.

It's obvious that the results do not  come close to images from a moded camera but it's close enough for me ... the red of Barnard's Loop is faintly visible in the last image near Orion's Nebula, I'm chuffed just for that. Looking forward to more night shots in the mountain when Milkyway season kicks up again.

Image from CaptureOne after Raw Coversion Saved as JPEG

Images from PS after Adjust Color, Adjust Saturation.

Notes:
Barnard's Loop (catalogue designation Sh 2-276) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also contains the dark Horsehead and bright Orion nebulae. The loop takes the form of a large arc centered approximately on the Orion Nebula. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionizing the loop. APOD April 2005 below by WH Wang (U of Hawaii).

Clark Vision : Learn best practices, settings and processing tips for night photography here. The web is full of bad advice on night photography, but very simple methods for night photography and post processing can produce outstanding images.

Imaging at Vaulen Beach

Vaulen Beach is located only a stone's throw away down the hill from the house. Popular with residents in the area during the warmer months, in winter only dogwalkers come aroudn to walk their charge during the day.

It has perfect view East and NorthEast however with the amount of light pollution from nearby houses and streetlights the location is not on the top spot of most nightstalkers. I have attempted shooting here a few times but always get frustrated with the excessive lights. Also being popular with dogs and their walkers during the day, walking around at night around here carry certain risks. I brought back dog poo into the garage on one occasion courtesy of the front tire of the car.

Looking Northeast.

Star Adventurer pointed East.

Radio tower across the fjord.

Foggy Nights Stars from Vaulen

It's been foggy the past week, which makes the surroundings errily strange and funky in someways. I have been meaning to capture streetlights in heavy fog one of these days but haven't quite managed to do so just yet. Took the opportunity yesterday to pop by Vaulen beach on the way home from the post office.

With almost clear sky higher up, the fog added quite a rather nice atmosphere to the captured images. Some of the heavy LP in the area seemed nicely muted by the thick fog. I might have to go back to take advantage of the fog these next few days.

A patch of clear winter sky amidst light pollution

Winter typically holds very nice conditions for night sky imaging. Cold dry moisture free air affords quite amazing viewing as well as being superb for star photography. Bundled up adequately against the wind and cold the quiet late night can be invigorating. The only item that would make it  perfect would be the ability to switch the light pollution off. We are in the city afterall.

Canon 6D+EF50/1.2 @f/2.0+15secs+Iso400, Star Adventurer, stacked in Startrail

Canon 6D+EF50/1.2 @f/2.0+15secs+Iso400, Star Adventurer, stacked in Startrail

Sony A7S+Samyang 85/1.4@f/2.0+15secs+Iso500, Star Adventurer, stacked in Startrail

Sony A7S+FD35/2.0, single shot

Sony A7S+FD35/2.0, single shot

Sony A7S+Sigma 135/1.8 @f/2.0,1 secs, Iso 100, single shot

Sony A7S+Sigma 135/1.8 @f/2.0, 1 sec, Iso 100, single shot

And of course after many sessions of night sky imaging in the cold, the best stories has always been about the biggest one that got away. While fiddling with the settings on the camera a fireball whizzed by right above the city just to the side of me ... obviously not recorded on the camera. Another one of those Big Misses, if only ...