Astrobobo
Messier 31 on negative film (2)
This is a SINGLE 90 min exposure of Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy, on Fuji 200 negative (repackaged Kodak Gold 200). It is the same photo as in my previous post here www.flickr.com/photos/31952750@N08/54034683405/in/datepos... but this time a quality scan done with Nikon Coolscan 4000 ED. Color and details are much better. Taken with my Pentax 105 SDP apo refractor, 670 mm focal length, Nikon F80 camera.
Of course the digital photos of Andromeda Galaxy can pick out more detail, but...I wanted to go "back to roots" with analog astrophotography. This was previously done by manually correcting guiding errors by looking at a guiding star through an eyepiece with illuminated reticle (no tracking is perfect!), but now I also wanted to try new technology (digital guding camera and appropriate software) that makes this much easier. I used the software and digital camera for precise polar alignment, framing the object, focusing and autoguiding (automatic guiding corrections) and then replacing my Nikon D5500 with the analog Nikon F80. It works perfectly, I can hardly wait to try more targets! Of course, for a successful photo a dark sky is needed. This was taken from a dark sky site near Čavlovica, Croatia.
Messier 31 on negative film (2)
This is a SINGLE 90 min exposure of Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy, on Fuji 200 negative (repackaged Kodak Gold 200). It is the same photo as in my previous post here www.flickr.com/photos/31952750@N08/54034683405/in/datepos... but this time a quality scan done with Nikon Coolscan 4000 ED. Color and details are much better. Taken with my Pentax 105 SDP apo refractor, 670 mm focal length, Nikon F80 camera.
Of course the digital photos of Andromeda Galaxy can pick out more detail, but...I wanted to go "back to roots" with analog astrophotography. This was previously done by manually correcting guiding errors by looking at a guiding star through an eyepiece with illuminated reticle (no tracking is perfect!), but now I also wanted to try new technology (digital guding camera and appropriate software) that makes this much easier. I used the software and digital camera for precise polar alignment, framing the object, focusing and autoguiding (automatic guiding corrections) and then replacing my Nikon D5500 with the analog Nikon F80. It works perfectly, I can hardly wait to try more targets! Of course, for a successful photo a dark sky is needed. This was taken from a dark sky site near Čavlovica, Croatia.