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Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253)

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Posts Made By: Jeff Hapeman

December 5, 2005 08:07 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

New image: NGC 1499 - California Nebula

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Gorgeous, Jose. Wonderful framing and great color.

Jeff

December 12, 2005 05:06 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Galaxy - IC 342

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Nice, Jim. I would go with a little less noise reduction--you are losing a lot of detail as a result here. I'd rather see some noise and retained detail than a super-smooth image.

Jeff

December 12, 2005 05:10 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Horsehead and Flame

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Very, very nice for a first attempt at RGB imaging. Thomas' explanation is correct--you do have a problem with refelection from the CCD back and forth with the coverslip. However, you also do have some slight CA in there, too. That Borg is not a perfect apochromat, and the halos around even the dimmer stars show that. All but the absolute best APOs will have that problem and you can just process it out. Takes a little extra work, that's all.

Great first RGB--one to be proud of.

Jeff

December 20, 2005 05:04 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Nikon D70s Vs. Canon REBEL xt

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Go with the Canon...not only is the noise lower at higher ISOs--and it's visibly lower--they also do much, much better in long exposures. The Nikons do very poor the longer the exposure goes.

Believe me--I tried and tried not to do it, but ended up switching all of my Nikon gear and over 20 years Nikon experience because the difference for astrophotography was that great....

Jeff

December 20, 2005 05:27 AM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

5D full frame question

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Alex did a really good job of answering your questions and gave you great information. I have used a 1Ds Mark II for wide-field astrophotography for almost a year, and have been using a my 5D a little since I got it in early October. The one big thing you will find is that astrophotorgraphy is the most unforgiving of all photography. Corner aberrations that are not visible in regular images will make the corners of astrophotos unusable.

For example, my fabulous Canon 24mm f/1.4L lens looks great wide open for all kinds of photography--but the stars are terribly astigmatic and suffer from coma in the corners. To mostly eliminate the effect, you have to stop down to f/4; it takes f/8 to totally eliminate it. On the other hand, I can also just crop the corners; I still crop off way less than a 20D does.

That said, I still have a modified 20D and a 20Da for astrophotography--because they are cheaper. The 1Ds Mark II and 5D are for landscapes and birds, etc. where FF has real advantages.

Jeff

December 27, 2005 04:54 AM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Mexican Jay

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Lovely image Cal, but a great story grin . My wife liked it, too. These are one of my favorite birds in southern AZ. Very personable and quite beautiful.

How do you like that 300/2.8? That is one lens I would like to add to my stable...

Jeff

December 27, 2005 06:24 AM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

my humble chickadee

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Mark,

That is a very nice image. I really like the snow, it adds to the mood. Believe me, I only post my best shots...some of them are so bad the birds won't sign the release forms 8O .

Jeff

December 30, 2005 06:28 PM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

Valentine's nebula

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Nice series of images, Jean-Denis. I have been thinking that I have to get that lens, but the reason I want it is that it seems to have very little CA. The edges on some of your shots look a tiny bit soft, which I would expect, even with a 1.6x crop camera, but are still pretty good for f/3.2. Do the full-resolution files show much chromatic aberration?

Here is a gallery of mostly wide-field shots with both the modified 20D and the 20Da to show you the dramatic difference in both in terms of red sensitivity. The modified 20D has an edge, but it's very minor. The 20Da is the perfect camera if you want to also use it for daytime imaging. I use it that way all the time--it's perfect as a dual-use camera. Also, the live-focus feature is great to have. While the price seems high, it does also come with the AC adapter, which is about a $165 value....

http://www.pbase.com/jhapeman/widefield_images

Nice series of shots!

Jeff

January 3, 2006 01:31 AM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

Canon 5D for astrophotography?

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
David,

It's great for astrophotography, but the 20Da has adavantages--namely the live-focus capabilities and much better bandpass of the critical Ha light that make it very compelling--and it makes a great regular-use camera. If you want, I can show you pictures for both.

On the other hand, if you will be doing 95% landscape photography, the 5D is superb in this area. For the occasional astrophotography, you will have to learn to tweak the reds to recover the lost reds from the IR-cut filter, and also how to deal with manual focusing on stars (not easy).

Let me know if you want some sample images.

Jeff

January 3, 2006 01:36 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

Horsehead and NGC 2023

Posted By Jeff Hapeman
Incredible shot, Johannes!

Jeff

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