Astrophotography

New moon and Venus.
IMG_0267.jpeg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Finally got a decent shot of the Milky Way from my backyard (too tired to drive to my "dark spot" last night, which may be the last clear night for a week or so). This was with a rectangular format fisheye lens, so I just aimed it straight up with 20 RAW exposures (plus a "dark" frame), loaded them all into the new version of Deep Sky Stacker (worth much more than you pay for it!), and then discovered that Capture One has a Deep Sky style brush!

MW from home fisheye 2a-topazAI152-sharpen.jpeg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)


(since DSS removed my EXIF info...I used 20 second exposures at f/2 on a TTartisan 7.5mm lens)
 
North American Nebula. From this weekend. OM-D EM-5 III (Ha mod) and Rokinon 135/2.
200 x 60 sec @ f/2.8. ISO 400. Used a Formax Lightrack II tracker.
Been 3 years since I did any Astro.

View attachment 408740
Just a question, Russ.

Where did you get the Hydrogen Alpha filter, and what did it cost?
Is it by way of a sensor modification, or a screw in filter for the lens?
 
John,

I had the EM-5 III modded at a place in the US called Lifepixel. Prices range between $250 and $350 USD (the EM-5 was on the high end). They remove the standard filter and and replace it with one that transmits a wider spectrum. I have used them before and they are a good place.

The problem, and I am kicking myself for not looking into this earlier, is that Olympus crippled the EM-5 III in regard to remote control. So it cannot be used as a webcam or effectively be controlled by a remote PC. So no live view, no focusing aids, no plate solving, no dithering. All those things that make astrophotography so much more pleasant. I can still use an intervalometer, old school, but will probably end up just buying a dedicated astro cam. Really quite annoying, especially as an older, cheaper EM-5 II would have worked fine. Live and learn I suppose.

Cheers,

Russ
 
John,

I had the EM-5 III modded at a place in the US called Lifepixel. Prices range between $250 and $350 USD (the EM-5 was on the high end). They remove the standard filter and and replace it with one that transmits a wider spectrum. I have used them before and they are a good place.

The problem, and I am kicking myself for not looking into this earlier, is that Olympus crippled the EM-5 III in regard to remote control. So it cannot be used as a webcam or effectively be controlled by a remote PC. So no live view, no focusing aids, no plate solving, no dithering. All those things that make astrophotography so much more pleasant. I can still use an intervalometer, old school, but will probably end up just buying a dedicated astro cam. Really quite annoying, especially as an older, cheaper EM-5 II would have worked fine. Live and learn I suppose.

Cheers,

Russ
Thanks for that info, Russ.
 
John,

I had the EM-5 III modded at a place in the US called Lifepixel. Prices range between $250 and $350 USD (the EM-5 was on the high end). They remove the standard filter and and replace it with one that transmits a wider spectrum. I have used them before and they are a good place.

The problem, and I am kicking myself for not looking into this earlier, is that Olympus crippled the EM-5 III in regard to remote control. So it cannot be used as a webcam or effectively be controlled by a remote PC. So no live view, no focusing aids, no plate solving, no dithering. All those things that make astrophotography so much more pleasant. I can still use an intervalometer, old school, but will probably end up just buying a dedicated astro cam. Really quite annoying, especially as an older, cheaper EM-5 II would have worked fine. Live and learn I suppose.

Cheers,

Russ
For those of us who have cameras full spectrum converted (recording visible & IR) an H-alpha can be fitted to the lens (considerably cheaper than another conversion) but the hot mirror in standard cameras generally blocks nearly all the H-alpha, adding a filter to the front doesn't do anything to unblock this.

With full spectrum cameras you can also use lens filters to record just IR, or normal visual wavelengths & various combinations of these. Sometimes UV is also included in the fun but this tends to be much weaker.
 
Your picture is amazing, I'm amazed how well you balanced the city lights and the stars.
Thanks. For about 12 of the 15 seconds, my hand was covering the bottom of the lens, blocking out the city lights. I’d just remove it at the very end of the exposure. Otherwise it would’ve been entirely too bright, or I would have had to make a composite image.
 
Thanks. For about 12 of the 15 seconds, my hand was covering the bottom of the lens, blocking out the city lights. I’d just remove it at the very end of the exposure. Otherwise it would’ve been entirely too bright, or I would have had to make a composite image.
What do you think of the OM-5? It's a tempting thought since it brings together my love of the light 'M-5 body, but the E-M1.3 extras. Are you able to control AF modes like the E-M1 line? Was a big complaint I had with the E-M5.3, you could only semi-hack it.
 
What do you think of the OM-5? It's a tempting thought since it brings together my love of the light 'M-5 body, but the E-M1.3 extras. Are you able to control AF modes like the E-M1 line? Was a big complaint I had with the E-M5.3, you could only semi-hack it.
I jumped from the e-m5ii to the OM-5, so it was a pretty nice leap. It got me everything my old e-m1x had (short of subject recognition tracking, but that didn’t work all that hot in my opinion anyway which is why I dumped it), and a little more (starry sky AF) in an e-m5ii body size. Now if they actually put it in a metal e-m5ii body, it’d be a home run. I really dislike the plasticky feel of it. I’ve never picked up an Olympus camera and felt it was “cheap” until this one. So that’s unfortunate, but given it’s probably better weather sealed than my old one, it’s just a personal complaint. As for the “focus hacks” you’re talking about, I guess I’m not sure. This sees pretty limited duty, and is relegated to hikes where I want to be light, awful weather, or astro. I stick to single point focus s-af or manual focus, so although I think the autofocus is leaps better than my e-m5ii, I really don’t use it. It’s also nowhere near as good as my Canon for instance, but it doesn’t need to be for what I’m doing with it. So ymmv I suppose.
 
I jumped from the e-m5ii to the OM-5, so it was a pretty nice leap. It got me everything my old e-m1x had (short of subject recognition tracking, but that didn’t work all that hot in my opinion anyway which is why I dumped it), and a little more (starry sky AF) in an e-m5ii body size. Now if they actually put it in a metal e-m5ii body, it’d be a home run. I really dislike the plasticky feel of it. I’ve never picked up an Olympus camera and felt it was “cheap” until this one. So that’s unfortunate, but given it’s probably better weather sealed than my old one, it’s just a personal complaint. As for the “focus hacks” you’re talking about, I guess I’m not sure. This sees pretty limited duty, and is relegated to hikes where I want to be light, awful weather, or astro. I stick to single point focus s-af or manual focus, so although I think the autofocus is leaps better than my e-m5ii, I really don’t use it. It’s also nowhere near as good as my Canon for instance, but it doesn’t need to be for what I’m doing with it. So ymmv I suppose.
Yeah, the plastic build can take some getting used to. The trade off is an insanely light but powerful body. In regards to the AF hack, can you program a button to pull up the AF menu and then scroll to what you want? On the E-M5.3, you had to set a button to MF, then hold it and scroll to change AF modes. Worked, but cludgy.
 
Yeah, the plastic build can take some getting used to. The trade off is an insanely light but powerful body. In regards to the AF hack, can you program a button to pull up the AF menu and then scroll to what you want? On the E-M5.3, you had to set a button to MF, then hold it and scroll to change AF modes. Worked, but cludgy.
Just played around with it, and it appears like you’d have to do the same trick. I set the exposure button to MF, and you can quickly press and hold that and scroll through the different focus modes. Pretty cool actually, and I don’t think it’s all that clunky, but I suppose it’s not as easy as simply pressing the button over and over again to scroll through. That does not appear available, if that’s how you’re saying the e-m1 iii works.
 
Back
Top