Direct photography with a 350D

[scorpius]

Having had to stay an extra night at the ASWA Dryandra camp (WA) (car probs) I had the place to myself. Early Monday morning around 2am the sky was very clear, but the humidity was high due to local rain showers and a thunderstorm.
This is a direct shot of Crux and environs, using the Canon 350D with a very old ASTRON 1:28 wide angle M42 lens/EOS adapter. Photo ISO200 30 seconds f2.8* manual focus on a tripod using a cable release.

*I forgot to switch the aperture from auto to manual "duh" but it came out OK
Incidently the lens was from Cash Converters several years ago for $25 ! Using M42/Eos converters some real little gems can be found in pawn shops and they are glad to get rid of them

PS here is another shot my very first pic of a nebular M42 in Orion Prime focus on the 10" 350D in a 2" focuser

[Radar]

Not bad for 30 seconds and a 25 dollar lens Dave. :thumbsupmate:

I can see that scope and camera are going to get a lot of use in the coming years.

[wakaleo]

Hey Scorpius, great places these second-hand camera shops (and hock shops!) for equipment. Bit difficult for me being based so far from any decent city where bargains such as yours may be found. I s'pose these days many of them would have an on-line presence - must check them out. My OM1 has a broken flash mount (don't know how it happened, but it's so shattered it's not worth glueing back together), not that I would have a lot of use for the flash with it these days.

The attached pic of the Southern Cross low in the sky was taken with a D70 at a place in the north-west of the South Island of New Zealand on the 30th January '07. Zoom lens at 18mm, f/3.5, 15 secs, tripod-mounted and delayed shutter release. Also got some pics of McNaught the same night but they're not that good that I want to share them. ;-)

[Radar]

Nice clean crisp shot Jim. Show us the McNaught shots :pipethinker:

[wakaleo]

I'll do that in the next couple of day 'Wiz'. They really aren't that great though. Just a warning!

[AstroTasmania]

Hi All,

This is one of the first images I took when I got my 350D, 18-55 lens at 18mm wide open, stationary tripod, 30 seconds at 1600 ISO, from my front driveway.

This image was reproduced in the centre spread previous issue of SKY & SPACE.

Clear skies...

[wakaleo]

Gidday Shevill

Lovely shot! Just looking at it has me champing at the bit to point the D70 skywards. However, all I'd capture at the moment is a thick cloud layer. I"ll just have to make do for the present with the images you and the rest of the crew post.

[Radar]

Nice work mate. :thumbsupmate:

[Draig]

Hi All,

Lovely shots by the way.

I popped ito the local Cash Convertors store before I went away, but all they had was more expensive than Harvey Normans.

Never Mind there are other hock shops and secound hand camera stores.

Cheers Colin

[wakaleo]

Radar, here's the other McNaught pics taken in NZ. As mentioned, they are not all that special.

[Radar]

That first one is beautiful Jim. Both well worth posting.

[Draig]

Radar, here's the other McNaught pics taken in NZ. As mentioned, they are not all that special.

Hi Jim,

I think you are wrong, they are great shots. Well Done. If they were mine I'd certainly be hanging them up on the wall.

Cheers Colin

[wakaleo]

Aw, golly gosh fellas, you're making me go all coy! Seriously, thanks for the supportive comments.

I was out last night (29th March) hoping to get a shot of the Moon and Saturn (no 'scope, just the D70 and an AF Nikkor 70-210mm slide-zoom lens!) but just as it began to get dark enough, in came the clouds. Dang and blast those goldarn fluffy white things! Did get one shot just on sunset that I massaged in Gimp2. No Saturn visible in the sky at that time though! Here it is.

[Dusty]

Lovely work everyone.

:pipethinker:

[Mick]

Some nice images in this post. :thumbsupmate: