I really appreciate the detail you went into for . You should see a big difference in the length of exposures you can take without totally washing out the sky. I got a Celestron 6SE as a gift, at the time I was living in Sudbury.. (darker skies) I just ordered my T-ring setup and it should be in Tuesday I am currently using my old Canon Rebel T1i and will upgrade with time to something better. Nicely written article with excellent examples of what can be achieved with an unmodded DSLR. In that case you cannot set the aperture and there is a chance of dropping the lens. While I am deciding on which path to take (dedicated CCD or modified DSLR) I have been considering putting a filter inline to help eliminate some of the more troublesome light pollution from my suburban area. Would appreciate some help Frank. For now Ill be taking wide pictures if the milky way and constellations I think since I dont own a telescope yet (want some experience with the camera first). In urban skies however, I have had to resort to narrow band filters (H-alpha and OIII), and then H-alpha sensitivity (increased several fold by modding) becomes more important. Galaxies are another favourite but most are either too big - m31 - or too small to get good shots without extra magnification like m82/81 or sculptor galaxy. I took this as a challenge to make a nice image of a nebula with an unmodded cam. There are good reasons not to do it, for example the camera is used for daytime photography as well or the budget does not allow either to have an existing camera modified or get a modified one. A Skytech CLS-CCD filter was used to help reduce the city glow and capture more contrast in the nebula. From the northern regions of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, this is one nebula whose name becomes obvious right away. As telescopes are pure manual devices you won't run into that trouble with a telescope. I highly suggest you take a shot at this incredible deep-sky object with your camera. Orion Nebula (M42 / NGC 1976) - the best nebula to start. The Triangulum Galaxy. I have overlayed the shape of the continent over the image to showcase how similar the shape of the North America Nebula is. Canon T7i, GSO RC8 at f/6, 43x2min, ISO 400, M16. North America Nebula. How much better can I go with just a DSLR? This version is suitable for modified DSLRs because of the built-in UV/IR block filter. I started with my unmodified T3i and was very happy. Results Using a $200 DSLR for Astrophotography It can be picked up easily by any unmodded camera. I am just getting into Astrophotography, and dont have a modified DSLR yet. I hope your t-ring and adapter ring came in by now. The main compromise involved in using a DSLR instead of a dedicated astronomical camera is temperature regulation. The mono can be used to take Ha only and mix it into the color data taken with the DSLR or OSC. Just wondering from your experience with them if you noticed one to be better then the other for light pollution and for color cast and crispness. The ISO was set to 6400, and each exposure was 30-seconds long. Can I benefit using a modified DSLR with lenses versus an unmodded DSLR? Between the stars there is interstellar dust that shows up as brown clouds. This is an opportune time to capture NGC 7000 as is the least affected by poor transparency and turbulence in the air. "Beginner's Astrophotography: Can I use my unmodified DSLR?" I live in North Dallas so a lot of light pollution. Thanks for the article! By now you should have an ideaof how much light these filters let in, and how the CLS-CCD filter performs on deep sky objects. Give it a try! Sharpless 117 is probably one of the most photographed deep sky objects in the night sky. North America Nebula | Images and facts | BBC Sky at Night Magazine I have a D5200, and shot (mostly)Heart and Soul nebula using a Ioptron Skytracker. If you are shooting deep sky objects (Especially emission nebulae) Youll see a big improvement with a modified cam. Each SkyTech filter uses polished Schott glass in a precision laser-cut housing. Another benefit to wide-field nebulae like this is that a lightweight, compact telescope is well-suited to photograph it (see the astrophotography telescopes I recommend). The glowing hydrogen gas emitted from the North America Nebula, particularly around the Cygnus wall make it a sought-after image for backyard astrophotographers. Well, the topic of the article is what you can do with an unmodded camera. Don't know about other brands. If you go for a full spectrum mod the chromatic aberration of UV and IR will blur your image when you have a refractor. My backyard is considered to be a Class 8 on the Bortle Scale, which is almost as bad as it gets. Using the filter on my DSLR allows me to capture exactly what I am missing up there. Canon T7i, TS 65mm Imaging Star, f/6.5, 31x4min, ISO 400. How to see the Horsehead Nebula - BBC Sky at Night Magazine Others are not. Understanding an Unmodified DSLR limitations and target selection - posted in Beginning Deep Sky Imaging: So a few weeks ago, I captured some data on the North American Nebula with my Nikon D5300 (unmodded) and a WO Z73. So I did have all the other factors favouring the image attempt. Despite these shortcomings, I continue to execute deep-sky images through my telescope month after month. The Rokinon 135mm F/2 ED UMC lens. As expected, the LPRO Max filter from SkyTech lets the widest array of light wavelengths through, to capture the true color of the landscape, while keeping light pollution at bay. 8 Dob manual Telescope (with Adapters & Accessories) I was surprised that even a traditionally "hard" subject like the Horsehead comes out pretty well with an unmodified camera. Well written! I too was in your situation at one time I had a Dob and a stock camera. Does that mean you must not image it? Hi Trevor. Thanks for sharing it. I enjoy following you on Youtube. How many subs and what total integration time did you have? In terms of backyard astrophotography, NGC 7000 is a massive target with apparent dimensions of 120 x 100 arcmins. My future plans are to have the camera Astro modified sometime in the future. With an unmodified camera you're best off shooting targets other than emission nebulae, and using no additional filters to the Bayer matrix. Is the California Nebula worth imaging with an unmodified dslr? October 4, 2016 in Imaging - Deep Sky. The 15 Best Summer Astrophotography Targets - Galactic Hunter I live in Southern California and as you can imagine light pollution is heavy, but I do travel to Nevada alot and shooting in the desert would prove to be much better for reduced light pollution. https://www.astrobin.com/3rd1bt/. Ill discuss my way around this below. I primarily use camera lenses, and they are optimized for unmodified cameras. The image below was captured using a Canon EOS Rebel DSLR (full-spectrum modified) and a Canon EF 24-105mm F/4L Lens. I have been really enjoying your YouTube videos. Galaxies often show plenty of color in broadband. In late 2018 I reviewed the Optolong L-Pro broadband filter. Then I got a good deal on a modified T3i and was again very happy. Frames: 26 x 180 (RGB) Canon T7i, TS 65mm Imaging Star, f/6.5, 41x5min, ISO 400. If it was 80 degrees out it would be a different story. One needs to know all options to make the right decision. This review is most valuable to those shooting. The CLS-CCD filter improves the visibility of deep sky objects while blocking out a great deal of city glow. If you live in North America, I highly recommendchecking out their growing list of products to support backyard astrophotographers such as myself. As a rule of thumb removing the filter enhances the sensitivity by a factor of two or three depending on how the IR filter is designed. Modern lenses have electronics for autofocus and stabilization inside. Required fields are marked *, document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "ad1caed95c7aee09784abc88f213d4d4" );document.getElementById("cfd2c22fe2").setAttribute( "id", "comment" );Comment *, Dear Sir, Taking a photo of the international space station is demanding and requires a long focal length, much longer than what was to my disposal. You have managed to get the duality of colour in the image that I was not able to capture. No, an unmodified DSLR is about 1/4 as sensitive to hydrogen-alpha as a modified one, so it's more of a challenge, but it's not a fool's errand. This glowing nebula is so large and well-defined, its no wonder amateur astrophotographers like me return to Cygnus year after year. Canon EOS Rebel T3i and a 70mm refractor telescope. Comets light up and develop the fantastic tales when they are close to our sun. These clip-in filters were graciously sent to me from Ontario Telescope and Accessories. This is a natural color image. I'd also like to point out that on the long run the question is not whether or not to modify the DSLR. I was thinking that the reason for modding was to allow more IR on to the sensor and the CLS-CCD clips more IR than the CLS. If you are an amateur astrophotographer in the city, a light pollution filter such as the SkyTech CLS will open new doors to your DSLR astrophotography. The famous Pleiades reside in a blue reflection nebula that does not benefit from a modification either. As far as deep-sky objects go, NGC 7000 is absolutely massive (120 100 arcmins). Beginner's Astrophotography: Can I use my unmodified DSLR? You should also look into the Astronomik CLS. First of all thanks a lot for all the info you are sharing (My wife hates since I started to follow your YT channel :P, the list of gear to buy has grow up). Jaap Spigt, the Netherlands. In the image above, the 550mm focal length of the telescope used (in combination with the image scale of the camera) was a little too deep to capture the entire nebula. Many of them are composite images that contain Ha data from a mono camera. Oh, I added an L-eNhance for fun. Lots of options and decisions to make from here man. Its all available to you in your backyard, and this is proof. Whether you shoot with a stock or modified camera, these Canon clip-in filters will block plenty of unwanted light. The raw data actually looked better than what I was getting with my previous IDAS LPS filter in terms of contrast in the deep sky object. The emission line of double ionized oxygen is a blueish green or teal color. This should give you a good idea of how large this object is in terms of astrophotography. Beautiful images on that webpage. The Rosette can definitely be done with an unmodified DSLR. Horsehead and Flame Nebula by Ryan Proctor, Wakefield, UK. Now Id recommend a CLS-CCD filter for a 60Da. Having said this, my Camera should be operated at ISO 1600 (if we are to follow the logic described on the website), but I have come to the conclusion that ISO 800 works well for me. The best broadband veil nebula from an unmodified camera i think i've seen! Some open clusters are located in hydrogen clouds and make the cloud glow red. So far I had sucesss using the 50mm f/1.8 and 300mm F/4L with the Skytech filters. As a result you can no longer focus on infinity with some lenses. Whos Afraid of a Phantom: Istar Phantom 140mm F/6.5, that is? Going to a dark place helps much more than any fine tuning of settings. You can find many of these images on my website 'elf-of-lothlorien.de'. Dec Owners of high-magnification, long focal length telescopes (1000mm+) tend to focus their attention on a specific area of the nebula. The star color and background sky are a little on the red side, so that will need to be corrected by shooting subs using a filter with a wider band-pass. Canon T3i, TS 65mm Imaging Star, f/6.5, 18x5min, ISO 800. 18mm) Some of the huge nebulae like Barnards loop are almost invisible without a mod! There are plenty of bright Ha objects. No, I will not. This line of SkyTech LP filters was designed for use with APS-C sized Canon EOS cameras such as the Canon Rebel series. If you don't want to modify your camera for whatever reason be encouraged to use it as it is! The projector has 400 lumens. Coming back to open clusters that may or may not be associated with an emission nebula. The imaging target is the Omega Nebula, which was shot on May 30th using data captured through the SkyTech filter. I suspect it is much like a blind wine-tasting between bottles costing a few euros or dollars and those costing 10 times the price. 1. Galaxies consist of stars mainly but galaxies also have star forming regions that typically show strong Ha emissions. This makes a DSLR camera much better at recording the red light of hydrogen-alpha emission nebulas. The sky came out deep purple. Thanks Josh (neighbour!) In regards to astroscapes or milky way photography would you recommend the L-pro from Optolong or the Lpro Max from Skytech? The Canon EOS Ra camera is Canons first full-frame mirrorless camera dedicated to astrophotography. If you shoot in light polluted skies with a DSLR, listen up. Horsehead Nebula by John Tonks, Pembrokeshire, UK. HI James. Some recommend not to fully attach the lens so that the contacts do not engage. To cut through all of the city glow to reveal these objects in space is truly remarkable. That may come later, but you have very ably demonstrated that high-qulaity results are certainly within their reach. NGC 1499 in Perseus is perhaps the best example of the difference removing the stock IR cut filter from your DSLR camera can make. Its bright enough to capture without an astro-modified camera (sensitive to IR light), and large enough to capture using a small telescope or camera lens. DSLR, Mirrorless & General-Purpose Digital Camera DSO Imaging. There are a few options here, including shooting a number of image frames using the LPRO Max filter, or IDAS. Imagine what you could accomplish in moderately light polluted skies? See the composite version of both data sets. Sorry for the long post. Bortle 4 according to lightpollution map. I think it shows two things: one, how sensitive and productive "ordinary" digital cameras can be and two, how easily we can convince ourselves that unless we use the "latest and greatest and totally optimized", we won't get "good enough" results. Thanks for the tips! Equipment: Evostar 80 mm f/7.5 ED APO Refractor Sky-Watcher 0.85X Reducer/Corrector HEQ5 Telescope Mount Unmodified Nikon D5300 DSLR Orion Startshoot Autoguider Composition: 85 lights 150 seconds at ISO 200 20 flats 15 darks Processing: Stacked in DeepSkyStacker Processed in StarTools Some emission nebula are well suited for a stock camera, such as the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius. Interesting article, my question is which filter would be best suited for an unmodified Canon 77D APS-C sensor. This region of the nebula exhibits the most concentrated star formation, where new stars are being born from dense clouds of gas. From my latitude, August is my last chance to image the many star clusters and nebulae that populate, Continue Reading Astrophotography from a Light Polluted BackyardContinue, In my opinion, the best astrophotography lens is one that can capture a variety of images of the night sky in a reliable and consistent way. If your exposure time is limited to under 2 minutes due to a washed out city sky, I feel your pain. Related: Recommended Astrophotography Telescopes. Framing up the target in the orientation you desire will likely eat up the majority of your setup time. How to Modify Your DSLR for Astrophotography - Sky & Telescope The biggest issue is that the IR filter built into the sensor for DSLR tends to block a lot of the Hydrogen Alpha (HA) lines that are emitted by the nebula. Only if a star burns at low temperatures it can become old thus the center is often a yellow or golden color. I live in a medium-sized city in Southern Ontario. I suppose the photo above shows a pleasant mix of colored stars and faint pink nebulosity, but if youve ever seen a REAL photo of the California Nebula, you will understand my predicament. A wide-field look at NGC 7000 and friends. My night sky is classified as Bortle Class 8 in terms of sky quality, a white zone on the light pollution map. You can focus very accurate to maximum intensity with this method for a short focal length. The clip-in design fits securely over the sensor of your Canon camera. The core of our Milky Way galaxy has returned to our night sky here in the Northern Hemisphere, and with it comes many celestial delights such as the, Continue Reading HaRGB AstrophotographyContinue, Your email address will not be published. I have recently tackled the heart nebula (see below) but have really struggled with detail despite getting 70 x 5min subs, with 50 x darks and 50 x bias. The solution is to go for fully manual lenses. Here's the very last image I took using my Lumix G9 as my camera: That's just over 1.5 hours of integration under my Bortle 6 skies. Whether you shoot with a modified camera through a telescope or a stock DSLR with a camera lens attached, a light pollution filter will help you shoot longer subs. I have a Unmodified EOS 450D and a full spectrum modified 550D. Do you find that when using the Astronomik CLS filter, the images are overly red? I added about 2 hours of data under dark skies at the CCCA. Date: May 30, 2017 The focal length of my ED 102 is perfect for capturing wide field views of the nebulae in Sagittarius. Iamtoyingwith the idea of getting it moddedor bite the bullet and buy a cooled CCD camera. Is the Heart Nebula with an unmodified Nikon D600 a fool's errand? This way, you can see the detail acquired in the Milky Way without the nasty impurities in the background sky color. When the stars are reduced in size during post processing the objects show up more clearly. Those include the Eagle Nebula (M16), the Lagoon Nebula (M8), the Trifid Nebula (M20) and more! Thus they are suitable for beginner setups with a moderate focal length. The short one does not need refocus at all. I was sorry to see about your father, I give you my condolences. In some cases you see a flare in the image. Also it often sounds like the only way to use a mono is LRGB and narrowband. The California Nebula captured using a Canon 600D + SkyTech CLS-CCD filter through a Meade 70mm Quadruplet Apo The LPRO Max is an interesting option for those who wish to create starry landscape images of the Milky Way. Just be prepared to put a lot of hours in it's an all nighter or better yet multi night kind of endeavor. Reply [deleted] Additional comment actions [removed] Reply Andy I totally understand your confusion. The telescope used for the photo above had a focal length of 480mm. M57. Of course, the image acquisition stages outside are only one half of the process. With my scope just 600mm focal length and a full frame unmodded DSLR, the nebula is just so tiny. The SkyTech Astrophotography Filters are Available at Ontario Telescope and Accessories. I just would like to show what can be done with an unmodded relatively low priced DSLR if modding is not an option. The Rosette nebula is famous example of a star cluster and a Nebula but not the only one. Still pleased with the results though!