Any atrophotographers here?

[randomhkkid]

Recently got a new camera, the Fujifilm X-T20 with a 35mm f/1.4 lens. I'm pretty keen to do some astrophotography if possible, wondering if anyone has any good tricks/tips for shooting or the post-production. I'm a fairly experience street and landscape photographer so feel free to nerd out

 

My IG https://www.instagram.com/a_ginnz/

[Guest]

Was going to coment with some random astro palm reading horoscope crap bs. But astrophotography is just to cool to screw with.

 

I highly doubt you will find many people who know about cameras in that usecase. I would go to an specialized site, and ask there. (there are plenty of them sites for astrophotography)

[Guest]

Not going to edit this time.

 

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x_t20/specifications/

 

Shutter speed

Mechanical Shutter

4 sec. to 1/4000 sec.(P mode), 30 sec. to 1/4000 sec.(All modes)
Bulb mode(up to 60 min), TIME : 30 sec. to 1/4000 sec.

Electronic Shutter*3

4 sec. to 1/4000 sec.(P mode)
1 sec. to 1/32000 sec. (P / A / S / M modes)
Bulb mode : 1 sec. fixed, TIME : 1sec to 1/32000sec.

Mechanical + Electronic Shutter

4 sec. to 1/32000 sec.(P mode), 30 sec. to 1/32000 sec.(All modes)
Bulb mode(up to 60 min), TIME : 30 sec. to 1/32000 sec.

Synchronized shutter speed for flash

1/180 sec. or slower

 

Not sure what all of this means, but I am looking at a long duration. 60 min max. That sounds like it's way to short to take pictures like this one:

[randomhkkid]

3 minutes ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Was going to coment with some random astro palm reading horoscope crap bs. But astrophotography is just to cool to screw with.

 

I highly doubt you will find many people who know about cameras in that usecase. I would go to an specialized site, and ask there. (there are plenty of them sites for astrophotography)

Haha no don't worry not an astrologist. Yeah I've definitely asked in a couple different places but I tend to hang out here a lot so I thought why not

[randomhkkid]

1 minute ago, Dutch-stoner said:

Not going to edit this time.

 

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/x/fujifilm_x_t20/specifications/

 

Shutter speed

Mechanical Shutter

4 sec. to 1/4000 sec.(P mode), 30 sec. to 1/4000 sec.(All modes)
Bulb mode(up to 60 min), TIME : 30 sec. to 1/4000 sec.

Electronic Shutter*3

4 sec. to 1/4000 sec.(P mode)
1 sec. to 1/32000 sec. (P / A / S / M modes)
Bulb mode : 1 sec. fixed, TIME : 1sec to 1/32000sec.

Mechanical + Electronic Shutter

4 sec. to 1/32000 sec.(P mode), 30 sec. to 1/32000 sec.(All modes)
Bulb mode(up to 60 min), TIME : 30 sec. to 1/32000 sec.

Synchronized shutter speed for flash

1/180 sec. or slower

 

Not sure what all of this means, but I am looking at a long duration. 60 min max. That sounds like it's way to short to take pictures like this one:

Depends, on the horizon stars can move surprisingly fast.

[AkiraDaarkst]

13 minutes ago, randomhkkid said:

Recently got a new camera, the Fujifilm X-T20 with a 35mm f/1.4 lens. I'm pretty keen to do some astrophotography if possible, wondering if anyone has any good tricks/tips for shooting or the post-production. I'm a fairly experience street and landscape photographer so feel free to nerd out

 

My IG https://www.instagram.com/a_ginnz/

Yes astrophotography is possible with a Fuji camera.  What you need to do first is find the ideal location, where light pollution is the most minimal and if you want to include any landscape elements (buildings, trees, rock formations, mountains, etc.) you need to find the right spot.

 

Check the weather reports, to avoid high humidity and clouds.  The best hours to do astrophotography is during astro twilight, and most typically between 22:00-03:00.  There are various apps for iPhone and Android that tells you the civil, nautical and astro twilight hours, along with positions of constellations and moon phases.

 

Shoot wide, keep your ISOs as low as possible, use a tripod and remote shutter release.  Experiment with various shutter speeds.  Take a lot of photos.

 

There are various tips you can find for astrophotography on the web.

[Guest]

24 hours for ~360 degrees. 1 hour = 15 degrees line... I think that it's a bit small. With the side note that I am not sure if it can actualy have an exposure time of 60 minutes like that.

[AkiraDaarkst]

5 minutes ago, randomhkkid said:

Depends, on the horizon stars can move surprisingly fast.

If you want star trails, it involves taking exposures of several seconds long and stacking several photos.  If you want pin point stars and use long shutter speeds, you need to have a tripod mount that can track the position of stars as depending on the focal length of the lens used, a few seconds of exposure time or longer can result in even slight star trails.

[AkiraDaarkst]

Oh and disable any long exposure or high ISO noise reduction options in the camera.  Sony mirrorless shooters that love to do astrophotography are complaining that the noise reduction algorithm in the camera, even when shooting RAW, is mistakenly removing some stars thinking they are noise.

 

https://petapixel.com/2017/05/04/star-eater-issue-no-longer-recommend-sony-cameras-astrophotography/

[randomhkkid]

4 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Yes astrophotography is possible with a Fuji camera.  What you need to do first is find the ideal location, where light pollution is the most minimal and if you want to include any landscape elements (buildings, trees, rock formations, mountains, etc.) you need to find the right spot.

 

Check the weather reports, to avoid high humidity and clouds.  The best hours to do astrophotography is during astro twilight, and most typically between 22:00-03:00.  There are various apps for iPhone and Android that tells you the civil, nautical and astro twilight hours, along with positions of constellations and moon phases.

 

Shoot wide, keep your ISOs as low as possible, use a tripod and remote shutter release.  Experiment with various shutter speeds.  Take a lot of photos.

 

There are various tips you can find for astrophotography on the web.

Ah nice some good advice I've never seen before. The astro twilight concept is new to me as is the humidity tip. Thanks! Exposure times and the trails make sense, unfortunately an equatorial mount is way out of my budget for now.

[randomhkkid]

Just now, AkiraDaarkst said:

Oh and disable any long exposure or high ISO noise reduction options in the camera.  Sony mirrorless shooters that love to do astrophotography are complaining that the noise reduction algorithm in the camera, even when shooting RAW, is mistakenly removing some stars thinking they are noise.

 

https://petapixel.com/2017/05/04/star-eater-issue-no-longer-recommend-sony-cameras-astrophotography/

Yeah I read the same post, disabled noise reduction on day 1

[randomhkkid]

7 minutes ago, Wedsea040 said:

Do you plan to use a telescope or no?

Just a 35mm f/1.4 or a 18-55mm f/2.8 but I don't think the latter is fast enough

[AkiraDaarkst]

3 minutes ago, randomhkkid said:

Ah nice some good advice I've never seen before. The astro twilight concept is new to me as is the humidity tip. Thanks! Exposure times and the trails make sense, unfortunately an equatorial mount is way out of my budget for now.

Yeah I've seen both mechanical and motorized star tracker mounts, they can be pretty pricey.

 

Basically what you want are the darkest skies, lowest light pollution and lowest anything in the atmosphere (including the atmosphere itself) that can affect your photos.  That's why they build ground based optical observatories in high altitude locations far away from bright cities.  Thin atmospheres help in capturing better images.

 

1 minute ago, randomhkkid said:

Just a 35mm f/1.4 or a 18-55mm f/2.8 but I don't think the latter is fast enough

I've done astrophotography with both f/1.4 and f/2.8 lenses, they are fast enough.  As I said, take several photos and stack them in post.

 

https://petapixel.com/2016/02/20/stack-photos-epic-milky-way-landscapes/

[randomhkkid]

2 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Yeah I've seen both mechanical and motorized star tracker mounts, they can be pretty pricey.

 

Basically what you want are the darkest skies, lowest light pollution and lowest anything in the atmosphere (including the atmosphere itself) that can affect your photos.  That's why they build ground based optical observatories in high altitude locations far away from bright cities.  Thin atmospheres help in capturing better images.

 

I've done astrophotography with both f/1.4 and f/2.8 lenses, they are fast enough.  As I said, take several photos and stack them in post.

 

https://petapixel.com/2016/02/20/stack-photos-epic-milky-way-landscapes/

The problem is I will be shooting in fairly close proximity to cities so at 2.8 I doubt I'll get exposures that look like those ones from the dessert. Any recommendations for post processing and stacking?

[AkiraDaarkst]

3 minutes ago, randomhkkid said:

The problem is I will be shooting in fairly close proximity to cities so at 2.8 I doubt I'll get exposures that look like those ones from the dessert. Any recommendations for post processing and stacking?

If you're close to cities, even going 1.4 will not help much.  Because the light pollution from the cities will be what blocks out most of the faintest stars.  Not the lens' aperture.  It doesn't matter how much you open the iris, as the light from those faint stars will not be reaching the lens at all.

 

You should look online for dark skies maps and see where would be an ideal location for you.

 

https://fstoppers.com/photoshop/stacking-how-reduce-noise-photoshop-astrophotography-pro-162857

[randomhkkid]

23 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

If you're close to cities, even going 1.4 will not help much.  Because the light pollution from the cities will be what blocks out most of the faintest stars.  Not the lens' aperture.  It doesn't matter how much you open the iris, as the light from those faint stars will not be reaching the lens at all.

 

You should look online for dark skies maps and see where would be an ideal location for you.

 

https://fstoppers.com/photoshop/stacking-how-reduce-noise-photoshop-astrophotography-pro-162857

Sweet, I'll give it a go regardless and hopefully get some practice before I head off to Norway this summer where I plan to get some stunners.

[randomhkkid]

23 minutes ago, Wedsea040 said:

Ah, I see. Telescopes are really great though for taking nice close up images. These images of the moon were taken with my Celestron 70AZ and Orion StarShoot Solar System Color Imager IV. Not the highest quality because of the lenses I was using, but close up.

 

 

RegiStax works well.

I'll take a look thanks! I can see myself picking up a telescope mount in the future thanks!

[.spider.]

8 hours ago, Wedsea040 said:

 

RegiStax works well.

I thought it's just for planetary photography

[.spider.]

9 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

 The best hours to do astrophotography is during astro twilight, and most typically between 22:00-03:00.  

That's wrong.

Best time is during the night AFTER the astronomical twilight when the sun is at least 18° below the horizon.

[randomhkkid]

13 minutes ago, .spider. said:

That's wrong.

Best time is during the night AFTER the astronomical twilight when the sun is at least 18° below the horizon.

According to this article http://www.photopills.com/articles/understanding-golden-hour-blue-hour-and-twilights he's right. The darker it is the more likely I'll get an exposure with stellar object in it no?

[porina]

Astrophotography is a big area, so are there specific areas of interest? I've dabbled with the moon, planets, deep sky (galaxies, nebulae), and with special equipment to make it safe, also the sun. Obviously, safety first on the last one!

 

My favorite area is deep sky, and for that I just use regular DLSR with lenses. A tracking mount is the biggest ingredient to make it work. I'm in an urban environment and there are filters that help a lot with light pollution. No substitute from getting away from it, but you can still produce great looking output with it. Lenses tend to be faster than most telescopes anyway, so it really helps with getting those photons.

[xQubeZx]

I've done some astrophotography stuff. First an aparture of f/4 or below is reccomended to avoid trailing (if that is what you want). A lower is reccomended but f/4 is as high I would go after that you have to push the ISO too far. 

 

You will need a tripod, and a location without much lightpollution. Its hopless in cities. You don't need a trigger release if you use the self timer on the camera. However a trigger may be easier/faster. 

 

For exposure time I would not go over 30s at 24mm to avoid star trails, if even so long. There is ways to count out how long you can have depending on your focal length, I however already kinda know how long I can have for my lenses, but I advice you to just try it and see what works best for your kit. For star trails you need to have very long exposure times, and combine several frames to avoid color noise produced by the sensor. I've done 20min exposures but thats a bit too long. I'd do a shit ton of 5-10 min exposures instead and then combine those in Photoshop to avoid noise. (Also, always shoot RAW for astrophotography) 

 

Post processing is however a completley different subject, a lot to cover. So I'll wait with that. 

 

When shooting, be patient, think about composition, avoid the moon, and focus on the foreground. Use a flashlight to be able to accuratly focus on the foreground. 

 

You can also play around with lightpainting the foreground during the exposures. 

 

And bring clothes and a chair or so if you will be out long, it gets cold when sitting still. Especially in the winter, believe me, you will freeze your ass of during the winter. 

 

 

 

 

[.spider.]

1 hour ago, randomhkkid said:

According to this article http://www.photopills.com/articles/understanding-golden-hour-blue-hour-and-twilights he's right. The darker it is the more likely I'll get an exposure with stellar object in it no?

According to that article he is wrong. 

Astronomical twilight is only the second darkest period of the night.

 

"During new moon days, the end of the astronomical twilight is particularly important. If you are lucky to live near an area without light pollution, you’ll be in total darkness. This is the ideal time to start photographing and observing all types of astronomical objects: planets, galaxies (like our own, the Milky Way), nebulae, etc. " 

[randomhkkid]

1 hour ago, porina said:

Astrophotography is a big area, so are there specific areas of interest? I've dabbled with the moon, planets, deep sky (galaxies, nebulae), and with special equipment to make it safe, also the sun. Obviously, safety first on the last one!

 

My favorite area is deep sky, and for that I just use regular DLSR with lenses. A tracking mount is the biggest ingredient to make it work. I'm in an urban environment and there are filters that help a lot with light pollution. No substitute from getting away from it, but you can still produce great looking output with it. Lenses tend to be faster than most telescopes anyway, so it really helps with getting those photons.

 

36 minutes ago, xQubeZx said:

I've done some astrophotography stuff. First an aparture of f/4 or below is reccomended to avoid trailing (if that is what you want). A lower is reccomended but f/4 is as high I would go after that you have to push the ISO too far. 

 

You will need a tripod, and a location without much lightpollution. Its hopless in cities. You don't need a trigger release if you use the self timer on the camera. However a trigger may be easier/faster. 

 

For exposure time I would not go over 30s at 24mm to avoid star trails, if even so long. There is ways to count out how long you can have depending on your focal length, I however already kinda know how long I can have for my lenses, but I advice you to just try it and see what works best for your kit. For star trails you need to have very long exposure times, and combine several frames to avoid color noise produced by the sensor. I've done 20min exposures but thats a bit too long. I'd do a shit ton of 5-10 min exposures instead and then combine those in Photoshop to avoid noise. (Also, always shoot RAW for astrophotography) 

 

Post processing is however a completley different subject, a lot to cover. So I'll wait with that. 

 

When shooting, be patient, think about composition, avoid the moon, and focus on the foreground. Use a flashlight to be able to accuratly focus on the foreground. 

 

You can also play around with lightpainting the foreground during the exposures. 

 

And bring clothes and a chair or so if you will be out long, it gets cold when sitting still. Especially in the winter, believe me, you will freeze your ass of during the winter. 

 

 

 

 

I think i'll be most interested in taking images of stars where they are point lights. I've read a couple places that the Fuji sensor is more sensitive to H-alpha wavelengths than almost any other unmodified camera so hopefully that helps a tad. Will be shooting at f/1.4 and 35mm (52.5mm eff) and I'm gonna be focused on trying to get the milkyway and some foreground elements if possible. According to the 500 rules I should have about 10 seconds before I get blurring, at f/1.4 and ISO 3200 hopefully I'll be able to get some decent shots.

23 minutes ago, .spider. said:

According to that article he is wrong. 

Astronomical twilight is only the second darkest period of the night.

 

"During new moon days, the end of the astronomical twilight is particularly important. If you are lucky to live near an area without light pollution, you’ll be in total darkness. This is the ideal time to start photographing and observing all types of astronomical objects: planets, galaxies (like our own, the Milky Way), nebulae, etc. " 

That sentence only refers to new moon days does is not?

[.spider.]

13 minutes ago, randomhkkid said:

 

That sentence only refers to new moon days does is not?

No it just says that new moon days and night (sun below 18°) are the best conditions.