Welcome to Astro Venture - New content every Friday.
This is a beginner-friendly astrophotography channel built around simple star trackers, DSLR/mirrorless cameras, and camera lenses. The idea being to dual utilize your photography equipment and minimize how much specialized equipment is needed.
Additionally, there will be equipment reviews, how-to instruction, recommendations, and astrophotography tips.
About me? My name is George Pandoff and I am a photographer that still loves being a photographer. I initially got hooked photographing the Milkyway. What started me down the astrophotography path was a random for the heck of it photograph into the Milky Way for no other reason than to see what I might find. What I captured, I would later learn, was a really poor photograph of the Lagoon Nebula. From there, I was hooked. So feel free to join me on this Astro Venture.
Hi, late comer to your channel. I'm a newbie to astrophotography. Do you have a plan, sketch, for your tripod. I have accessibility to a mechanical shop. Also, what would you do different to improve the tripod. Thanks for the videos.
Great videos. They have helped me a ton. When I first installed the iPolar Scope it was working correctly. At some point during calibration, I must have screwed up because it is off by 90 degrees. To move the target up or down, I have to rotate the mount. To move it right or left, I raise or lower the mount. PA is PA, so I'm not worried, but it sure drives me nuts. How can I fix that? BTW,I upgraded to the Williams Optics base. WOW what a difference.
Great video George, Great information, I'm in South England, we could see it but where I am it was blown out, hopefully it will come soon so I can get out into a darker area.
What telescope do you use? I am a novice wanting to do this too! Where and how should I start? I know there are refractive and reflective telescopes....but what do you recommend for a beginner?
Here in Seattle, I was at ISO 800, f/3.2, and shutter between 1-2 seconds. At one point she was moving so fast I dropped to ½ sec and bumped the ISO to 1600. It was a crazy night on the Puget Sound!❤🎉
@astroventure2221 I just finished processing 900+ photos. I have no idea how, or even if I have enough photos, but I'm going to try to make a time lapse. Even if that doesn't work out, I'll post some of the best photos on FB.
Very nice shots. I used setting very similar to yours and got great shots here in Michigan. But I made the mistake of using a nifty fifty. Too tight. Surprisingly, I set my wife's iPhone for night shots and they turned out even MORE amazing with the wade angle of that camera. glad you're back and looking forward to more content.
Nice! On this second night and last, in my bortle 9, skies. Canon 5D MK IV, time-lapse video mode. 6 second, iso 640, f3.5, TAMRON 15-30, at 15mm . Otherwise, the LP seemed to be a problem. Damn neighbors motion light. I was going to loosen the bulbs😅
Nice video George ! I like it. So were those 500 images at 3-5 second long exposures each and then put into the time lapse ? I’m guessing I will have to increase my ISO with those shorter exposures. I was using ISO 800 last night and 15-20 second exposures for a single image. I’m shooting from Bortle 8.
I suggest shorter imaging time and higher iso. Reason being is the longer your shutter is open the softer your Aurora is going to get as well as any clouds in the sky. For me, 8 seconds was perfect.
Just to clarify. Walking noise happens when you stack images of a target that hasn't moved much between frames (PA and tracking/guiding are excellent). It occurs because tracking software confuses "not-so-random" noise with actual signal...so, noise is also stacked. The best way to cancel this out is by dithering...either automatically if you have a GOTO mount or manually by slightly nudging the mount a few pixels on any direction/axis every 2 or 3 light frames. Apart from this, great informative video
In this DSLR setup, why don't we connect the mount and the Asiair with the ST-4 port? Does Asiair app make a digital tracking of the stars? How does the tracking accuracy compare with the setup which a mount is counted to the Asiair?
Just waiting my the T3i body I picked up to return from getting the astro mod done to it. I am using my day use EOS RP now, besides the 1.6 aps-c crop for zoom any real optical differences I should be aware of doing astro with a cropped sensor?
Hi sir . I read in the ipolar software read latitude and longitude from mount.. why you need to type al this numbers in the software . it you done it is daylight.
Great video. I just finished performing a full spectrum modification of my Canon T3 a few days ago. I had previously performed an Ha modification, but wasn't satisfied. I can't wait to test it, but the cloud monster just won't leave. I'm glad I found your channel. Please keep it up.👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
I've had my gem28 for 2 years and last night was the first time it's come up with the confirm position. I think maybe a reset something on it and lost the previous positions. Helpful video. For some reason the instructions (which with hindsight are very clear) didn't make much sense to me in the freezing cold!
This was great, George! Thanks so much. For those with GoTo on their star tracker (or mount) this is less than 1' away from IC4587 in case the star is not in their database. (I was following along with you on Stellarium and happened to see IC4587 nearby, so I thought I'd mention it.) Thanks again!
Thanks for the tips! I hope to image my first total eclipse in north Texas next month. I don't believe you mentioned it, but I am going to bracket heavily in order to (hopefully)) not miss a good exposure.
I would have loved to shoot anything in March actually. Damn chem trails in the sky almost every other day. Have a nice AM5 mount and ASIAir now and have yet to use it for 3 weeks. Hope you get some clear skies as well up there in Utah.
I intended to buy at least a 700mm OTA, and AM5 this year. Galaxy season forced my hand. Everything was small in my 360mm scope. I ended up with an Askar 120 APO, with 1.0 X flattener (840mm). $1700 is comparable to the SV550. I wasn't prepared for this beast. AM5, asiair mini, ASI533, asi178MM and 50mm Orion guiding. Had it out a few hours unguided. Hopefully clear Wednesday, (it's pouring now). I rebuilt an extremely robust. old school Gitzo tripod. This is solid and not too heavy.
Nice tutorial is really helpful for the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse in April! What type of filament did you print your parts with, I didn't hear if you ever mentioned it in the video?
Thank you for the video. Between the standard and the iPolar version, I'm deciding which one to go with. The content in your video is really helpful, particularly the portion showing the struggle and challenge encountered in alignment to the polar star.
You won't regret getting the iPolar, but you will regret not getting it. As the night goes on you get more inaccurate in your alignment, but not having to come off target to dial it back in is worth it.
Thanks for this useful video. I just have my Astro Modified Camera which is very sensitive to H alpha. So when we take a night sky at night, the whole image will look pinkish. So how we gonna get the WB right in camera at night ? How Are we going to set a custom white balance in this regard? Do we have to take a photo of grey card at night ? or just on the day time? Thanks
To set your white balance for astro with your modded camera use a grey card under bright sunlight during the day. I hang my grey card off my tripod in bright sunlight without shadows. He places his grey card in the shade. You could do it both ways and save each custom white balance and then the next time your out shooting the night sky see which one you like better.
Great video George. I hear you on the clouds. Same here in the Northeast. I can't remember the exact dates 10th-13th. 12p Pon-Brook is supposed to pass by Andromeda. And then around the 21st pass by the Triangulum Galaxy too. That would make a great image to capture both in the night sky. M31 Each week. M33 with the comet. Worth a shot right? Hopefully clear skies soon for you George.
@@conn0r_gray537 Unfortunately, the island was taken away from us unless you are paying to camp out there. We go to Hanksville or up to the Bear River Bird Preserve. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cPZLkmqft8Y.html
