I agree what a block buster! This was a video I've been wanting to see for years now! The two who got me started in all this, shooting it out. Awesome 🤘
This would be such a cool series to do with Trevor! Shooting the same DSO and talking about how you each saw it and treated it the ways you did. Loved this video, Nico!
I've enjoyed watching the slightly different takes from each of your channels, and hope that these kinds of Astro Challenges become something of a regular feature; you learn so much from hearing you guys discuss in such a supportive, constructive way. Clear skies!
These images must be encouraging for folk interested in dipping their toe in astro photography shallow end...excellent images given the lens...well done all around...and please these shoot offs are just so entertaining so more more more please...this is the third video that I have seen where two people have a go and compare...love it.
What a fun project and another learning tool for us all. You both flipped witch heads but the coin fell into your court. Beautiful picture drawing out those details.
@@sethcohen3354 The California Nebula is a hydrogen-alpha target, which means that with a stock DSLR most of the signal is going to be stopped by the IR filter in front of the sensor.
I absolutely LOVED this video and picked up some terrific tips! Loved both images too!... Now being as this is a "beginner's" set up I would like to also have seen what's possible with a less challenging brighter object. I'm stunned at the quality that can be coaxed out of even a low budget set up as this. Thanks for sharing!!
Watching your videos gave me motivation to save up money so I can buy a low budget gear so I can start! I really like how detailed your videos are in my mind you are like a teacher! Keep up your amazing job! Thank you
Thanks a lot as usual! Please do more videos with these basic kits on other objects. For us beginners it is extremely useful to get an idea of what can be done with our basic instrumentation. The final image is outstanding!
This has gotta be one of my all time favorite episodes where you and Trevor made it awesome. Talking about this reflection nebula. It’s wonderful to show what you can do with basic equipment.
I honestly enjoyed this very much and watched both sides channel. It was at no point boring but exciting and really awesome to see your guys train of thoughts! You guys rock and with the resulting picture and that gear, you both knocked it out of the park! I am deeply impressed.
You guys are the only two Astrophotographers I follow. Great video, awesome photos, thank you for sharing this collaboration. Would love to see more of these in the future.
I really enjoyed the fact that you each did the same object because it helped to illustrate how the different approaches and settings and post processing affected the outcome. I'd actually like to see more where you both shoot the same subject. Maybe next time, you will be the one grinning like a Canadian Cat. I haven't been shooting at all because of the time and lifting involved with setting up the 8 inch Meade but this has re-inspired me. Before I got the Meade, I did all my astrophotography like this.
Man, I never heard of the witch head nebula before. What a beautiful nebula. I'm new to this whole thing (astrophotography) but man, I wann try to photograph this some day. So beautiful.
This was brilliant both pictures looked wonderful excellent job. This will definitely motivate more people to get into this hobby specially if they know they don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to start. My favorite part of this was the simplicity I love simplicity in astrophotography images.
I tried two days ago to photograph my first galaxy (M81) with my DSLR and 300mm objective. It last 15-20 minutes to find it and another 15 minutes to adjust everything. I’m excited to see what I could have done better.
This is so cool you and Trevor ended up shooting the same target, also this is a great video for folks starting out giving them insight to what can be capture on a budget. Nico not sure if you have ever used a Pentax K5 for astrophotography, but the sensor in that camera is unreal, fine noise grain and literally no amp glow.
I never thought of that tape trick. I've only taken images of M31 and the Orion Nebula through a cheap Canon 55-250 lens zoomed to 250, and each time due to refocusing, I must have pushed the lens in a tiny bit. Later when examining the images, I noticed that at some point, the images didn't seem to be the same scale. This little tape trick might save me hours of future torture. So thanks! And your image looks fantastic.
Wow, great job from the both of you! You killed it with that little set up. Never knew you were from Boston either. RI and the Cape are definitely my go to spots to escape the light pollution as well.
Such a great challenge, loved seeing the results from both of you - it really showed what a personal touch can do in astrophotography to bring out what each photographer envisions!
I'm late to the party, but from my non astrophotographer p.o.v. I was like "how is this a witch's head?" on trevor's picture, and then when yours popped up I saw it immediately. Also, just today discovered your channel, and it convinced me to try some astrophotography myself.
I'm guessing you guys were out shooting this Sunday because I was doing the same thing. It was my first night with my skywatcher star adventurer 2i. I had some luck but I am hoping to do better the next time. Great photos. Clear skies
Great collaboration! You both nailed it, I love both compositions. Can't wait to learn more watching your vids. I just received my first rig, SW StarAdventurer with a WO Z61ii. Hunting down a cheap T3i to mod and then IT'S ON!
I really love this! Especially the fact that you guys went head to head on a super difficult object at that focal length. It is cool to see how the composition completely changed the image, and for my money the Halpha in your image is what takes it. Don't get me wrong both are amazing, but that extra pop of color just makes it that much more pleasing to the eye in my opinion.
Both are great and I got many good pointers and ideas. I like yours s little better because it has more interesting features and was more of a risk that paid off.
I cant even do that with a great lens. Awesome and beautiful to you both. I am new and still trying too get andromeda decent lol. And trying too figure out good stacking and PS is a lot too take in but going for it
If I did not know better I would think that I wrote your comment since I am going through the same learning curve. And I too am concentrating on the Andromeda galaxy.
We all need to see more of this type of Astrophotography where the equipment doesn't cost an arm and a leg.. Please more of this KISS mentality so us average Joe astrophotographers can relate.
@@Carl_John i mean you can take incredibly good pictures with just a dslr a tripod and an intervalometer, nico has a video of that, it’s like 2 hours long, but totally worth the time
@@Carl_John I guess is just trial and error, I’ve seen some pretty decent pictures with just the kit lens, if you just add a startracker, like the sky guider pro (it’s somewhere around 450 bucks) you can start taking breathtaking pictures.
A Mengs 68mm Tripod Mount Ring D (B) will fit the 75-300 nicely with the added benefit of rotation for framing it will also lock the zoom. Placement: over the auto focus switch.
Nico, you mention in your back and forth with Trevor that a stock DSLR camera is sensitive enough to pick up the brown "dust" in space at long exposure. Curious, when you say long exposure, is that limited to just actual long exposure lights or can that also be a higher quantity of shorter exposure lights such as 30 second or 60 second lights but more of them and stacked together.
@@nightmarekali3522 not exactly. You can say that while at longer exposures u get more signal in multiple short exposures u get the same signal many times. Nico and other photographers had videos about it
I like this challenge you guys did, I have the same exact setup, I'm saving up for the william optics 61mm and I'm gonna take a weeks vacation here soon and go up to the Upper Peninsula(Bortle 1) and do some imaging. Thanks for all of the info you pass on.
I’ve been saying it for years and now I am vindicated. You CAN have 5 min subs with a tracker like the Star Adventurer with accurate polar alignment. A well known person in the community questioned this and my character (crazily) on facebook when I showed them. Maybe they’ll argue with Nico too now. 🤣
Yep, people in this hobby tend to want to make sweeping generalizations about things they have either never tried or maybe tried once or twice, and then made up their mind about. I wouldn't suggest 5 minute subs for a brand new beginner, but once one knows their equipment well they may as well start testing it's limits. 👍
I've been using a nearly identical setup to this challenge for the last year. My only difference is I'm using the 55-250mm and a SkyGuider Pro. With really good seeing and dead-on alignment, 5 minutes is entirely possible all the way up to 250mm. I even got about 60 minutes of the Witch Head Nebula about 2 months ago. More to prove to myself that I can star hop without a finder scope and actually get images. I had no idea Nico and Trevor had this going on, too! And like them, I found that stopping down from f/5.6 (wide open) to f/7.1 made a dramatic difference in quality. Much better on reducing aberrations.
