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Coathanger CR 399

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Posts Made By: Don McCrady

March 14, 2005 05:46 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky

M95, M96, And M105 Group

Posted By Don McCrady
This is the last target from March 12th at Tiger Mountain (actually the first one shot). It suffered from some focus shift, so I had to do some star size reduction. You sharp-eyed critics (bless you all) will notice some remaining halos from that effort. None of the galaxies in this group is terribly photogenic, but together they are nice, and M95 & M96 show their bars well.



Click http://djmccradyastro2.home.comcast.net/images/M95-M96-M105-2005-03-12.jpg for a higher resolution version.

Thanks in advance for all comments!

March 13, 2003 06:39 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

She's big, black, and beautiful!

Posted By Don McCrady
I have the 12.5 inch model, named Black Betty, and I'm in love with her (and my understanding wife tolerates it too). I envy you with the 15", but that was just too large to fit into my vehicle. My only problem with Betty is that it won't bring a few eyepiece combinations to focus (i.e., a 31mm TV Nagler, or any Barlow'd eyepiece). But it does just fine with the other Nagler/Panoptic eyepieces.

Have fun.

Keep watching the skies!
++don;

April 26, 2004 05:33 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Re: DSLR Processing

Posted By Don McCrady
James... I also use ImagesPlus with my Canon Digital Rebel. (It actually has some features which are custom for Canon DSLR's).

It works very well (and best) with 16-bit TIFF's during processing.

May 4, 2004 05:37 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Canon 10D vs. Digital Rebel?

Posted By Don McCrady
One other thing about the 10D vs the 300D... the 300D is a lot lighter since it has a plastic body vs the 10D's metal body. It might make a difference if you're close to your weight limit.

Also, software like DSLRFocus and Images Plus can use a specially modified parallel port shutter release cable to emulate the TC80.

May 4, 2004 05:43 PM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

Scopes please Scopes

Posted By Don McCrady
Here's mine. Takahashi Sky 90 on a Losmandy GM-8 w/Gemini L3. My 12.5" Discovery PDHQ is in the background.

May 15, 2004 04:08 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Q4 (NEAT) with Digital Rebel and Sky 90

Posted By Don McCrady
Here's a wider-field version of the same image showing M44, the Beehive Cluster, trailing in the background.

May 26, 2004 01:48 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M101

Posted By Don McCrady
Very nice, Steve. Very deep. Did you manually operate the shutter during that 45 exposures, or did you use some other automated mechanism?

May 27, 2004 02:40 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

300D, RemoteCapture and bulb

Posted By Don McCrady
Yes, RemoteCapture won't handle bulb mode.

To control the shutter, you can use software such as DSLRFocus or Images Plus. These work in concert with a custom parallel port shutter release cable (one end plugs into a laptop's parallel port, the other into the 300D's remote shutter release plug).

You can make your own cable: see http://www.stek.ch/Stefano/Serial-DSLR for details. Or you can pay some one to build it for you... see http://www.hapg.org/astrocables.htm for Hap Griffin's cables.

Info about DSLR Focus is available at http://www.dsrfocus.com; info about Images Plus is available at http://www.mlunsold.com.

Hope that helped.

June 25, 2004 05:12 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M63 - ST2000XCM

Posted By Don McCrady
Very nice, especially with the 1/4 moon. More aperture might be nice, but I'm somewhat partial to wide-field shots.

June 27, 2004 05:06 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

M16, 300D and 20"RC

Posted By Don McCrady
The 300D modification impresses me greatly! Nice job.

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