North America Nebula Attempt - help?

Hi all, last night was the first clear night I've had in a while (plus - the streetlight shining into my backyard has blown and nobody has come to fix it yet!!!! )

Anyways, I tried my hand at the North America Nebula NGC7000 in Cygnus, not far from Deneb (alpha cygni, one of the 3 stars of the summer triangle) with a piggyback shot using the canon 300D. This is a 6 minute single shot exposure, but i'm disappointed in the camera's ability to capture the red light from the nebula itself, any processing wizard's out there? All I've done is auto levels in ps7, but can't bring out anymore red from the nebula, my camera is an unmodified 300D. What do you think?
P.S Star cluster M39 is at top left, nice cluster.
Thanks, Keith..

Details:
23/09/2005, 6mins exposure, f4.5 at ISO 800, 85mm f1.8USM Lens

Keith, Lovely shot!

I've tried a couple of things, adjusting colour balance, levels, histograms, all sorts, I couldnt get the nebula any redder. I think the thing to note here is that a longer focal lenght is needed to increase the contrast between the nebula and its surroundings. Of course the cameras insensitivity to red doesnt help but your bring hit with a double whammy using such a short focal lenght. Also the moon last night is never gonna help!!

I suggest you repeat this when the moon is out of the way with a longer focal lenght if you can.

Hi Keith,
I like a good challenge, I'll see what I can do with it and might post results tomorrow.

Good stuff men! That rising moon did'nt help at all, I've seen it better when it's out of the way, so I will try it again soon, over the next wek or so. Asfor a longer focal length, the 85mm acts as a 136mm lens with the 300D, I'd love to try this with a 200mm.

Will keep workin' on it. It is a challenge to get that nebula out, maybe increasing exposuretime/stacking will help also...

Keith..

Keith,
I too have noticed that the camera is not the greatest at picking up the red of stars or nebulae. Tends to give a blueish colour to everything. Have you ever considered getting a h-alpha filter? Is it possible to get a h-alpha filter to fit over a camera lens?

I though about this Michael and I wonder would this be really feasible?
I haven't come to a conclusion yet.
The camera is just not sensitive to red light, but it does see it, so maybe a h-a alpha filter would work but you'd be looking at a very long exposure due to the insensitivity???

Keith how long can you track without errors ??