New Naked Eye Comet - 17/P Holmes

Oh yeah, don't forget - this months target is indeed Holmes for the November Astrophotography Competition... but all submitted entries (and you're only allowed one Kieran!) must be taken during the month.

Seanie.

Paul thnks for keeping such a regular track of the comet. It's obvious from this that the comets (coma) shape is becoming more elliptical. Have you tried using a smaller iso setting. I'm only new to this dslr lark myself but most of the "so-called" experts seem to say that theres no point in going over iso400/800. Seemingly the noise gain is much more than any signal gain you get. Isnt it a pity we cant reduce the iso of the wind.

Dave Gradwell

(and you're only allowed one Kieran!)

Highlander 'There can be only one'

Got ya. Hope you've put that new camera to good use :lol:

Isnt it a pity we cant reduce the iso of the wind.
Dave Gradwell

You said it Dave !

Hi Dave,

Yes, in the ideal situation I shoot at ISO800, however the recent conditions have been such that the longer exposures that entails haven't been practical - either because of the wind as you suggest, or because I've had to grab shots through relatively small gaps in rainy clouds and have used a static tripod instead of a driven mount. The ISO3200 of my camera isn't ideal but it's not bad, particularly if I can get a few lights and a dark or two to stack up, and being only 6 million pixels the pixel size is quite big - indeed in regular use my DSLR is no more noisy at ISO3200 than my "bridge" camera - an 8 million pixel Minolta Dimage A2 - is at ISO400!

I'm waiting for some of those crystal clear still nights where I'll be able to get a good stack of 2min exposures at ISO800 and put them all together into something spectacular!

Here's Holmes tonight (Tues Nov 13th)

Firstly the wide view 28mm f2.8 at f4, 6x 30secs, cropped to 75%.



And a closer view 70-210mm "Beercan" lens at 210mm f4 5x 30secs cropped.