Capture Notes
We took our late June/early July dark skies trip (New Moon, Tuesday 28 Jun 2022) to Rocky Reservoir, Colorado in the far northwest corner of the state – an 8.5 hour drive from home in Colorado Springs. Departed home on Sunday, 26 June and spent the night at Hampton Inn in Craig, CO. On Monday morning, 27 June drove the rest of the way from Craig to Rocky Reservoir. It was supposed to be Monday-Thursday camp. Monday night was clear, captured SH2-129 Flying Bat Nebula with BB-Ra and Milky Way core images with both the EOS 60Da (astro-modified, crop sensor) and EOS 5DSR (non-astro modified, full frame sensor). Tuesday afternoon the clouds, wind, and rain moved in – disassembled BB with the rain, broke camp on Wednesday morning and drove all the way home (8.5 hours)…17 hours of driving for about 5 hours of imaging. Definitely NOT a good ROI!
The image above is a single 15 second image – note how it is noisier (captured at ISO 3200) but crisper in the landscape, especially the clouds in the distance. It also captures a single meteor from the Bootid Meteor shower that peaked at about this day/time. The images below are stacks of 15 second images. The stacking gets rid of the noise, but also softens the image and removes the single event “outliers” (i.e., the meteor).
Equipment
Imaging stream:
Canon EOS 5DSR w Sigma 14mm 1:1.8DG lens on tripod with handle control head, remote control.
Canon EOS 60Da w Sigma 14mm 1:1.8DG lens on tripod with handle control head, remote control.
Sequence Control: Pixel Pro TW-283 N3 Wireless Shutter Remote Control Timer and Shutter Release
Capture & Processing
Exposure Settings: Took 15 second exposures with both cameras throughout the night. Framed at ISO3200, dropped back to ISO1600 (took a series at ISO800, but were too dark) for the imaging. F-stop set to f/2.8 throughout.
Single image (above): Captured 27Jun2022, 0250MDT (Canon EOS 5DSR, single 15sec frame, ISO3200, f/2.8)
Canon 5DSR stacked image: Captured 27Jun2022 (Canon EOS 5DSR, 159x15sec, ISO1600, f/2.8)
Canon 60Da ISO3200 framing stack: Captured 27Jun2022 (Canon EOS 60Da, 8x15sec ISO3200 framing images, f2.8)
Canon 60Da stacked image: Captured 27Jun2022 (Canon EOS 60Da, 132x15sec, ISO1600, f2.8)
Capture: 27 June 2022
Shooting location: Rocky Reservoir, Colorado
Processing: Stacked using Sequator by camera, ISO. Processed in LR, using Alyn Wallace LR presets
