My first decent shot of the Orion Nebula after six months of trying

I finally got a clear enough night to stack 45 minutes of exposures on my basic DSLR and a cheap tracker. The core detail came out way better than I ever thought it would, showing some of the gas clouds. It felt good to see all that time in the cold pay off. What's a good next target for someone with similar gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

hollydixon1mo ago

Basic DSLR and a cheap tracker" is actually a huge limitation, not a starting point. You'll just get more fuzzy blobs on other targets and waste more cold nights. That feeling of payoff is a trap that leads to buying more gear you can't afford.

jake_dixon1mo ago

That "feeling of payoff" line is spot on. I chased that for a year with my old T3i and a wonky tripod, ended up with a hard drive full of noisy shots that just made me want to quit.

palmer.val4d ago

What if the fuzzy blobs are the whole point? My first real shot of Andromeda was a noisy mess, but it was mine. Learning to pull any detail out of that taught me more than a perfect tracked shot ever could. That struggle makes the later wins mean something.