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Took me 4 nights to get my first decent shot of Andromeda from my backyard
I tried shooting Andromeda from my driveway in Columbus with a cheap 75-300mm lens last month. The first two nights were total garbage, just star trails and noise, because I had no clue about the 500 rule. Then I spent 3 hours reading forums and switched to 15 second exposures at ISO 3200, taking 40 shots. Stacking them in DeepSkyStacker froze my laptop twice and I almost gave up. Finally got something where you can actually see the dust lanes, and I sat there at 1am just staring at my screen. How long did it take you folks to get your first galaxy shot that did not look like a smudge?
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the_holly3d ago
That 500 rule thing got me too, I wasted a whole clear night in my driveway shooting 30 second subs at 200mm and every single frame had trails you could see from space. Columbus lights are brutal for this stuff so 15 seconds at 3200 was a smart move on your part. One thing that saved me when my old laptop kept choking on DeepSkyStacker was shooting dark frames right there in the field before I packed up, because without them the stacking makes the noise look ten times worse and you end up with a muddy blob instead of dust lanes. Also check that you turn off in camera noise reduction and image stabilization, those two settings alone ruined my first three attempts at M31. Four nights is honestly fast for a first keeper, it took me about six weeks of on and off trying before I got something I would show anybody, and even then the core was blown out. Keep at it, the next one gets easier once you have your settings locked in.
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