The Author – Bart Busschots
Creative Commons
Unless otherwise stated, the content on this site is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works 3.0 License
Feb
1
My First Real Astrophotos With My Nikon D40
Filed Under Science & Astronomy, Photography on February 1, 2008 at 2:01 am
This week I’ve started on the next rung of the Astrophotography ladder. Until now I was just taking a few hand-held shots of planets in the evening twilight. While they were nice shots, there is a lot more to astrophotography than that! What I’ve started experimenting with this week is using my very bright F1.4 30mm prime focus lens for longer tripod-mounted exposures. I’m already in love with my prime focus lens but this is yet another reason it’s the best €300 I’ve ever spent. I get a lot more use out of it than I do out of my zoom lenses.
To get this to work I obviously needed a tripod which I ordered a few weeks ago and which arrived on Monday. The other less-obvious thing you need is a remote. The Nikon D40 has a bulb mode but only if you set the shooting mode to the remote. That makes sense because the only way to use a bulb setting without camera shake is with some form of remote shutter release. Since the D40 doesn’t have a connector for an old-fassioned cable release the remote is the only option. I picked it up for about €30 so I’m happy enough with that.
Below are my first two pics. They look OK at this size but not at full size (hence no link for the full-sized version like I’d usually provide). These were 20 second exposures with my Sigma 30mm F1.4 lens and really the only problem with them is soft focus. There is no problem with star trails even at 20 seconds because the field of view is quite large.
Anyhow, here’s the photos. The first one shows Orion and you can clearly see M42 the Orion Nebular and the second one shows the Taurus region with the Pleiades or Seven Sisters clearly visible near the bottom.
[tags]Astrophotography, Nikon, D40[/tags]
Hey Bart,
I’m not quite an expert on astronomy, but from a complete laymans point of view i consider this photos quite nice. They seem to be a bit off though, maybe too much light from the surrounding interfering with the night shot? Or was there something illuminating the sky from the earth?
Anyway, very nice shots, hope you’ll have few more online some time.
Hi Martin,
Definitely too much light pollution. I took them in my back yard in the middle of suburbia! It was also a slightly hazy night so that wouldn’t have helped either.
Don’t worry, this is just the beginning, there’ll be lots more and lots better astro shots to come in the future … at least I hope they’ll be a better!
Bart.
hey what are the specs on the lenses and adapter I’m thinking of doing this type of stuff
Hi Daniel,
No adapter, just a 30mm prime focus F1.4 lens from Sigma. I reviewed the lens a while back: http://www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=608
Bart.
The pictures came out really good. You can clearly see Orion and the seven sisters.
Having a little bit of the illuminated house in the pics makes all the difference. It grounds the pictures well.
Nice work – lets see more!
Do you have a telescope?
Thanks for your kind words Will. I do indeed have a telescope but to be honest I don’t use it much. I get a lot more enjoyment out of my trusty 10x50mm binoculars!
Bart.
Bart – I just got a Nikon D40 and am anxious to start using it with my telescope. What kind of camera adaptor are you using and where did you purchase it? Thanks! – Steve
Hi Steve,
I’m sorry to say I can’t help you here. I don’t actually use my D40 with a telescope. All my astro shots are either hand-held (very few) or simply shot with a static tripod. All my work is un-guided and none of it is through a scope.
The best of luck with your D40!
Bart.