Magellan Boy Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Just wanted to share with you the very first images I have captured with my Mallincam Xtreme X2 colour camera. They include Caldwell 30, Stephan's Quintet and M33. They won't win any awards but this was only my second night out with the camera and my first time doing any deep sky imaging. All were taken on the 22nd November 2013 from my observatory using a 10" LX200 ACF, Mallincam Xtreme X2 colour camera, MFR-5 focal reducer (about f/5), and the third party Miloslick Mallincam control software. Each is a single 60 second 'hyper mode' exposure with no dark frame, no guiding, no post processing and using an on the fly histogram stretch in the control software.There are some hot pixels and artifacts, including 'amp glow' in the lower left of each image, so I'm going to get around to taking some dark frames. I'm also in the process of doing a drift align of my mount so this should allow me to take longer exposures as I improve the tracking. The camera is primarily for live viewing of DSOs and other objects but can take reasonably decent images given more time and experience! Caldwell 30 Stephan's Quintet M33 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 The camera is primarily for live viewing of DSOs and other objects but can take reasonably decent images given more time and experience! As far as I have read, this is one of the most sensitive colour deep sky video cameras available, which has been producing some great views and images in the US. I would be very interested to read more of what you can do with this Mike as you gain a bit more experience, both live visual and imaging. Hope to see some more images and reports using this equipment next time you get chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magellan Boy Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 Cheers Pete, My first light images don't really do the camera any justice at all so hopefully as I go along I'll be able to produce some equally good images from here in Blighty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawson Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Looks promising on my phone. I've never heard of the quintet. It looks like there is some star trailing on the first image, what sort of mount is your kit on? (again I can't see signatures on my phone in case it says there). James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magellan Boy Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 Hi James, Yep the tracking needs some work, and in between actual observing sessions I'm working on drift aligment, and I want to do some PEC training too. The mount is an NEQ6 Pro pulling around 40lb of kit. Once I improve the tracking I can rack up the integration times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawson Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Ive tried this method of drift aligning and found it very good, but i don;t have a permanent set up: http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=2838 Good luck with it all. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magellan Boy Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 Now that's an interesting method, cheers for that James. I must admit I'm quite enjoying the old fashioned illuminated reticle eyepiece method, time consuming though it is. I've found some nice doubles in Cetus along the way and getting familiar with areas of the sky less frequented! Thanks for the link though, I'll bear it in mind if I get fed up with my 19th century method... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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