Am I playing it safe with My ISO in DSLR imaging?

[Guest VikN46]

Hi All,

A quick question, if I may about imaging using a DSLR. When I image using BYEOS at ISO 800 the image seems washed out and light so I tend to drop to ISO 400 but then not get the luminance and data needed. Should I go for ISO 800 and not be put off by the lightness of the frames? Below is last nights image of NGC 6960 Western Veil at ISO 400. 10 x 300s LIGHTS, 5 x 300s Darks at 400ISO found it difficult to process, guiding I think was ok. Thoughts please

Not so good and very noisy:

NGC 6960 - Western Veil by VikN46, on Flickr

Guiding Graph

20140721_231416 by VikN46, on Flickr

[Sheila]

i have not done DSLR for a long time, but always used ISO 800 and got loads and loads of images to stack.

 

last image i did of NGC7000 had over 50 subs 5 minute subs, it might 

 

http://www.astrobin.com/53616/

 

Sheila

Edited July 22, 2014 by Sheila

[red dwalf]

hi Vicky,

its a bit difficult at the moment imaging anything as it really does not get dark at all, i found that when i used my DLSR to image anything in a light polluted area of the sky that my 5 minute image looked totally washed out but when i image in the south it does not look so bad, very strange and got me wondering if some of the local street light was finding it`s way down the scope optics alittle, and i too use an astronomik cls light pollution filter on the camera, but certainly i wouldn`t go above iso 800 as it can make more noise and maybe reduce the exposure time alittle so the histogram is about a 1/4 to 1/3rd of the way from the left hand side and see how they come out, your PHD graph looks fine.  

[Perkil8r]

800 and more of them. Do remember it is still light at 10:30 so if you wait a month I suspect you may be a little happier

[Guest VikN46]

Thanks, the next few nights are forecast clear so will add data (or start again if needed) as best as I can, really cant wait till thermals are needed and darker longer nights

Edited July 22, 2014 by VikN46

[+RonC]

I remember processing this from last year, it's a nightmare subject in PS!

130809NGC6960 by [email protected], on Flickr

Edited July 22, 2014 by Ron Clarke

[xanthic]

You'll need many more light subs to iron out the noise and I'd use at least 20 darks. ISO800 seems to be the sweet spot for signal to noise ratio for most Canon DSLR. Something else to consider this time of year is temperature. The warmer it is, the more noise you'll get in your images.

[fwm891]

Darks at same iso as lights might help with noise. Plus some bias frames (same iso).

 

800 iso is fine. Some of the newer Canons handle higher iso's better than the older ones. So camera model will be a factor.