Star Circle Academy

Milky Way Research Project (please read carefully)

July 9, 2012 · 9:00 PM

As many of you know, I have been working on many fronts: honing material for a "Down With the Noise" webinar, organizing several Milky Way photography events, and a large assortment of other things (like eating, sleeping, astrophotography).

What I would like to do is get some hardcore people to join me for a 2-3 hour data collection exercise. There is no charge for this event, but there are several important restrictions.

You must be willing on one day notice to join me.
You must have your own transportation
We will meet at a location that is no more than a 90 minute drive West or South from the San Jose Airport.
Total time spent may span from 8:30 PM to midnight.
You must have the following equipment.
1. A sturdy tripod.
2. A DSLR camera body
3. A wide angle lens capable of 24mm at f/2.8 (zooms OK)
4. A cable release or intervalometer.
5. Layered clothing - prepared for cold and windy or warm and balmy.
6. A blank, formatted media card with at least 2 Gb capacity.
7. You must have experience using the equipment - specifically setting your camera to take RAW images and in manual exposure mode.
You must be willing - on the spot, to provide me with your raw data and allow me to use the results - with attribution - in upcoming publications and webinars.

What will YOU get out of it besides my gratitude?

The benefit of whatever shot(s) you take (I just want a copy for my research).
Mention in an upcoming column or webinar.
Knowledge about WHERE I go to shoot the Milky Way.
Practice shooting the night sky.
Some coaching from me.
A possibly game changing result.
Time to rub shoulders with other Night Denizens.
Practice and instruction on how to take Light Frames, Dark Frames, and Flat Frames.

I would like to get many different representative cameras for this experiment, and the data will be most useful only if it is collected all at the same time.

There are several questions you must answer to be considered for selection... please read and answer them carefully.

Thank you for your help!

NOTE: If possible I'd like to collect the data sometime between Sunday, July 8th and Saturday, July 14th.

So far responses include the following equipment:

Canon:
. 5D Mk II, 5D, 5D Mk III, 50D, XTI, 5D, 7D, 40D, 30D

Nikon:
. D800, D7000, D700, D90, D40X

Pentax:
. K-5

Sony:

. A700

Olympus:

. OM-D E5

Looking for some more equipment, particularly Nikon D70 and others.

Sunset is at 8:31 PM

Astronomical Twilight Ends at 10:21 PM

-----------------------------

If you'd like to rehearse here is what we'll do:

Format memory card.
Focus on infinity. Turn off autofocus.
Take flat frames (5).
Turn off LENR, High ISO NR. Use Manual mode, f/2.8, 24mm.
Point camera at Milky Way.
Set exposure to 10 seconds and:
- ISO to 200. Shoot a regular frame, cap the lens and shoot a dark frame.
- ISO to 800. Shoot a regular frame, cap the lens and shoot a dark frame.
- ISO to 1600. Shoot a regular frame, then dark
- ISO to 3200 (if possible) . Regular, then dark.
Repeat step 5 but set exposure length to 20 seconds
Repeat step 5 with 30 second exposures.
Repeat step 5 with 60 second exposures.

This will result in 37 frames and it should take about 20 minutes assuming that changing camera settings between each shot requires 10 seconds, and it takes about 5 seconds to remove or replace the lens cap.

Total shoot time for steps 5 to 8 should be about 20 minutes.

Thanks much for your willingness to help!

If you're wondering why we need to be together for this effort: It's because I want to control the conditions so that everyone has the same temperature, lighting, and so on. Then the results will be directly comparable.

C_049197

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voltaire

If you need a volunteer for the next time as long as my schedule would allow, I'm in. Sorry, I couldn't help you this last time.

0 · July 29
Steven Christenson

Gee thanks, Walker.

0 · July 17
Walker

Steven: I thought it quite a remarkable tribute to you that twenty or so of your disciples would show up in the boondocks, bring thousands of dollars worth of gear on short notice just to help you with a project that many of us didn’t fully understand. You have given us a great deal, and I hope you feel appreciated.
Keep shooting,
Walker

0 · July 11
Robert Milton

Thanks again, Steven.. it was truly a beautiful setting - and astounding that the milky way is so accessible. I stuck around until after moonrise.. :-)

0 · July 10
Robert Milton

It was an amazingly beautiful spot to help gather data - I learned a lot, and stayed afterwards to enjoy the evening and capture more photos. Happy to help, any time.

0 · July 10
marsha kirschbaum

Excellent! I learn so much every time I go out -- not only from Steven -- but from the rest of the group too. Thank you all!

0 · July 10
Andy Benkert

Good times were had by all (well, at least me and one other person)! ;-) Learned some good stuff while helping with some photo research. How can that not be fun?!? AND, the weather was fantastic.

0 · July 10
Nikki D. Pritchett

It was a lot of fun and great meeting and seeing people. Was very well organized and tips on shooting the Milky Way were given throughout the night. We had 17 cameras and Steven will have his hands full correlating data. Thanks again Steven.

0 · July 10
A former member

Great event. It was awesome to provide pictures in exchange for some tips on shooting the Milky Way. Thanks very much, Steven!

0 · July 10
Steven Christenson

It was really great that everyone showed up as they said and helped me collect data for two webinars I'm working on. And on top of that, ya'll were really patient, too!

0 · July 10
Walker

I always learn from Steven even when I am being his relearch assistant

0 · July 10
Enrico

You're welcome Steven, have fun working through all that data. ;)

0 · July 10
marsha kirschbaum

Thank you!

0 · July 10
Steven Christenson

Thanks all, for your participation. I have data from 17 different cameras. Note I've deleted nearly all of the comments as some contained your phone number or other personal data that you may not have wanted out there in perpetuity.

0 · July 10
Enrico

Flat frame is a term from Astrophotography.
Flat Frame you take a picture of a uniform colored object (can be blue sky, a t-shirt or plastic but needs to be bright enough and properly exposed) with the same focus setting when you took the light frame (in this case the light fram is the picture of the Milky Way).
This Flat Frame is used in the program for processing the light frame to make them flat and remove any distortions.

0 · June 27