Puppis Milky Way

Puppis Milky Way, a photo by Nightfly Photography on Flickr.

The rich starfields of Puppis are often neglected by northern hemisphere observers / photographers due to its southerly declination. This view here was captured just above my treeline at my home in eastern Maine.



I employed the use of my Pentax 67 medium format camera with a 300mm f/4 lens stopped down to f/5.6 and 30 minutes exposure on Kodak TMAX 400 black and white film. The camera was piggybacked onto an 8" SCT for guiding.



The negative was processed professionally in Kodak XTOL developer. It was then scanned by myself on an Epson V600 scanner. The image file was then imported into Photoshop for basic level adjustment and slight cropping.

Film Test: Fujicolor Superia XTRA 400

Some time ago Fujifilm released its Superia XTRA 400 film in 120 format.  I had just seen a result using this film in 35mm format a few years ago on the Yahoo Film Astrophotographers Forum with promising results.  I had purchased 2 pro-packs at the beginning of the year from the only supplier I could find, Amazon.com.  At only $19.99 per pack of five rolls, it was economical for an imported film that is common in Europe and Japan.

Well as you may well know, over time film makers change back and forth film formulae that end up giving good Ha performance to poor Ha performance.   The results here is somewhat mixed, I had expectations that it might be similar to Fuji's Fujicolor 100, also known as Superia 100, perhaps the best negative film for astrophotgraphy in recent history.



Three Exposures taken in February show comparitive exposures of 10, 20, and 40 minutes using a Pentax 67 and 105mm lens stopped down to f/4.8



The poor response to faint Ha emissions is evident in this longest exposure of the set.  Stellar recording power was admirable if not for the garish rendition of the night sky.  There is much recorded on the film and the results could be converted to black & white as this film does have good luminance reciprocity.



The single 40 minute exposure of Orion



A more promising result came with a frame taken on an early morning near the end of February.  It was nice to visit with an old friend normally reserved for late spring.  Note the good blue and yellow response as well as the good recording power revealing the dark streamers heading east. It is likely that this film could produce very pleasing results in the very bright regions of Sagittarius and Ophiuchus. 



Rho Ophiuchi Region:  Pentax 67 300mm f/4 @ f/5.6 - 45 minutes exposure, part of which was taken in deep astronomical twilight.  Results are partially cropped here.

Compared to recently minted films such as Fujicolor Reala 100, Kodak Portra 400, and Portra 160, the new Fujicolor XTRA 400 film is favorable.  But if your looking for a film that will blow your socks off, we will have to either wait or look for your favorite films at online auctions, or perhaps if you were prepared for this; your film freezer.



Messier 46 and 47 in Puppis

Messier 46 and 47 in Puppis, a photo by Nightfly Photography on Flickr.

Messier 46 and 47, a beautiful pair of clusters in Puppis, one relatively young, the other ancient. A fine view in Binoculars on a late winter or early spring evening.

Pentax Spotmatic II 300mm f/4 SMC Takumar @ f/4 30 minute exposure on Kodak Gold 100 film. Scanned on an Epson V600 scanner, imported into PixInsight for BDE and levels. Touched up in Photoshop.

Jupiter and Venus

Jupiter and Venus, a photo by Nightfly Photography on Flickr.

Jupiter and Venus were close enough on the evening of March 12th, 2012 to fit inside the field of my 300mm lens. I employed a somewhat unknown method to produce the diffraction seen here. I stopped the lens down from full aperture and made the exposure. Equatorial tracking was employed.

Pentax Spotmatic II with the 300mm F/4 SMC Takumar @ F/8 5 minutes exposure on Kodak Gold 100.

Messier 42 / 43 on Kodak Gold 100

Messier 42 / 43 on Kodak Gold 100, a photo by Nightfly Photography on Flickr.

Pentax Spotmatic II and SMC Takumar 300mm f/4 30 minutes exposure on Kodak Gold 100 negative film. Scanned on an Epson V600 and processed in PixInsight and Photoshop.

Sure there is some CA around the stars, but this in 1973 equipment! To be fair, there were some high clouds present on the evening this was shot, hence the brightest stars have halos.

Saying Goodbye to Winter: Orion Sets in the West

Saying Goodbye to Winter: Orion Sets in the West, a photo by Nightfly Photography on Flickr.

Parting is such sweet sorrow, unless you mean it is the end of winter. Goodbye Orion, we'll see you again soon enough, perhaps on a cool late night in autumn.

Pentax Spotmatic II 50mm f/1.4 SMC Takumar @ f/2 -120 second exposure on Kodak ED200, equatorial tracked exposure.

Morning Milky Way

Morning Milky Way, a photo by Nightfly Photography on Flickr.

In April 2009 when the summer Milky Way was present in the early morning sky, I took several images using my Pentax Spotmatic with 50mm f/1.4 Takumar lens. This frame shows what can be captured with the lens wide open to capture the sky frozen against the landscape. This 2 minute exposure shows that film can still do the job.

The Elite Chrome 200 film was pushed +1 stop EI ISO 340.

Oh yea, this was shot from my front yard. Living away from civilization has its benefits.