Astronomy and DSLR Astrophotography Blog » links

Astrophotography as Stock photography

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:16:15 +0000

I am quite sure that you have already heard about stock photography. If you didn’t let’s Google it or read this article on Wikipedia. In short: the main idea is to sell the images that has commercial value for low price. The Stock sites has a lot of photographers who upload their photos and the buyers (designer, web-designers, magazines, design studios etc.) who buy these images and pay a little amount of money comparing to hiring the professional photographer.

More than one year ago I have registered at one of the leading Stock engine – Shutterstock. I haven’t known this type of photography and I haven’t expecting very much. I just wanted to try the feeling of selling the photos on-line. And that’s where it started.

At the very beginning you have to upload 10 pictures and at least 7 needs to be approved to became a member. I have uploaded some my the best astrophotos and next day in the morning there was a success: 3.25$. I forgot to mention that they pays you 0.25$ per download, no matter how large the image is. There are also another Enchanced licenses and you are paid much more for them – up to 30$ per download, but they are rare.

Later on I have uploaded also a lot of other images, non-astro. But very soon I have figured out that they are not selling as good as the astrophotography pictures do. I think that the reason is that there is not a lot of astrophotographers who sells their pictures on stock sites and consequently there is a lack of these images on stock sites.

Would you like to join? Here are two mayor stock photography sites where I am registered. I would be delighted if you register trough my referral:

And here is the image which sells the best. 345 so far and counting …

Pleiades @ Primoz Cigler

Thank you for reading! I hope that this was interesting reading …

The best APO telescopes of 2009 for astrophotography

admin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:39:43 +0000

In the last few years there is a mass production of small and medium size APO and ED telescopes. Every single manufacture has its own 80mm-range APO and the prices are decreasing from month to month. But even though that every of these telescopes is advertised as “the premium telescope for astrophotography”, they all does not really satisfies the requirements of astrophotography.

There are some important factors when we are deciding for the telescope which will be used for astrophotography:

good control of chromatic aberration
2″ cryford focuser (micro focuser is even better)
flat-field or additional flattener available
good and quality mechanics
good optics
low f-ration (focal length / aperture)

Now let’s take a look at three of the telescopes up to 1.000$ (800€) which are good choice for astrophotography:

William Optics Megrez 88 Doublet FD
William Optics is well-known of quality of their instruments. Their latest Megrez seems to be one of the best choices this year. With the 88mm of aperture and 500mm of focal length (f/5.6) it covers large field with DSLR cameras.
Sky-Watcher Equinox 80
Sky-Watcher’s the best series of ED telescopes works very good for astrophotography. They looks and performs like more expensive William Optics telescopes. The color is also different – some prefers black . With smaller aperture (80mm) and the same focal length as Megrez 88 has a little worse f-ratio (f/6.25) but it’s still very good choice!
Orion EON 80mm ED
Orion EON 80mm ED seems like another version of equinox. Nevertheless, maybe some finds it more useful and cheaper in USA since Orion is more popular in America. The lens characteristics are just the same as Equinox’s.

Do you have your own preference? Express your doubt, agree or disagree under comments!

Thank you for reading!

The best guides for Canon Digital Rebel modification

admin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:46:53 +0000

A lot of astrophotograpers decide to make a modification of their cameras. The reason is that filter in front of CMOS or CCS sensor blocks almost all the H-α part of spectrum due to balancing the colors for daylight photography. But this is not suitable for astrophotography because almost all the nebulas consist of the Hydrogen and this light is cutted off just some millimeters in front of the sensor. If we remove that filter then we get much better response of the red color.

Since the Canon Rebel is the most common camera used between enthusiastic astrophotographers I’ll try to suggest some good links of step-by-step tutorials which guide you thought the process.

Canon Digital Rebel (300D) Modification
Good tutorial with sample images before and after modification. For Rebel (300D).
ash’s Modified Digital Rebel XT Page
Very nice tutorial for modification of Rebel XT (350D). I have done modification of my Rebel XT with this guide and he survived the operation!
Canon Digital Rebel XSi (450D) Modification
Good guide with pictures and everything well explained for Rebel XSi (450D).
Canon Digital Rebel (300D) Peltier Modification
Guide how attach Peltier cooling element into Rebel. Works good for long-exposure astrophotography.
Another Digital Rebel XT (350D) Modification
Just another Digital Rebel XT mod. Maybe someone finds it useful.

For the end I am presenting one of my images after the modification. The Veil Nebula, NGC 6992:

The Veil nebula (NGC 6992) @ Primož Cigler