Photographing the Witch Head Nebula - CANON 70-200mm Lens (Backyard Astrophotography)

Having a new moon gave me the chance to try this target from my backyard and use my ASI 533MC Pro dedicated Astrophotography camera together with my Canon F4 70-200mm lens. Being an older model of this lens these can be picked up very affordably. No filters were used in the imaging train.

[@Astrolavista]

Wonderful image Ollie! Star colour looks ace and plenty of signal on the Witch head itself. It makes me want to pull my finger out and get an ASI533! I do like the idea of consulting the cat oracle pre imaging sessions lol :D

[@OlliesSpace]

Gday Chris - I've been really impressed by this little camera since I got it, it's like a mini 2600. Imagine that mount you just tested with that scope and this camera🤔 get some cracking results. Ye I did saturate the stars a bit more to bring out those colors. Thanks for watching as always and yes Cat consults are a great way to pre image as he gets the blame for faults.:)

[@IcemanAstro]

Charles seems like a chill guy! I think we all learn from our mistakes as well, I know some of mine took me more time than others! 😅. As always, your photo came out amazing Ollie. Clear skies man

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey Isaac, Yep I ended up throwing a bunch of data from a couple of nights out but it was good to get a feel how far I can push the moon. Charles is tooooo chilled mate, I'm suprised he remembers where he lives sometimes. Cheers pal :)

[@lukomatico]

Hey Ollie! - lovely chilled video mate, enjoyed watching it! :-) your image turned out great mate, and I do hear you about potentially polluting newmoon data! - also, awesome to see you enjoying that ASIAIR! I have to say, it feels a bit like Charles stole the show though, such a relaxed little dude! 😀 Thanks for sharing mate!

[@OlliesSpace]

Hi Luke! - Glad you enjoyed the video it nearly didn't happen. It was good to at least test where that moonlight was. I think it was 60% ish the second session and even though in the opposite direction obviously had a big effect. Yes Charles is always stealing the show, his main goal in life is max chillaxing all day every day, pretty good mantra! Definitely enjoying the Air on my little rig super convenient. Thanks for watching mate. Clear skies.👍

[@LogansAstro]

Beautiful image of the Witch and nice star colours in the background. Good learning point for people about the negative effects of adding moonlight polluted data. As for Charles, it didn't look like he was interested in doing a astro CAT scan :)

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks Logan, Yes I was happy to get something from this and it's a good lesson for the future. I'll pass your joke onto Charles I think he may roll his eyes 👀 though. 🙀

[@LogansAstro]

@@OlliesSpace 🤣

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Great capture Ollie! You should have Charles do a collab with Logan’s cat lol

[@OlliesSpace]

Ha lol Joe 🤣 ..... actually that would be pretty funny. Maybe on the Cats Paw Nebula.lol

[@Astrobloke]

Very nice image Ollie.

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks Glenn 👍

[@SimonsAstro]

That’s a really good image of the Witch Head Ollie 👍 Great colour scheme! I see Charles is about as much help as my cat Darwin, just sits there and offers no advice what so ever😀 Clear skies

[@OlliesSpace]

Hi Simon - Thanks pal I was pleased to just get an image out of this, my first stacking attempt was awful. Yes I think cats are a great sounding board but fairly useless for constructive advice.lol :)

[@thecampingastronomer8554]

Wow, Charles is way more cooperative than our two cats when it comes yo being filmed. Great image too Ollie. I failed miserably with this last time I tried, but your video has tempted me to have another go. Best wishes to you and yours at Christmas 🎄

[@OlliesSpace]

Hi John - Ha yes Charles is pretty much CATatonic lounging around most of the time. I actually nearly stuffed up my image. I think if you can get a new moon in a Bortle 5/6 like me you can do it. Of course though I think the cooled camera here helps a lot too. Cheers and look forward to seeing yours too. 👍 Have a good Xmas too pal, as always thanks for watching.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Lovely image that one I've been wanting to tackle without success as yet

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks yes it's one I've been looking forward too, lucky to get a new moon on this one.

[@avt_astro206]

Awesome Image Ollie!! Its amazing that you got some Much Dust and Details on a Broadband Target with so much LP. Amazing man!

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey Avanteesh - I was also suprised to pull a bit of this out too. Kinda lets me know what I can expect on these targets with no moon. Thanks for watching pal.

[@michaelasbury5473]

Fantastic image and I love the music!

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks very much Michael I think the laid back tunes we're basically how the cat felt that day.:)

[@GarnettLeary]

Charles is like: “That’s right Ollie. My brain is much smaller than yours but I don’t work and pay taxes. You feed and take care of me.” Lol. I often consider who is truly more intelligent. They truly do have it figured out. My dog is spoiled rotten. I keep thinking I’ll get around to putting my Sigma telephoto on my mount. I’m still determined to do SHO with the Maksutov. If you get chance I’d love to get your thoughts on Affinity Photo. There’s some fantastic macros that are astrophotography based. I’m personally finding it difficult to see a need for Adobe these days. I bring this to your attention because I think your editing is one of those hidden gems on KZbin. You’ve got fantastic skill and a great eye.

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey Garnett - You're not wrong pal they've got it all figured out, I know Charles is thinking "it doesn't matter how many photos you take you'll never be happy, I'm just gonna enjoy the moment." I'll check out Affinity if I get a chance thanks for the tip and for the compliment. I consider myself still very average at editing I don't really follow much of a routine just try to get a balance in the image I'm happy with.

[@DSOImager]

Part of my days is spent cleaning kitty litter... yea.. we know who's running the show, don't we :) Nice result.. I was kicking around the idea of matching up my 533 with a camera lens. My thinking is that the smaller square sensor is going to be centered in the best part of the lens.

[@OlliesSpace]

Hi James - Indeed my cat 😺 is certainly running the show here. I find the 533 works great with my lenses. I guess the 183 would sample better for these smaller focal lengths but I like being able to use it on a second scope too. I do enjoy using the lenses for those wider shots.

[@rickysingh616]

Great work. I've got a 70-200 lens usm iii with a canon 90d. Want to take pictures of the stars but dont know where to begin as I don't have a star tracker,.just a normal tripod and wouldn't know what the settings would be

[@peterdmatthews7427]

Great tips again Ollie. Shows you shouldn't discount your original data. Great job processing. Thanks heaps mate.

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks Peter yes indeed glad I went back to the original lots. Thanks for watching

[@viral344]

Good luck always bro 🙏🥰🤩🙏🙏

[@kevlarnegative]

Can you list the equipment used? My main concern is the adapter. I have the same lens and my first mount is on its way. I'd like to prepare beforehand. Thank you and stunning image!

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey thanks very much. The main thing like you say is the adapter it's the ZWO to Canon EF filter drawer adapter. astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/new-filter-drawer-for-eos-lens Hope that helps

[@iphonejunkyev]

whats the app your using on the tablet for focus and align?

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey Evan it's just part of the ASI Air application so it would only work if you have an ASI Air device and a ZWO camera or DSLR connected to the device. Then its just the Focus routine inside the app.

[@HeavenlyBackyardAstronomy]

Wow, Ollie, I got that same lens (or some variant of it) and never thought of shooting the Witch Head with it ... I just might need to do that now. Good advice about not adding bad data to good data ... just takes away from the good. BTW, your cat needs to learn how to relax. Any luck with comet Leonard?

[@OlliesSpace]

G'day Pat. I really didn't expect this lens to perform this well but at 200mm it was a great fit, certainly would recommend a try. Yes indeed I nearly ruined my image with the later data. I'll pass the advice on to Charles :-). Haven't actually bothered much with the comet, I really should have a look....too many gems in the sky!

[@CosmuzzAstro]

Charles is a layed back guy. How you finding the 533? I still can't get used to the square sensor to be honest. Nice video mate and great result on the Witch Head. Clear Skies Buddy!

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey Ben - Thanks Pal, I am getting used to it now, I still of course prefer my 2600 as the 533 generally stays on my smaller setup. The sensor is very good with no amp glow which I like but I agree in that I have to choose my targets a bit more selectively. Thanks mate, have a good Xmas.👍

[@Ayanami00]

How do you get such detail and large nebulas shots with 200mm and why is mine so small 😂 like my Orion nebula shots are a size of my pinky toe 😅 and when I zoom in it gets blurry

[@OlliesSpace]

So it all depends on the object you're taking, the focal length and the size of your camera sensor. The easiest way is to just setup all your gear in a program like Stellarium to see how it will look using your specific setup. Of course using a cooled Astro camera will help and in terms of sharpness some of this comes down to processing. I use Pixinsight to process most of my images, has many tools to help. Cheers 👍

[@astrojourneyuk]

How did you set the lens to f5.6? Nice image by the way. A good point about mixing new moon and moonlit data, I’ve experienced the same issues in the past too. Thanks for sharing.

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey Mark so I basically just attached the lens to my Canon then changed the aperture then put it on the Astro camera. Cheers👍

[@astrojourneyuk]

@@OlliesSpace seriously that works?!?! I though it would just revert back to fully open?!?! Wow, thanks.

[@OlliesSpace]

Hey Mark - Ye It was the advice I got on a forum and I'm pretty sure it's worked as I would have expected the outer stars to look worse than they did. I have heard of some sort of manual device you can use as well to change it. I'll also test it at some point Mark make sure I just crank up the F stop to an extreme.👍

[@RussellsAstrophotography]

Fantastic images Ollie, I know how tough this target is, you did a great job. The colours look great good work on the edit!

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks Russell as always I wish I had a bit more data....and darker skies for this one but don't we all !

[@AZ4Runner]

Awesome Witch Head!! Came out really good. Kitty was like..... Ollie Really?!?!?! your going to have to pay me if I'm in your vids... He wanted nothing to do with the vid and just wanted to relax. HAHA

[@OlliesSpace]

Cheers Jason - I know he really just wanted to be left to relax. Overall I was surprised to get an OK image from the backyard. One I'll have to try from a darker sky one day.

[@whyf16uy]

I have the 2.8 version of this lens I use for astro. When I shoot wide open for longer than 3 minutes my stars tend to bloat. I'll have to try closing it up a little.

[@OlliesSpace]

Yep I think maybe like my Samyang lens around 4 tends to be the sweet spot 👍

[@mupangamwanakatwe1300]

Great pic!! Please can you share your settings. Which processing software? Thanks.

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks. Of course - I used 3 min exposures approx 5 hours. The software was Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight and Photoshop.

[@mupangamwanakatwe1300]

Thanks you Sir. Any darks, flats and bias?

[@OlliesSpace]

@@mupangamwanakatwe1300 Just flats and bias.

[@lukesastro2380]

Beautiful looking witch Ollie!

[@OlliesSpace]

Thanks pal and for watching 👍