REAL Diffraction Spikes for $0.04

Quick video on some tests I've been working through with budget gear. :) Nebula Photos merch (stickers and t-shirts) now available: nebula-photos.creator-spring....
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[@marcin_szczurowski]

Fishing line would give stronger result, as it refracts light going through it, which creates much stronger effect that diffraction itself. It's pretty much similar to flat spider vanes of the Newtonian, where majority of light in the spikes comes from reflection off vanes surface, not from diffraction itself.

[@hunter133official]

Yes, but Guitar strings are usually metal (at least all of my guitars have metal strings (I have 2)) just like a Newtonian's spider vein

[@matthewb8229]

Such good info on this channel. The quality of information is so consistent.

[@JCW7100]

Loving this series so much!

[@markmckaytnt]

Superb video as always Nico...

[@oldfilmguy9413]

Excellent! I appreciate the useful info, and congrats on fixing your lens!

[@fakharhaider6269]

Great Content, as always! Thank You.

[@samsen3965]

Now that you found the secret Red Army's Snipper lens, you should try to hunt for the case that comes with it and gun stuck type, sexy hand stabilizing holder/focuser and maybe the filters, etc that are in the case. Fun hunting my friend.

[@imarcus1973]

Hehe I have one myself, but it’s not for sale! Probably best not to take it to the city or airport 😂 It comes with a Helios 44 and some empty film rolls as well as all you mentioned. I got mine in two parts, the Tair 3 then the case and accessories. It’s my best long lens for Astro, pin sharp better even than Pentax or Zeiss sonnar 300mm.

[@blaircolliver5194]

Very interesting effect Nico. Thanks for sharing. And that is a very cool lens. I may have to look around for one.

[@gringadoor5385]

Been doing this for years on lenses in combination with an oval filter to simulate anamorphic blur and flares. As mentioned by someone else, fishing line is the best option.

[@martynh5410]

Nice video Nico. I’m going to try this idea on my 8” SCT to see if I can get these diffraction spikes.

[@sujithcheeral]

I have always interested to make those spikes with dslr lens.I'm so happy that you made this video. Thank you!

[@brownsamurai3070]

I usually add the defraction spikes in post via Photoshop.

[@stevemeier7876]

luv it...so cool.

[@prnzssLuna]

I love diffraction spikes. They look so pretty, things like the pleiades profit so much from it

[@DSOImager]

Pretty cool... I've been thinking of trying this out on some double clusters with my 70mm refractor later this year.

[@SergeiKotikov]

Oh, nice to know someone else hasn't miss those gems! They are marevllous things with a simple triplet optical scheme, pity you got a shabbier specimen though. I've just picked one a month ago in near-mint condition, but hasn't had the chance to test it yet. Also, there is this rare Soviet Zenitar ME1 50mm lens that has a 2-blade square iris, so it produces those plus shaped diffraction patterns naturally, but on a much wider field. Cheers, Nico! Also, you can kinda cook up a Bakhtinov mask equivalent, but with just two regions in it with slits going 90 degrees apart. That is if you really want those plus shaped spikes at the cost of losing light I guess.

[@LogansAstro]

Now there's a cool little trick. Might try that out

[@janoeter9056]

Awesome!

[@brian_abroad]

Great tip Nico! I'm a new subscriber to your channel. Somerville, huh...I'm in Danvers, but frequently go to Cape Cod for better night photography.

[@BhojinderpalSingh]

Thanks for sharing cool stuff! If you are coming to Minnesota area, be aware of the smoke that is hanging around in the region. Would affect astro images...

[@Montageleim]

1:39 whatever that sound was, it scared me like hell... paused the video and searched all my rooms for what that could have been...

[@SovietLensReviews]

Love the Tair-3(F)S! Such a sharp lens, and if you buy one with its original case, even better.

[@astroaprilia2498]

Very Kool! I will definitely be trying fishing line. I much prefer the 'cross-hair' spikes as opposed to the random flakey spikes.

[@avt_astro206]

Great Tips for Those Who Use Refractor! I love Diffraction Spikes😍, even though they are Artical they are So Pretty On Star Clusters!🌌

[@barrymak421]

Thanks as always Nico! I wonder If your choice of thread color had anything to do with the subtlety of the spikes, as they seemed to have kind of a yellow tint to them. You have inspired me to try several different colors to see what kind of results can be gotten. Gonna also try some different thickness and translucency with fishing line to see what that does. Maybe green dental floss as well.

[@JonnyBravo0311]

LOL... the tape and string method. It's a classic! I'd be interested to see if different materials/colors/thickness have different impacts on the resulting spikes.

[@ShortysAstrobase]

Wow, thats great. I have to try this with my refractor :)

[@igoreq4495]

Finally you found out about this lens, I use it as my main lens for astro and its just beautiful. Hope you talk more about it in the future :p

[@michal_king478]

what about chromatic aberration? I saw different images and some had pretty bad ca and some had next to none? Do you have to stop it down to something crazy like f8

[@igoreq4495]

@@michal_king478 No, you need to stop down to about F5.6 and focus until the star has minimal aberration, not everybody knows about it and they stop down to F8 because reasons

[@Clockworkg1rl]

What did you do to adapt it for astrophoto?

[@igoreq4495]

@@Clockworkg1rl I didnt do anything, u just need to focus it properly

[@Clockworkg1rl]

@@igoreq4495 thanks! I will try it on 4.5 or 5.6

[@Metaldetectiontubeworldwide]

Look now were talking my budget 😆😉 Well done , nico

[@samsen3965]

Yes. I think the fishing line will do better due to its inherent transparency and vertical optical contribution. Only wondering how a thin solid copper wire s.a. those that come out free, if you disassemble any motor or fan or coil, may do!

[@nigelorr7938]

An oldie but a goodie as they say. A film era trick for diffraction spikes ... fishing line used in those days.

[@DariusPaveliu]

A friend did this with Violine strings on a gt 71 or 3. Great stuff

[@astrodad656]

So odd as I read complaints from imagers how they detest the diffraction spike look. I've always liked it too.

[@rectangleboy]

What's this interesting lens? Look steampunk a little with that wheel.

[@samsen3965]

Hey Astro duod... Do you know you have The Best Astrophotography channel on the YT? Thumbs up & may the galaxy, no universe, be your limits... Way to go

[@TheCandaar]

I have the same lens. Would you please take a video while using this lens?

[@Tim_the_Astronurd]

Hey! youll be coming up to my neck of the woods! Im in Fargo, North Dakota. Im taking my annual trip to visit family who live by Glacier park, montana in 3 weeks. I was wondering how the heck Im going to get a travel rig on the plane, so this is perfect timing!

[@pelexagentex]

Did I just see a super takumar lens there in the demonstration of the aperture closing? I didn't know you were a fellow vintage lens fan Nico :)

[@michal_king478]

I 3d printed a small ring with a cross and a circle in the middle which just slaps into the lens hood of my meade etx70 or a samyang 85mm f1.4. Now I shoot with a skywatcher 250pds newtonian tho and the diffraction spikes are beautiful

[@michaelklemm-abraham7298]

I used a fishing line in the past for lenses and my 80 mm Apo refractor. Unfortunately, it was a pain to get good spikes (keeping the lines at a 90-degree angle) although the effect was great. Unfortunately not this inexpensive but I found a guy in Germany that made a mask in his 3D printer. This gives me consistent spikes that look good. It did cost 20-25€ so it is not quite budget but it is working great.

[@ThiLI0n]

I have the Grand Prix Brussels version, great lens

[@alpsalish]

I love Al Sufi's cluster!

[@woody5109]

Backin the 70s we would just cut out a chunk of window screen, Miskito screen, cut it to fit tight, use wire screen and boom

[@Keyur-Suthar]

I have the tair, its an amazing lens for the price. It is heavy and built like a tank. Its hard to focus with though

[@Clockworkg1rl]

Oh, I have the same lens just for usual photo. I will appreciate video about how to adapt it to astrophotography.

[@chasingluminance]

YEP, I’ll be trying this on my olympus 300

[@horizonastronomiaargentina7593]

Excelente saludos 👍👌

[@tachyon3.14]

Week 11 of appreciating Five Minute Fridays

[@ryanmichaelhaley]

Where at in Wisconsin? My wife is from WI and we frequent there. She also went to University of Minnesota

[@constellationshots3893]

is that an old takumar that has the yellow tint because of the thorium? Those are really cool lenses.

[@NM-ql9er]

Nice

[@anandarunakumar6819]

Nice, how about using this idea to create Bahtinov masks?

[@dmitriychushkin2254]

Tair-3 this is a nice soviet lens! Have you had any experience with Soviet or Russian reflex lenses (Maksutov-Cassegrain) MTO-500, MTO-1000 or Rubinar 500/5,6?

[@tbardoni5065]

Great video. Time for a haircut.

[@DrJ_MKE]

Thanks for the video Nico - I will be sure to try this out. I like the effect. I couldn't help but notice you said at the end of this video that you were visiting MN & WI to see family. I'm a born and raised cheesehead and living in the Milwaukee area. Small world ! If you don't mind sharing, what part(s) of Wisconsin is the family in ?

[@NebulaPhotos]

I grew up in Minneapolis, but my family has a cabin near Grantsburg, WI in the NW part of the state. It is Bortle 3 at the cabin, so it's always nice to do some astro while visiting. I also have extended family in Madison and Green Bay.

[@DrJ_MKE]

Newport State Park, Wisconsin's only wilderness state park, is also the first state park in Wisconsin designated by IDA as an International Dark Sky Park, one of just 48 parks in the world to earn the distinction.

[@bullshitvendor]

I d pay to get rid of them

[@barrymak421]

A Redcat 51 goes for around $800. That would do it lol.

[@siegfriednoet]

Interesting short video series Niko, I am curious though, is there a method to get rid of diffraction spikes in post ?

[@hachman1972]

On newtonians, afaik, you can't remove the diff spikes, unless you invent tech to levitate the secondary mirror in perfect stability ahah

[@siegfriednoet]

@@hachman1972 duh, offcourse I meant a method in post

[@cucubits]

Interesting idea for sure... on the other hand I'm not sure I see any value in this. I do not like diffraction spikes, it's like adding something which is not real and does not need to be added, to your images. Art... sure, good image or a deep sky object... not so much.

[@woody5109]

Wire mosquito screen cut to fit tight works great…just saying.

[@michael.a.covington]

I do this regularly in order to make brighter stars stand out.

[@tafsirnahian669]

4 cents? Kill me

[@skakdosmer]

So you want to mimic lens imperfections? Well, to each his own. I’d be more interested to know how to get rid of the spikes. About the spikes, there used to be screw-in filters for that with 4, 6, 8 or even more spikes. But I don’t know if they even make them anymore. And of course, along with the spikes you’d get a softener effect.

[@David-hm9ic]

They're called diffraction gratings. I'm with you, though. I prefer to reduce aberrations rather than induce them. IMO the spikes cover up detail. They're fine if you're after artsy pictures but not something you see in quality astrophotography.

[@graysonkemp8870]

Does the string have to be on the glass itself? I’m asking because I use lens hoods, could I just tape it along the end of the hood?

[@NebulaPhotos]

No, it doesn't. Taping to lens hood should work

[@graysonkemp8870]

@@NebulaPhotos awesome, thank you! Can’t wait to experiment with this come winter time with the stellar objects of Orion!

[@Brik2246]

i tried thread before but it just kinda becomes a blur infront of my lens...why aint i getting spikes?

[@southernexposure123]

Maybe try thicker threads or different colors.

[@Brik2246]

@@southernexposure123 ok ty

[@leonardoleite1085]

Either you are out of focus or the thread is too thick for your focal length. For me it works nicely for +100mm but not so great for 18-30mm. The star brightness also influences a lot. As an extra, you can use the difraction pattern as a guide to reach a good focus.

[@Brik2246]

@@leonardoleite1085 well i was using 210mm and the Focus was ok

[@oldgermanperformance4324]

I have a question about astrophotography, i hope someone helps me Does the human eye see the same as a camera? i'm talking about the milky way, because i´ve never been able to see it with my own eyes

[@leoncorns1450]

You'll need a dark sky area to see the milky way. As for astrophotography there is a trick done by using long exposure photos to collect more light. This will give the camera a better performance than the human eye. It's all in the camera settings. Hope that helps a bit 😊

[@oldgermanperformance4324]

@@leoncorns1450 Yup, helped me a lot 😄, thank you!

[@spacemanschannel6380]

The camera can do long exposures and collect more light, which our eyes can not. You can use binoculars to collect more light for your eyes. Binoculars with a 30 mm opening is like having 30 mm large eyes. A huge difference, you should try it. The next difference is about colors. Human eyes do not see colors in the dark. We can see only black and white. The camera can make these colors visible.

[@Brik2246]

3rd?

[@w.jeffreywilson3681]

I shared this video on Facebook and FB flagged it as going against community standards...

[@NebulaPhotos]

That's odd, I wonder why

[@w.jeffreywilson3681]

@@NebulaPhotos Good question. I indicated that I disagree, but so far have gotten no reply.

[@nikulsuthar]

I love RCs and Newts probably more than refractors and SCTs but only because I don't like diffraction spikes, I use only the later two. If you have any idea to remove the diffraction spikes from the images of RCs and Newts then I'll be the happiest person in the world to know about it...

[@GlitchyBastard]

I thought Fleshlight™ sponsored you this one lol😂

[@roma.pixelarts]

Great idea for those who wants it for a budget. but in the end its also fake. lenses doesnt have spikes, basta. so there is no ethically difference between software and a leash.

[@j.dipietro2565]

This mod is just way out of my budget.

[@adventureswithfrodo2721]

I never liked the diffraction spikes as it made the images look even more fake.

[@jesuschrist2284]

Just paint them on in photoshop lol

[@joecooksey4331]

First! maybe...

[@pruthuvanara1243]

1631th viewer

[@arvaneret_329]

Lol, faking outer space pro tips. Now tell us how to create a dank Photoshop edit.