I used to think the Andromeda galaxy was too faint for my gear

I mean, I have a basic DSLR and a kit lens, so I figured deep sky stuff was out. But then I saw a post from someone in Phoenix who got a clear shot of it with a 135mm lens and a 30 second exposure. I tried stacking 50 frames from my backyard last weekend and, idk, you can actually see the core and some dust lanes. Has anyone else been surprised by what you can pull out with just basic camera settings?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_carter6115d ago

Wait, you got dust lanes with a kit lens? That's insane, I always thought you needed way more gear for that.

derek_lee15d ago

My buddy Nate got a shot of the Milky Way core from his backyard with the basic 18-55mm. He was just messing around, a cheap tripod and a lot of patience. Found a dark spot, stacked like thirty long exposures. The final edit showed all that faint dust detail clear as day. It proved the gear doesn't always make the shot.

leob5815d ago

But is that really a big deal these days? Stacking software does most of the heavy lifting anyway.