Quendale at Night

Following on from my last blog, i managed to get out the other night despite the strong winds. This time down to Quendale.

Using the same combination of the Sony A7s & the Samyang 24 mm F1.4 lens i spent most of the time photographing the old house just beyond the farm. I stopped the lens down to F2 where it is sharper and again shot at 13 seconds using ISO 3200.

Light pollution from Sumburgh airport was very evident - south east of the farm and also Lerwick to the north.

Very pleased with this combination, seems a sharp lens, just make sure you get a good copy.

Don't forget to join Shetland Aurora Hunter on facebook

Sony A7s & Samyang 24mm f1.4 lens review

Anyone interested in astrophotography will at sometime look at the Sony A7s and Samyang 24 mm f1.4 lens. This review is not as comprehensive as many you can find but i did a lot of research while i was saving up and i would say around 99% of the people seem very happy with the A7s

Taking the full frame Sony A7s first, it is THE best low light camera on the market today, with exceptional ISO performance.  As it only has a 12.2 mp sensor some people may be put off demanding a higher resolution of a 24mp camera, however for astro work the 12.2 mp sensor has larger pixels so it collects more light than the higher rated cameras.

People get convinced that they need more megapixels, yet one this size can do all everything  most photographer require. I often did 36 x 30 canvas from the Nikon D300s 12.1 mp camera and they all came out superb. Most people may never do anything other than web size so will never get the benefit of a high mp sensor.

                                                                                  Venus and Mars just above

Most DSLR cameras can use up to ISO 1600 and with noise reduction will get a good photo, unless you can afford a Nikon D3/4/5.

The Sony A7s can handle ISO shots up to ISO 25200 with little noise evident. But acceptable results at the highest setting of  ISO 409,500. No other camera can achieve these results  and it is a mirror-less camera so no vibrations.

Its smaller than my other DSLR cameras but fits well in the hand. The battery  only allows for around 390 photos , less than half of the Nikon D610, but you get two batteries with the camera, in my case i also got another one free in the package offered by Bristol cameras

I chose the A7s rather than the A7s II because the main improvements have been to the video side and vibration reduction, neither are required for the astro work i do, so don't warrant paying the extra £700 for the up grade.

After what seems ages, the sky finally cleared for a few hours and the curse of buying new equipment lifted. I decided to go down to Perrie Spiggie which looks west and has some nice stacks in the bay. Also you can park close by and it was sheltered from the westerly wind.

Although the moon was about 1/2 full it did provide some lighting to the landscape, helped by a little light painting. All these photos on this blog were taken at 13 seconds, F2 at ISO 3200. Very impressed when the came up on the screen which tilts and later on the computer. Images needed little processing

Working with the camera in dark conditions have been reasonably easy and menu button accessible for zooming, while the ISO is changed on the dial. Checking the histogram is important and this is automatically shown when the image is taken.

Regarding the Samyang 24 mm F1.4, it is a superb lens. I checked to see whether any soft areas were evident but was satisfied with tests done on the lens chart and with the stars in this test. Unlike the Samyang 14mm F2.8 which i had to send back three times before i got a good copy the 24 mm lens has less problems according to various forums.

                                                                               Orion looking good as usual

Conclusion: I am very happy with the Sony A7s and 24 mm Samyang lens, results so far are very encouraging with low noise levels. I am looking forward to testing the full range of ISO levels once we get darker skies

                                                            Venus very bright on right hand side

Shetland Aurora Hunter

I have just started a new facebook group page ' Shetland Aurora Hunter' please send me a request to join. The aim is to provide a place to share experiences and photographs on the Aurora, Milky Way, Stars, Meteorites, Comets etc.

The weather has not really provided many opportunities to get out to see the Aurora with cloud, rain and two Hurricanes. Geomagnetic storm conditions for several days produced good Aurora conditions from just before Christmas but as usual the weather didn't clear up

A week or so ago i gave a talk on the Shetland Night Sky which raised a good number of questions and i hope may provide some inspiration to get out on a clear night to see the stars and aurora. The Night Sky Photography course at Islesburgh in April is now full , details are due to be sent out in the next couple of weeks

At last a clear but very cold night on New Years eve and before the Scottish festivities started we headed out.  The wind was quiet strong and coming head on from the North. A KP5 was predicted but as ever the cloud made its presence felt and soon closed in

Despite getting well wrapped up it was still very cold. The Christmas lights on houses in Bigton produced even more light pollution

 Last night the aurora prediction was good and with an increasing  solar wind speed we set off to Bigton with the stars out

 Just as we arrived the clouds came in the wind picked up and it started sleeting

As we headed back we found the roads over to Sandwick covered in snow and the roads began to freeze, so i am glad we came back earlier as it could have been tricky getting over this hill road. One thing you always have to bear in mind when going Aurora hunting. Other people said later it was not as strong as was forecast

Earlier last night, the Moon and Venus looked superb

More photos at http://www.amazingshetland.co.uk

Good show

On Tuesday the conditions for seeing the aurora seemed good, a reasonably clear night, fairly calm for Shetland and last quarter  visible moon. The only thing it was cold, very cold. So i wrapped up, two pairs of socks, tea-shirt, shirt, two jumpers, body warmer and thick coat, hat and gloves.

                                                                                    Just a faint green glow at first

 As ice was expected we went over to Bigton early and the journey was not too bad at 7.30 pm. The aurora was already showing on Shetland cliff cam 3, a bright green glow and it was estimated to be a KP5 tonight so things looked promising.

We were soon in position and the aurora was already visible before our eyes adjusted to the dark. A green band arched over Bigton and Ireland and grew in colour as the evening progressed

The aurora started to show a pink, then red colour with some purple as well, it was becoming a great show, even though it was very, very cold.

About 9 pm a car pulled up and two people got out and started to talk loudly in Russian, perhaps they didn't see me standing about 30 yards away. Now had we been invaded tonight ? Russian bombers had to be escorted away from Shetland airspace and a fleet of Russian warships came very close to Shetland waters recently.

                                                                                              Very active for a while

They may have become excited by the aurora and forgot to turn their car lights off . Then one person decided to get a tripod out and tried to hold it with the camera on, rather than setting it up properly.

Cloud rolled in about  9.30 pm and it started to rain a bit so we set off back and found the road from Bigton back to the A970 very icy.

Getting back home we checked the internet to find out the further south it had become even more active after 9.35 pm

Still time to purchase a canvas from www.amazingshetland.co.uk in time for Christmas