Tracker vs. No Tracker for ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY (Shooting the Pleiades)

If you don't use Photoshop, please watch the first 46 minutes of the video above (part 1) before moving on to part 2 (choices below):
Part 2B - Siril and GIMP (coming soon)
Part 2C - PixInsight (coming soon)

=============================
Links mentioned in the video:
=============================

Polar alignment apps

=============================
Supporting this channel:
=============================
◦ You can use my referral code when buying subscriptions to Astrobin:
Existing accounts- Use Promo Code: NEBULAPHOTOS

=============================
Gear used in this video:
=============================

=============================
Table of Contents:
=============================
00:00 Intro
03:00 Overview
06:58 1. Dark, Clear Sky
13:47 2. Camera Settings
25:11 3. Polar Alignment & Balance
32:30 4. Focus!
34:27 5. Exposure Length
43:03 6. # of Exposures (Lights)
44:30 7. Calibration Frames
46:52 8. Processing (Deep Sky Stacker)
59:11 8. Processing (Photoshop)
01:18:52 Final Comparison and Outro

=============================
Music:
=============================
No Control by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License.
The Elevator Bossa Nova is Royalty Free Music from Bensound.

=============================
Social:
=============================
Twitter: @nebulaphotos
Instagram: @nebulaphotosdotcom

=============================
Affiliate programs disclosure:
=============================
I use the High Point Scientific, OPT, Astrobin, and Amazon affiliate programs. Product links in my video descriptions are affiliate links, which means at no extra cost to you, I will make a small commission if you click them and purchase something.

[MrBlueSky]

Who th would give a thumbs down without the video even being available? :( how could you... this guy is like the Bob Ross of astrophotoghraphy, all his videos are pure positivity and inspiration.

[spr]

This is the best astrophotography guide ever made. Seriously. You literally went through everything 99% of people will ask about.

[Flo]

When I first discovered your channel I was kinda hesitent because of the lenght of some of your tutorials. My interest started to grow with every video I watched and by now I´m really excited to get my first very own tracker in a couple of days. I highly appreciate that you share all of your knowledge without skipping any secrete trick or step. Hopefully I´ll be able to follow along and get some nice results with the help of your tutorials. Thanks again for sharing your astro-skills with all of us.

[robinell]

You are the SUPER HERO of all amateur astrophotographers!! THANK YOU sir!

[gomanastro]

You have done outstanding job for the beginner with similar equipment....saving them alot of decision-making and wondering....!

[eddiesurfah]

My god at the end, I thought the 'untracked' image was the tracked one because I thought it looked better! We'll blame my untrained eye :') this is an absolutely incredible guide, you are the man. Thank you for this. Never thought without a tracker it'd be possible but now I'm gonna rush off and try myself!!

[eddeph]

Thank you for showing such clear results on "no tracking" method across multiple videos. When I started astrophotography I hit a wall of people who kept saying that unless I invest in a tracker there's no point in doing this. Your fine work allowed me (and many others) to dive into this amazing hobby without investing a ton of money into gear.

[umutcanarslan]

I watched most of your videos. The way you are explaining same things over and over each video requires patiance but for the viewers it really helps learning. Keep it up please 👍

[pauligle]

possibly the most detailed astrophotography video ever made!

[dimig]

I must say it is really amazing what you can do with very little gear but by paying attention to all the details, i ve been doing this for 2 years now and have a lot of gear but it’s just so satisfying to see what you can do with a camera and a tracker if you have all the information to give you a head start. I spent so much time and frustration even with much better gear and your videos just give all the information you need. I really love that every video just gives you the WHOLE process that is invaluable and it’s sad to see others not being as diligent and educational as you are. THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!

[andreasraum]

Nico, your Channel is the reason why it’s worth exploring YouTube. Keep up the good work!

[SH]

Awesome comparison! Thanks and Respect!

I had no doubt, that the longer exposed subs bring more depth (even if You'd use only the half total exposure time), but I did not expect the difference that huge.
The keyword for good pictures is signal/noise-ratio - and "Signal" comes first...
Having very few noise is nice, but it does not bring much if there is also very few signal.

Capturing as much as possible signal in each sub brings depth to the final picture, so a tracking system (even if it's just a DIY Barndoor mount) is still(*) more important as I expected.

* when I started astrophotography 2 decades ago, we had no digital cameras, we exposed on dia-positive film (i prefered Kodak Ektachrome 200). Single shot exposure over several minutes. Manually/visually guided on the (not motorized) equatorial mount through a small lens telescope. Even aligning that mount (no polar finder scope, no App) was an adventure.
And the result came 2-3 weeks later from the photo laboratory. Digital cameras have made so much things so much easier.
(but they've also complicated other things...)

[hollisbradburyoutdoors]

Man. I had to stop it after the intro alone. I am so pumped to watch the rest of it but just had to stop and say I appreciate these videos so much. I have 0 knowledge about this stuff. I have only recently taken any pictures of the night sky and man. You always nail it. Even if I had no interest in this topic you are so easy to understand. So friendly and approachable. Thank you for taking the time to help us novice photographers understand even the small details of what you talk about.

[HoshiBeans]

Absolutely loved the video. By far my favorite part is when you revealed the stacked pictures of the star cluster and it appeared to be a Subaru Impreza!

[martattacks]

There's virtually nobody on Youtube listening to whom I enjoy more. Great videos!

[hotflashfoto]

I watched this over several days just to take it all in. Very nice teaching skills. Thank you!

[Sam-lcnr]

Your videos are getting better and better 🤩🤩

[LucasCosta-tfbw]

This is by far the most comprehensive video on the subject I have found so far. Very informative and right level of details, specially for beginners

[eottoe]

For anyone else but me, too, this might be too much detail, HOWEVER, this was like the keys to the kingdom as far astrophotography goes. Everyone of my questions got answered and shown how to do it. Thank you so much. This was super helpful!!!! ★★★★★

[Eastbirds_Lee]

This is an incredible video! Very detailed and extremely well constructed. As a photographer and aviation enthusiast/flight simmer i’d like to add two useful comments:

- photographer in me says: choosing the widest possible aperture on your camera/lens might not always be the best way to go. Many lenses get somewhat unsharp or show chromatic abberation when they’re wide open. Dial down from say f/2.8 to f/3.5 could significantly increase image quality in terms of color and sharpness. It also helps sharpen the whole field of view and allows for more even distribution of light into the lens as it will get less fuzzy from corner to corner. Pro lenses are a lot less susceptible to these things. So sacrificing a notch of light might in many cases be beneficial for the overall picture, if you can add a bit of exposure time to each shot.


- same goes for focal length for anyone reading this: if you can, stick to prime lenses, those are lenses with one fixed focal length only, like a 200mm lens or 24mm lens. Avoid zoom lenses with different focal lengths range because they tend to be unsharp and warp the image throughout the focal length range.
If you do have a zoom lens you’d best look online on reviews to see at what focal length (and aperture) the lens performs best. This could mean the difference between a fuzzy and greyish shot and a tack sharp, colorful shot.

- the flight simmer in me says: check websites like Windy.com. It’s also very helpful as you can select all sorts of parameters like aerosol, wind, humidity and all kinds of pollutants that are in the skies.

Happy shooting!! 🎉💫☄️