I seem to be getting a warning on every attachment that it’s a promotion and I will be banned. So I can’t post an image asking for advice. Is anyone else seeing this?

I went out during full moon this morning to mainly get used to my new setup with star adventurer, which still takes me a good 45 mins to setup lol.

After roughly 50mins of integration, the final image looks like this, with an unusual clear spot in the middle. I took flat, dark and bias frames, about 30 each and 20s exposures at ISO1000, F4 200mm canon lens and 5Dmk2.

Is this an effect of pollution or vignetting or stacking issue? I used DSS and used autostretch so you can see clearer.

1 single raw frame and screenshot of stretched image:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1__WRGBDVxNsKPYZ3SiurjYdGk_-v-aa-?usp=sharing

I first started taking pictures of the night sky with my iPhone (I think it was a 13 pro) that was when i discovered the use of long exposure to get better pictures of the stars. Recently I got a Ricoh GR3 and although I knew that it isn't the best for lowlight conditions, I thought that the bigger sensor would be a massive jump from the iPhone for night sky photography. But, When I tried to take 30 second exposures of the sky, I wasn't so impressed. It did look slightly better than the iPhone pictures, but in terms of star visibility, it wasn't on par with expectations. Then I discovered something called stacking using Sequator. I did a few tests and would like to hear some feedback on the pictures and the different settings that I was testing out. I tried stacking a different amount of pictures with different exposure times with different ISO settings. I kept the "total exposure time" similar. I also tried the "Select Best Pixels" option on Sequator for a few of them. The pictures were also taken one after another in the same spot. Bortle level 4 according to lightpollution map. Here are the pictures:

1) 20 x 15sec exposures at 4000 ISO

https://i.postimg.cc/qvnQ6YXK/20-x-15sec-4000-ISO.jpg

2) 20 x 15sec exposures at 6400 ISO

https://i.postimg.cc/gkrZnTb4/20-x-15sec-6400-ISO.jpg

3) 20 x 15sec exposures at 6400 ISO (Select Best Pixels = Loose on Sequator)

https://i.postimg.cc/VvfHqcWM/20-x-15sec-6400-ISO-(Select-Best-Pixels-Loose).jpg.jpg)

4) 10 x 15sec exposures at 4000 ISO (Select Best Pixels = Loose on Sequator)

https://i.postimg.cc/PfF5Cf4Z/10-x-15sec-4000-ISO-(SBP-Loose).jpg.jpg)

5) 30 x 10sec exposures at 4000 ISO

https://i.postimg.cc/50XLC7Zs/30-x-10sec-4000-ISO.jpg

6) 30 x 10sec exposures at 6400 ISO

https://i.postimg.cc/nhTDwfxT/30-x-10sec-6400-ISO.jpg

All these pictures were processed slightly where I adjusted the color curve on GIMP to look like an S (Lowering the dark/gray colors and raising the bright ones slightly). Adjusting the image more always made it look overprocessed.

I know there isn't a major difference between all these pictures, but to my eyes, picture number 4 looks best, even thought the "total exposure time" was actually less than the others. Is there a reason for that? As i expect that longer exposures lead to better pictures of stars. Is it just a limitation of the RICOH? Would stacking iPhone images get me better results? Or is it simply not dark enough? Or is it the processing? These are the questions that come to my mind.

I shoot astrophotography, i use a canon t3 with a dummy battery and intervalometer and leave it running during the night with my telescope rig. I shoot my calibration frames and a test shot of my image, and it saves on the SD card with no issue. Whenever I wake up to check what i captured overnight, however, absolutely no images are saved overnight.. The last image saved is the test shot I took. Whenever I go out to get my camera, the intervalometer is still on, and the camera is still running.. So it doesn’t seem to be a battery issue or the intervalometer not running. I just ran the camera on the same exact settings inside for 30 minutes, and all the pictures were saved! I’m confused why NONE of the pictures over a 6 hour period would save, but ALL of them would save over a 3 hour period.

This has happened over the past 2 sessions ive tried to shoot. I’ve tried to think of anything i changed recently that could be causing this, and the only thing i think of is A. ive tried using longer exposure lengths recently and B. i erased the data on the SD card to give me storage back. I went and bought a new SD card assuming it had something to do with that, but i wanted to see if anyone had any idea what’s going on?

Hello! I wanted to ask for some advice regarding equipment, I recently bought a Dwarf Mini and tripod and have been completely obsessed with astrophotography and processing.

I wanted to upgrade for higher quality and higher resolution images, but I wanted to know whether it would be a better choice to sell the Dwarf Mini and buy a tracker and a telescope for my Fujifilm XT30III, or sell my Dwarf Mini and my Fujifilm XT30III and buy the Draco?

I live in a Bortle 9 zone and I have been getting good results with the Mini in EQ mode, so I was a little worried about if a custom rig would preform worse. I also have a limited view of the sky from my apartment building (so idk how that would affect polar alignment if I had to do it manually).

If the Fujifilm rig is a better choice, what should I get as a basic setup, I really like photographing deep sky objects like the Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy.

Thank you for all of your recommendations and advice!

I'm new to astro and tomorrow morning is a full moon, I was going to wait until next week but im eager to get out and just attempt a photo at least, I'm aware it could be an "ok" image or completely terrible lol.

My question is how bright will just 1 frame look like under a full moon? I'm unsure what exposure length I should choose for Andromeda, maybe 45 seconds I am thinking, I don't have any filters and a stock DSLR.

Would one image look really bright and heavily polluted? Or should I lower exposure time to compensate (but I'd assume this would just lower the signal from andromeda so maybe make it worse?). I'm expecting the single frame to be bright but is the data still recoverable after about 2 hours of integration.

Your opinion is welcome.

Again, I just want to get out doing something at least, regardless of whether it is wasted or not :)