First light with the QSI 583 WS

Posted by Erwin Kats on July 3, 2010 – 08:05
Filed under Astrophotography

i already had a few days to play with the camera, to know how the filterwheel works, how to take exposures etc.
tonight i had the chance to photograph a part of cynnus.

i photographed it from my normal holiday location in south limburg in holland.

ive used 5×10minute exposure with the canon 70-200 2,8 IS on 135mm and baader 7nm Ha filter
the chip was cooled to -10 and there were no dark frames used.

QSI 583 WS

Posted by Erwin Kats on June 30, 2010 – 07:53
Filed under equipment

last wednesday my Quantum Scientific Imaging 583 WS arrived.
this ccd camera with an Kodak KAF 8300 chip has an internal filterwheel ( mine has an 1,25” filter holder so 5 filter can take place )

at the moment i only got a 7nm Halpha filter from baader planetarium.

the store were i ordered the camera www.telescoop.nl from Guy de Nooij was so kind to send the camera just before i went to an astroholiday to southern france.
i wish there were more stores so kind and with such a good service

more photo of the camera can be found here.

asa ddm 85 #2

Posted by Erwin Kats on June 21, 2010 – 16:33
Filed under Astrophotography, equipment

After all the shitty damages, bad service etc from asa here a first pic.
after a 10 star pointing file i did a 10 minute unguided exposure with the vixen r200ss( 8” F4 ,800mm ) ( still out of collimation )
M51 has been cropped, photo is made on iso 1600 with eos 40D

ASA Direct Drive Mount 85

Posted by Erwin Kats on May 29, 2010 – 18:28
Filed under equipment

today i picked up my *edit* Astro Systeme Austria Direct Drive Mount 85.

well, that sounds like something professional don’t ya think?
the company ASA makes some stuff in the astronomy world.

their custumor service sucks so hard that i have trown away my vacuum cleaner.

but here a picture of the arrival of my ddm 85.

More pics van be found here

Sony DSC HX5

Posted by Erwin Kats on May 22, 2010 – 11:07
Filed under equipment

Today I received my Sony DSC HX5 black.
when i saw the specs on this camera I was thinking, i want it !
ive been testing it for a hour or 2 now and i love it, the HD movie function is great, indoors the sound is awesome also.
the photos look great, the panorama function works very good as well.
this cam will be in my pocket for each day of the week from now on !.

see some pics of the cam Here

The Great Zany Show

Posted by Erwin Kats on April 11, 2010 – 15:17
Filed under Uncategorized

tijdens het rustig aan wakker worden ben ik met de pics bezig.
ze zijn Hier te vinden en het album zal langzamer hand gevuld worden.

als je een foto op groter formaat wil ken je een meeltje sturen naar erwin.kats@gmail.com

Grtz Erwin

Dew Not

Posted by Erwin Kats on January 26, 2010 – 20:51
Filed under Uncategorized

Yesterday night it was finally a clear night again, with the cold ambient temperature it was a great day to try out the new Dew Not heating strips and controller.

karaoke in café Cocomo!

Posted by Erwin Kats on January 10, 2010 – 03:36
Filed under Uncategorized

Omdat ik nog wat problemen heb met de site, ken je de foto’s Hier zien.
bij eventuele vragen/opmerkingen ken je contact opnemen met erwin.kats@gmail.com

Grtz Erwin

new head

Posted by Erwin Kats on July 10, 2009 – 19:25
Filed under equipment

14 days ago i received my new Manfrotto 808 RC4 head
the head is very steady, and the axis can be fixed very good.
only disadvantage i got at the moment is that i can’t point higher then 30 degrees

Sunspot 1024 with plane.

Posted by Erwin Kats on July 5, 2009 – 18:38
Filed under Random

i was making some pics of Sunspot 1024, a group of sunspots that is on the sun its disk at the moment.
i was photographing with my Vixen R200SS and canon eos 40D + Orion Glass filterm, while the plane pased  by.