Milky Way with the 50D

I took this last night, in the short time between sunset and moonrise. After looking at some of the shots I took last night, I'm pleasantly surprised how good they cleaned up. It still isn't D700 quality, but better than my 30D could have done. I'm posting 2 versions, the first is straight from DPP, the second I did some extra processing. 50D, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 20 sec, 17mm with small crop. C&C always welcome and appreciated. Thanks for looking.

2nd version with extra PP. This included a couple of actions by Noel Carboni that he designed for astrophotography. I also adjusted the curves a little.

Looks good, Rob, nice and clean. How are you liking your 50D?

I am thinking of trading my 40D for the 50D. Your celestial images with it are certainly making it more tempting.

These look good to me. I own a 40D and 50D thanks to some little punk who stole my 20D and 40D. Insurance paid out well so I replaced them with a 40 and 50. Glad to see the 50D worked well for long exposure.

Thanks folks. I'm really enjoying the 50D, after coming from a 30D. Since I enjoy night photography, the results from Thursday night are very promising to me. Last night I got a chance to photograph my daughter as a junior cheerleader at the football game. I used ISO 3200 with a f/5.6 lens to get some shutter speed. Grainy images straight from the camera, but they are cleaning up well in DPP. The AF was amazing last night, and worked well even under the poor light. Amanda, sorry about the theft, but it sounds like you did just fine with the replacements :).

Great night shots, Rob.

Great job Rob. Looks like the 50D is treating you well. Put that baby through the tests and show us more!