This was taken with an SLR bolted to the mount for my telescope. A motor drive kept the picture steady during the 5 minute exposure. 100ASA film was used, and the 50mm lens was wide open, at f/1.7.
I adjusted the contrast, brightness, and gamma after I scanned in the picture, but didn't modify any colours. M42 came out pink, as you can see. You can check out the original by .
The picture below was taken with my digital SLR, mounted in place of the telescope eyepiece. The speed was cranked up to 1600ASA and the exposure set to 30 seconds, the maximum. I now have a remote which will let me take longer exposures in future.
