Astrophotography, take two

Okay, while this looks really cool, it could have been better.

The details: ISO 200, 17mm f/2.8, 30 minutes, D2x, Long NR On. Original is in raw. And a fresh battery.

Here's what i don't like. First, Sowers gets the nod. An exposure that long needed f/4 or f/5.6. Second, the sharpness just kills me. While it said it was on infinity and it looked like it was on infinity, turns out infinity really isn't infinity at 2.8 on that lens. Shoulda been sharper. Third - Reprocity failure seems to happen on Digital too.

So thats 1/2 an hour of taking the picture then 1/2 an hour of in-camera post processing while it was sitting in the back seat while i drove home. I was not going to wait around another 1/2 hour just for it to process and see if it turned out. Luckily it did (hense the raw usage).

Anyways, thats one more project down and in the books. Turns out my boss has gotten more calls and emails wanting to buy a reprint of it then anything he's gotten in the past few years. (Shame i cant get a commission on sales) My ME said it shoulda printed 1 column wider, and i agree there. But here's how it should have looked. Well, 576 pixels wide of how it shoulda looked.