Throughout the last years it gnawed on me more and more that my old and a bit outdated 100 mm telephoto lens that performed quite reasonably in the analogue era was not really adequate for modern digital astrophotography. Therefore I decided to get myself a used Canon 100 mm f/2.8 Macro lens that was reported to show good definition in quite a few reviews. For a price half of a new lens I offered some upcharge for the possibility to test and a return option. Althogh a good idea for both me an the seller, fortunately there was no need to use it.

I was so impressed about the sharpness in the initial tests that I thought it was a good idea to use the first light to make a mosaic that was bridging two of the most prominent objects in Cygnus, the North America nebula and the butterfly nebula in one single picture composed from two individual single frames. This would make for an impressive contrast between the incredible density of fine stars and the hyrdogen plasma nebulae glowing in deep red.

The high-resolution version that you obtain upon clicking at the above picture is not even close (only 40%) to the original maximum resolution coming from the two side-by-side original frames. But nevertheless it impresses with the remarkable "zoomability" at still nice star definition quality. Click and enjoy!

The red-enhanced black & white version highlighting the faint nebulosities can be viewed here: