A lot harder than I thought!

[MND]

Well my foray into AP has been useless so far.

I bought a 2nd hand 600D to play around with but so far have managed to get nothing....

I know what I'm doing is all wrong but I'd kind of hoped to at least get something.

I connected my camera to my scope via a relevation afocal 32mm thingy and direct to the scope without it as well. I took shots of Jupiter and M42 and just got a picture of orange blur in both cases. No stars or nothing. Was iso1600 and I tried 1,5, 10 and 20 seconds. All came out the same.

Tonight I thought ill forgo the scope and just put the camera on a tripod with a 200mm zoom and see what happens. I just pointed it towards stars and tried various iso settings and times, same results, orange.....

Am I doing something obviously wrong? I know the 9.25 is the wrong scope for me but I thought I'd at least see a star, especially just on the tripod.

I am coming from a really low knowledge level both in astronomy and photography, at 47 its my first camera.....

[GuillermoBarrancos]

Did you try the camera during the day? And these photo's look ok?

If so, next step, do you have a bahtinov mask? You need it to focus on a very bright star to get the image in focus.

Also, what is the location you shoot from? Is the light polution extremely bad? If so, without a Light Polution filter, long(er) exposures will be very orange! Especially at a high ISO setting like 1600. Try ISO400 and 800.

Tho in any case you should see plenty stars still, if the image is in focus.

[MND]

I live in the middle of a large town so the LP isnt great.

I have taken some shots during the day and they are crystal clear. I will get a Bahtinov mask for the scope but do you think bad focus is causing the same issue with the camera just on a tripod with the zoom lens?

I think I need to try and find someone local to me who does some AP, I really haven't a clue what im doing....

[Steve Ward]

This is a fairly stock answer but the best thing you can do to start with is get a copy of "Making every photon count" by Steve Richards , it's considered a pretty much mandatory read for those starting out.

It's available from the sponsors .

[ronin]

Afocal would mean you have the camera lens on and are looking into the eyepiece ?

Shouldn't you be trying prime focus with the arrangement you have?

[bogdog]

orange blur ..or anything blurred suggests (not tryin to be smart here) focus issue,agree with scope not being the "norm" for astrophotgraphy..others might disagree

but with a lens attached you should get something that resembles stars...as long as you focus!!....dont just set lens to infinity and hope thats it done..it isn't

most lenses will go past infinity and need pulled back a touch

make sure you are in MANUAL mode and lens is manual mode also (some have a little switch for auto/manual)

use viewfinder if you dont have liveview screen...and try to use averted vision to pick out a star on edge of frame rather than centre of it

set iso to around 800 and try a 10sec shot, if all is well without trails increase time a bit until you start seeing trails and then go back the way until they are gone

hope this helps

[Carina Lass]

Planets are very bright.

Try exposures that are in the order of 1/200sec at iso 400

Stars start to be visible at exposures of several seconds.

Focus on manual and carefully focused on a bright star.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

I live in the middle of a large town so the LP isnt great.

I have taken some shots during the day and they are crystal clear. I will get a Bahtinov mask for the scope but do you think bad focus is causing the same issue with the camera just on a tripod with the zoom lens?

I think I need to try and find someone local to me who does some AP, I really haven't a clue what im doing....

If you are out of focus, you definitely won't see stars and just an orange blur from the LP.

Bahtinov mask is a must really. There are very cheap and great help. You just point at a very Bright star and focus with live view. Then when you got focus, you can do some test exposures at ISO 400 and 800.

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Yeah I think that focus is a key issue here. It's probably a good idea to just use the 600d with the 200mm lens first to get used to using the camera. When taking astro photos make sure the lens and camera are in manual mode.  Focus on the moon if you can, then stars will be in focus too. With the lens at 200mm you should be able to take 2s subs without star trails being visible. In order to practice, set a high iso - not recommended normally but it will help you acquire an image. If you find you get a strong orangey background then that's likely to be caused by light pollution. Try to point away from nearby light sources and aim high in the sky. Obviously the atmosphere needs to be clear enough to be able to see some stars, at least.

Hope that helps a bit

Louise

[Skipper Billy]

You could try taking shots in daylight on a very distant object and then fixing the focus with gaffer tape (in manual mode) - then try again at night knowing it will be in focus.

Then post your results here and lets see if we can find some detail for you??

[MND]

Thanks all. Ill take another go hopefully tomorrow and see what I can produce.

Im taking shots RAW at the moment which end up as CR2 files which I then have to convert to tiff. Is this right thing to do?

[Adamar98]

As mentioned "Making every photon count". It's a good book for learning AP.

[Alien 13]

As already said get yourself up and running with the camera and lens 1st, dont be afraid of high ISO settings for now i use 1600 and 3200 it also helps to see the image on the liveview screen for focussing.

You should not need to convert files into TIFF DSS (the latests BETA) will be fine with RAW files.

If you have a shorter lens 18-55mm try that it will be more forgiving with focus and star trails.

Alan

[idigitize]

All advice above about making every photon count, focus and high ISO are all good, but perhaps there is a more basic issue?

Your variables are soooo soooo extreme, to get the same results of an orange blur must be more then just the above will help with. (Or maybe way less)

The Jupiter and m42...A Really really bright object, and a relative dark dso

Prime focus and projection,

a huge telescope or just a basic camera lens

1second and up to 20 seconds?

And all of these are producing the same orange blur?

Where are you seeing this orange blur? On the camera screen?

Where are you seeing the crystal clear daytime shots?

Are the daytime shots in raw mode too? Using auto mode or manual?

Your question about Raw files and cr2, is that something you changed from the daytime shots?

I'd start with your daytime shot method and slowly change things to get a night time shot. And see where it suddenly changes from crystal clear to an orange blur. Thinking the answer/error could be to do with shooting in an auto mode, p, tv or av rather than manual, and a raw work flow issue.

[Pete Presland]

for the set up in your signature i would say a webcam would be a much better choice for planetary imaging, you really could get some very good images with it.

as for the DSLR i would be using the shortest focal length lens (18-55mm?) and doing some wide field shots from somewhere darker than the middle of town. for the standard 18mm lens you should be able to take a 20 sec exposure without too much trailing on a fixed tripod.

[PeterCPC]

If you are using a Canon I would suggest that you get hold of software called Backyard EOS (BYE) which you connect to your camera via laptop. It allows full control of your camera on the laptop and also assists in focusing. You can take still shots and AVIs which is preferable for planetary images which you can then stack in programmes like Registax (free). BYE can be tried free of charge for a month to see if you like it and it's only about £25 to purchase. It's much easier to change settings etc on a computer screen than trying to fiddle around with the camera in the dark.

Peter

[Kirscovitch]

Sounds like the orange is caused by LP. (I know what thats like  )

As far as focusing is concerned I had problems focusing using my 1100D both on a tripod with a 18-55mm lens and attached to my scope. If you plan on using the Canon for AP, I would suggest buying BYEOS. Very nice camera controls and really helps with focus.

[MND]

This is one of the images

[GuillermoBarrancos]

That looks definitely an out of focus shot to me.

[Alien 13]

I would agree with out of focus, the light polution in itself is no worse than mine have a look at this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/210762-taking-long-exposures-with-heavy-light-polloution/page-5.

I posted an image on page 5 that shows how much LP you can process out.

Alan

[swag72]

You can see a couple of out of focus stars there - so get a good focus and a LP filter and that should make a huge difference. Focus will make of break an image, of that there is no doubt.

[bruno]

I'd try with the camera & tripod first, set the focus in manual @200 mm  the ap at 4.5  and the ISO @800 , set tthe time for 2secs then line it up with jupiter, then switch on the auto focus & half press the shutter button it should then give you some kind of image take a shot you should get an overexposed image of jupiter & then you know that the camera is ok, this is just the beginning good luck

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

Well my foray into AP has been useless so far.

I bought a 2nd hand 600D to play around with but so far have managed to get nothing....

I know what I'm doing is all wrong but I'd kind of hoped to at least get something.

I connected my camera to my scope via a relevation afocal 32mm thingy and direct to the scope without it as well. I took shots of Jupiter and M42 and just got a picture of orange blur in both cases. No stars or nothing. Was iso1600 and I tried 1,5, 10 and 20 seconds. All came out the same.

Tonight I thought ill forgo the scope and just put the camera on a tripod with a 200mm zoom and see what happens. I just pointed it towards stars and tried various iso settings and times, same results, orange.....

Am I doing something obviously wrong? I know the 9.25 is the wrong scope for me but I thought I'd at least see a star, especially just on the tripod.

I am coming from a really low knowledge level both in astronomy and photography, at 47 its my first camera.....

STOP at this bit i have picture but they are orange MND ....... 

do not throw them out, these have i would say light pollution.

open them in a editing program like gimp/paintshop (gimp is free)

find the levels tool, now adjust the left hand slider up ( the blacks ) move it until it nearrly toucher the start of the black mound/spike.

next is the middle slider ( midtones ) move this a little at a time forwards and backwards, notice how the picture changes.

camera is working ok and how it should and your pictures are OK, i know they look nothing like you expect but they will dont worry to much.

If you pop on a camera lens point cam at sky and take a 20-30s photo you will see roughly the same thing happen ( smaller scale)

that same orange/red hue-glow. 200mm is a bit long for static photography.

if possible and you have a kit lens ( 18-55mm ) or even a cheap 50mm prime try these settings in camera.

ISO1600-3200 - exposure @ 20-30s (go 25s), the F number will be set to 3.6 with the 18-55, or 1.8 on a 50mm lens.

put mirror lock up on. NOW click the shutter once ( it flips the mirror ) now click it again and camera takes the shot.

mirror lock helps cut down any camera wobble. when you have your picture pop it into editing software and again go and play with levels.

it takes a little time, but you ARE on the right track and you ARE doing things right to,

just a little tiny touch of computer wizardry and those orange frames will become star loaded images.

When the clouds are about at night, grab a torch ( not to bright ) set up camera and lens but drop the exposure to say 15s.

Now when you click shutter to take picture, turn on torch and paint some of the garden with the torch beam.

(not to much ) view back your image. clever placement you can capture some stars but also light paint trees and garden objects

another is a busy road / bridge, same things long exposure 15-30s, but try different ISO's see how this affects the image.

also note when you make the f number something like f11 you need to maybe even double you exposure time. to get the same image if it was taken with F3.6

[Skipper Billy]

MND - this the image that you posted in post 18 stretched and played with.

There are at least 4 points of light but massively out of focus - no idea what the bar of light across the top right corner is.

[MND]

I've just ordered a laptop so I can use BYEOS with it when it arrives. Does the spending ever end??