1st go at Lunar

[Tommohawk]

Well having had some modest success with DSOs I thought I'd have a crack at Lunar - got to be a doddle I thought. Hmmm. Not so easy!

So Ive posted my best effort below, (kit as in signature) but could someone please offer some advice.

First, I'm pretty sure that when using my Canon 550D I'm getting vibration. I got quite a lot of blurring at slower speeds which seems to resolve if I got to 1/1000th or faster. I'm using Canon remote utilities - so I get mirror lock up in live view, but can only take pics by going out of live view and then I get mirror clatter with every exp. this method is fine for longer (5 min+) exps, but at say 1/400th cause blurring I think.

Can I get mirror lock, and then do exposures whilst locked? Ideally with Canon software  (I'm getting submerged in new software)

Also, I tried x3 barlowed .MOVs using video crop and PIPP/AS!2 - results were OK, but of course only 640 x 480. It would be nice if there were a slightly larger video format something between full HD and crop mode. Has anyone tried using Avi processing with any other MOV format? I know there is a compression issue but you'd think there was something between the two extremes.

Result below is best 13 of 22 stacked with Avistack, cropped, with very light wavelets processing (random slider setting technique!) ISO 400, 1/1000 sec.

[Bizibilder]

That is good!  You have spotted the mirror vibration issue and almost got the solution!  With canon utilities you can put live view on and view the image on the screen.  Then just click away on the exposure button and the mirror will stay up and there will be no vibrations - you can hear the shutter operating.

[Tommohawk]

Ahhhh! OK great, thanks. I think I tried this and it seemed to much much the same noise, but now I realise the mirror releases after each shot and then locks up again prior to the next one. Not sure why it does this - it might as well just stay locked I'd have thought.

The other thing that caught me out is that the timer button greys out when in Live view so I assumed nothing on that that panel would work when in live view. Shame the timer doesnt work, but if only doing a couple of dozen shots I guess manual is OK.

In fact the result I got above at 1000th second was pretty god I thought, so slower exposure not really neccesary maybe at that f - but once barlowed I found I needed at least 1/400th even with ISO 1600 which was getting pretty noisy. What's the maximum exposure time I could get away with do you think?

Also, and thoughts on the movies at >680x480?