My First AP!

[CraigT82]

Set up my Heritage 130 on the balcony tonight and snapped my first pictures (well, first usable pictures) by holding my iPhone up to the eyepiece... and I'm actually pretty chuffed!    Tried the same trick on Saturn using a 5mm EP but just got a blown out elongated blob 

[laudropb]

Very nice images.

[Ceames]

Wow those are great!  I started out using an iphone through the eyepiece and it's always quite surprising how good an image you can get that way   You've managed to get good focus too, which I found quite hard with the iphone.

Were these single shots or did you take a video and stack the frames?

Cheers,

C.

[CraigT82]

Thanks! I downloaded an app called 'Manual' for £1.49 and it gives you control of the focus, ISO shutter speed and white balance. Although the autofocus actually worked pretty well so I just had to increase shutter speed really. These are just single images (I haven't found any free stacking software for a Mac yet)

[Pete Presland]

Excellent very respectable images some nice lunar detail there.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[CraigT82]

Thanks!  Got a few more tonight, this time with the Tal100RS... first one with a DSLR at prime, other two with iPhone through a 5mm EP giving x200.

I never thought I'd bee to bothered about astrophotography but I'm quickly (and worryingly) getting into it!  Now, where's the credit card 

[Charic]

Good images easily achievable on the Moon with a hand device.  Going a little deeper into Space for the Planets and  further still,  requires a lot more effort, skill, and money?

For such a small cost, this book has ample information to get you on your way, and Steve is also a regular here on SGL    http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

[Feral Rabbit]

Lovely pictures, well done. (You really have to love the digital age  )
Going for planet astrophotography is surprisingly cheap and can reward you with some satisfying shots. all you need is a modified webcam (They come up on here in the for sale section or you can do it yourself. There are plenty of tutorials on the interweb on how to modify them and loads of guys on here willing to help and guide).

I modified a Logitech QuickCam  Pro 4000 which I bought for £10 on eBay and an adapter which cost me £14 from the same site. I got a reasonable picture of Jupiter, which I was very pleased with as it wasr my very first attempt with very little post processing (Didn't really understand what I was doing at the time LOL.)

Want to photograph DSO's? Then you really need very deep pockets (although most software is free or very reasonably priced, Photoshop being the exception. Although it's not a need to have) and the patience of a saint... and probably a partner with the same level of patience. And loads of advice and help from the knowledgeable guru's on here.

Welcome to the "Dark Side" young padawan   
 

[Knight of Clear Skies]

That second iPhone shot has come out exceptionally well. Did you do much to it in post processing?

[spaceman_spiff]

Nice pics!

Saturn is not well placed at the moment for AP but you could get lucky.   

[CraigT82]

That second iPhone shot has come out exceptionally well. Did you do much to it in post processing?

Thanks!

I did tweak it a little in pixelmator (reduced the exposure and used the burn tool to increase contrast a little).

I've now got a cheap chinese 3x barlow to test out with my Tal and DSLR, to see if I can get focus with it and grab some nicer moon shots.  If it works I'll fork out for a decent barlow or telexetender of some sort