I just can't capture the Moon

[Truly55]

Try as I may I cannot get the Moon in focus I've a Nikon D90 mounted onto my Celestron SLT127 using a Nikon T Adapter. Both with, and without the Barlow, my results are shockingly out of focus. The camera is put into bulb mode and shots are taken with a remote shutter release. I try focusing with and without my reading glasses but the results are always the same. Even when I zoom into the image, using the zoom on the back of the camera, and try to focus on a close up of the Moon the results remain the same. Such as pity as last nights Moon was spectacularly clear.

Help required before I go mad.

[Zakalwe]

Why are youy using Bulb mode? The Moon is very bright, and you probably need a fast focus speed (1/640th). Using Bulb will massively overexpose it.

Stick the camera on automatic exposure mode and give that a go.

[barkis]

How are you focusing the image, through the camera viefiender, or is it live view, and do you wear glasses as a rule ?

If you use auto exposure, then the moon should fill most of the field. Too much black sky around the moon will surely result in faulty exposure timing.

You should get some great lunar images with that scope, so you just need to practice getting the focus right, as it is vital for good results. Keep trying, you will succeed, all it takes is perseverence.

Manual exposure is preferable, ISO 100/200, and exposures for the moon which is quite full at present, start at 1/500sec, and gradually increase the times until you get a good exposure. Keep a record of what you do, and the result it gives. You then have something to work with in future.

The beauty of digital photography, it's instantaneous, and no costs for film .

Good Luck.

Ron.

[Zakalwe]

Stick the camera on automatic exposure mode and give that a go.

Apologies, I should have qualified that statement. use automatic exposure only if your camera allows you to do spot metering (i.e. select, say, the middle AF point, centre that point on the Moon and then allow the camera to set exposure)

As barkis says above, the large amount of black will confuse the camera if you are using the overall image to set exposure.

Failing that, use the histogram to judge exposure.

[Truly55]

How are you focusing the image, through the camera viefiender, or is it live view, and do you wear glasses as a rule ?

If you use auto exposure, then the moon should fill most of the field. Too much black sky around the moon will surely result in faulty exposure timing.

You should get some great lunar images with that scope, so you just need to practice getting the focus right, as it is vital for good results. Keep trying, you will succeed, all it takes is perseverence.

Manual exposure is preferable, ISO 100/200, and exposures for the moon which is quite full at present, start at 1/500sec, and gradually increase the times until you get a good exposure. Keep a record of what you do, and the result it gives. You then have something to work with in future.

The beauty of digital photography, it's instantaneous, and no costs for film .

Good Luck.

Ron.

Hi, viewing is through Live View. I only need glasses for reading (I'm nearly 48:eek:). I've tried different speeds until I've got something I'm happy with (apart from the focus) but admittedly the ISO is 800. Should I change it to 100/200 just for when the Moon is full & bright? I can't quite get the whole of the Moon in the Live View but I'm not too bothered about that. At the mo' getting focus sorted is the objective.

Cheers

BTW, Barkis, are you on the FC site too?

[Capricorn]

If you have removed the diagonal, fitted the T-piece and camera then you will need an extension tube.

You need to add back in the distance that the diagonal adds to the optical path.

[Truly55]

If you have removed the diagonal, fitted the T-piece and camera then you will need an extension tube.

You need to add back in the distance that the diagonal adds to the optical path.

Ah, that kinda makes sense. I presume I could still use the diagonal albeit with the camera facing upwards rather than straight out the back of the OTA? Am I better off getting an extension tube and, if so, do I need a certain type / length?

Cheers again.

[jgs001]

You shouldn't need any form of tubing... The Celestron page NexStar 127SLT Computerized Telescope (item #22097) / NexStar SLT Series Computerized Telescopes / Telescopes / Products / Celestron.com makes it the 127 Mak (same as the Skymax 127). There should be no need to extend the focuser, or use the diagonal. Firstly, lets look at the settings... ISO800, bulb is going to cause liveview to seriously boost the view, and you will not be able to focus as the image will be totally washed out and a white blob. From memory it's about f/12, so you should be able to use ISO100, and probably around 1/160s for the current phase of the moon, if you have spot metering, use that and meter on the brightly lit surface. You should never need to go above ISO100. Having got the settings down to that sort of level, roughly focus through the viewfinder, you'll find it really tough to nail focus that way, but close is good at this point. Then activate liveview and zoom it in.. try and centre the liveview zoom window so that you're zooming in on the terminator area (the shadows make it much simpler to get focus). Once zoomed all the way, the image will wobble.. that's the atmospherics, ignore it... for now at least. Get the image as sharp as you can on the display. Shoot 5 or 6 images, and select the best, it'll give you a chance to overcome the seeing a bit. Make sure you are shooting in raw.

Good luck, and show us how you get on.

(I frequently do single shots, using an 80mm refractor with a 2x TC @ f/15 from a static camera tripod... it does work )

[Muphrid]

Just found this thread, and while I know it's a bit of a long time since the original post, I thought I'd share my experience with imaging through this scope. The following pic was taken on 6th November, just a couple of days after my wife had bought the scope. The sky was clear and the moon bright, so I thought I'd have a go at imaging it.

I used a Canon 7D fitted in place of the eyepiece using a T2 adapter, no additional tubes or other adapters. I set ISO 800 and the camera to Aperture Priority auto exposure. To focus, I used live view. The only problem being that when I touched the focus wheel on the scope the image moved around so much that it was difficult to tell if focus was critical when magnified 5x. Shutter speed was 1/800 sec.

[Neil McRae]

Once you have the focus sorted you can take several overlapping pictures of the moon and "stick" them together using Microsoft Ice to get a "whole moon"

Neil