Help obviously needed ... if not totally beyond it!

[Demonperformer]

Having bought a coronado Ha scope a while back, I thought it was about time to have a go at imaging with it, so spent an hour out there this morning, with the Canon 1000D. I have attached what I would guess is about the best of a bad bunch.

The exposure was 1/400 second at ISO 200. Does this sound about right? When I tried to use a longer exposure/higher ISO I started to get yellow discs in the middle of the sun, which I guess is not good - presumably a sign of over-exposure?

The main problem I had was being able to see the image on the screen when I was taking the photographs. Eventually I ended up waving an umbrella in front of the laptop to enable me to see anything, but this was less than elegant or convenient. Apart from the option of getting a massive USB cable so I can put the laptop well out of the sun, has anyone else had this problem/come up with any good solutions to it?

As a consequence of this in part I suspect, I found seeing whether or not I had achieved focus was extremely difficult and/or totally impossible (depending on whether or not you think I have actually achieved it on the piccie attached ). Any advice on how to make focussing easier through the camera gratefully received.

In fact, any advice on any aspect of getting a better pic gratefully received, as this one is obviously not going to win POW ... but then, we all have to start somewhere .

Thanks.

[mattifor]

Having bought a coronado Ha scope a while back, I thought it was about time to have a go at imaging with it, so spent an hour out there this morning, with the Canon 1000D. I have attached what I would guess is about the best of a bad bunch.

The exposure was 1/400 second at ISO 200. Does this sound about right? When I tried to use a longer exposure/higher ISO I started to get yellow discs in the middle of the sun, which I guess is not good - presumably a sign of over-exposure?

The main problem I had was being able to see the image on the screen when I was taking the photographs. Eventually I ended up waving an umbrella in front of the laptop to enable me to see anything, but this was less than elegant or convenient. Apart from the option of getting a massive USB cable so I can put the laptop well out of the sun, has anyone else had this problem/come up with any good solutions to it?

As a consequence of this in part I suspect, I found seeing whether or not I had achieved focus was extremely difficult and/or totally impossible (depending on whether or not you think I have actually achieved it on the piccie attached ). Any advice on how to make focussing easier through the camera gratefully received.

In fact, any advice on any aspect of getting a better pic gratefully received, as this one is obviously not going to win POW ... but then, we all have to start somewhere .

Thanks.

On my Canon 400d I use ISO 100 at 1/80th sec but without live view it was almost imposible to achieve a perfect focus.

I have just been presented with a Canon 60d which has live view and focus is easier to achieve I still use the same settings, whilst imaging has improved I still do not achieve images as good as with my DMK41.

I hope this helps you a little.

Ivor

[Helen]

My husband bought me one of these Think Tank Pixel SunScreen V2.0 Laptop Cover: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics . Its brilliant! The best bit, which isn't shown is the sheet which folds out and goes over your head. It folds flat so its easy to store too. But as shown in the photo below, it probably still doesn't class as elegant though.... (taken when on holiday in Ireland last week - not sure what the neighbours thought )

Helen

[Demonperformer]

@ Ivor: Thanks for the guide exposure times. Interesting that that works out at 2.5x what I thought was producing the best image. I guess maybe that suggests I don't know what makes a good image!! The 1000D does have live view, but I was finding it practically impossible to see what was going on on the screen.

@ Helen: That looks very much like the sort of thing I need. At least it offers convenience, if not elegance. Amazon say they don't have any atm, but I will do a search and see what I can find. Thanks.

[Merlin66]

My solar observatory is a 60l grey plastic tub, the lid hinged with gaffa tape and held open with a bit of fence wire; a dark sheet draped over protects me and the laptop from reflected light.

The image you show is well out of focus. getting the PST to focus with a DSLR will need a barlow. Check out Jan Timmermans website. Do you have a webcam?

[Demonperformer]

Ken

I realized that I would need to use a barlow to get a webcam to focus, but from my reading around the subject (incl JT's website) I had understood that this was not the case with a DSLR? That is a pain! And if that is the case then I guess the webcam would be an easier option.

I have the neximager and a sw 2x barlow.

Still, it is good to know that continuing with what I was doing would be futile. Thanks.

[Demonperformer]

On the subject of exposure length:

If I use the canon (with barlow), would I be able to just set the camera to automatic (aperture-priority f/20) exposures? Would this be likely to give well-exposed pictures (and so remove one variable from the equation) or are they likely to be horribly over/under exposed?

Thanks.

[Merlin66]

IMHO no. It will take some trial and lots of errors to get a good outcome. There are so many variables... The good news is that it doesn't take long to figure it out.