Photographing in a beginners world

[Rocket88]

Hi All,

Have been directed here from a photography forum i use very regular where i did receive a reply with some basics, so i will repeat my question here and hopefully some one might help.

I have just purchased a Skywatcher reflector telescope for my son, we also purchased the accessories for attaching his D80 to the telescope T Mount + MC-DC1.

What i would like is some basics from some one who is or has used this method, any tips or links would be great.

I was also advised that a Barlow might be helpful, but at this stage i or my son have no idea what this is...

Thanks....

[jgs001]

Hi and welcome. I'd recommend you're next purchase should be First Light Optics - Making Every Photon Count - Steve Richards.

I've not used a reflector, but I have heard about difficulties with focusing sometimes. I believe the ep fitting has a T threaded top section, that can be removed and you can directly attach the camera to that, which does allow you to get focus. A Barlow does about the same job as a teleconverter. Possibly more important than the scope, what mount do you have beneath it all ?

[Rocket88]

Hi, and thanks for the welcome,thank you for the reply.

After advising the sales man of his needs, he went onto exchange from the stanard eye piece on the scope to a ( and now reading the box) i see we have a 2 x Barlow Lens, 1.25" which has the thread for the T Mount and the T mount has the baynot fix for the D80.

I start to sratch my head when thinking about focus, as i see it one is only able to control focus via the eye piece on the scope, there is no control from the camera.

regards...

Hi and welcome. I'd recommend you're next purchase should be First Light Optics - Making Every Photon Count - Steve Richards.

I've not used a reflector, but I have heard about difficulties with focusing sometimes. I believe the ep fitting has a T threaded top section, that can be removed and you can directly attach the camera to that, which does allow you to get focus. A Barlow does about the same job as a teleconverter. Possibly more important than the scope, what mount do you have beneath it all ?

[jgs001]

You have one... the downside is, for deep sky, that using a 2x barlow, doubles the focal length, which doubles the focal ratio, which quadrules the exposure time for the equivalent exposure. Not a problem with the moon, as the moon is so bright. As for focus, you got it, it's manual all the way, via the focuser, where the eyepiece sits. It's not easy, yet one of the more critical pieces for getting a decent image.

[Rocket88]

Thanks for the help, i will check out the link you gave from above reply, sharpness will be one of the key issues, I think its time ( wheather permitting ) to just get out there and try,

evaluate and work from there.

regards.

You have one... the downside is, for deep sky, that using a 2x barlow, doubles the focal length, which doubles the focal ratio, which quadrules the exposure time for the equivalent exposure. Not a problem with the moon, as the moon is so bright. As for focus, you got it, it's manual all the way, via the focuser, where the eyepiece sits. It's not easy, yet one of the more critical pieces for getting a decent image.

[rowan46]

dslr are mainly used for lunar and deep space photography if you want to take pics of planets you are better off using a cheap webcam and stacking the frames. If you want to do deep space photography. You will need the book mentioned, it tells you what equipment you need and more importantly why.

[Rocket88]

Ok all. Just wanted to update issues still having with trying to get a focus on the moon, although we have had little to see this past few weeks.

Got the D80 attached to the T Mount, camera set on manual, focus via the Barlow Lens, got some shots but we just don't seem to be able to get a sharp focus, infact its just one mass of white blur.

any ideas on focusing...

regards.

EDIT, Found the prob, all is working fine now....

[Nova]

Can I enquire what the problem was? Might be handy incase it crops up for me in the future.

[Capricorn]

A few questions:

Which Skywatcher reflector have you, they make a fair selection.

Is the scope on a mount and which one or type.

Is the mount motorised

For astrophotography you really need the mount to be an equitorial and also to have a set of RA and Dec motors to drive it.

The moon may be bright enough to get away with an undriven mount but not much else.

[carastro]

Focussing tip.

As you have realised you can only focus using the focussing knob on the telescope.

Most Astro-imagers find that the use of a Bahtinov Mask is the best thing since sliced bread for getting accurate focus, especially if you are going to image something you can't even see (i.e. when you are doing long exposure on faint deep sky objects).

Method

Point your telescope at a bright star and put this Bahtinov mask over the aperture (you'll need a size appropriate to your telescope).

Adjust focus until the star's light is split as below:

When the central spoke is dead centre you will be in focus. Lock your focus knob (if you have one). Do not adjust further, you are now in focus.

You can then move to the object you wish to image.

Carole

[Sam]

Another way that I find works quite well, especially if you have a liveview type feature with your camera, is to move the focus very gently until you have very crisp diffraction spikes on a fairly bright star.

[The Viper]

could the problem be you dont have enough inwards travel to get properly focused