FIRST ATTEMPT SPECTACULAR.......

[redgiantjohn]

FAILURE!! As it was a pretty clear night last night I thought I'd make my first attempt at afocal astrophotography I waited for the moon to show its poc marked face and looking at it through my celestron ps 127eq it looked incredible(no matter how many times I see it through the scope it amazes me) anyway after a while I decided to attatch my digital camera via a universal adapter and the results are disappointing to say the least I took a few pictures some have a bit of detail on them others are just a big blur, I had the timer on so there was no shaking of the camera or scope maybe I'm doing something wrong or maybe I just need to persevere.I've seen some photos of people doing astrophotography in this way and the pictures are superb or maybe my scope/camera are just not capable of doing this

[John]

The scope should be fine but, with only a limited experience of imaging, I've found a webcam by far the easiest way to get lunar snapshots.

[Rwetherell]

John - the scope is more than capable of doing this and I imagine that the camera is as well. It would seem to me to be a focusing issue. What camera are you using and how are you attaching it to your 'scope?

[redgiantjohn]

John - the scope is more than capable of doing this and I imagine that the camera is as well. It would seem to me to be a focusing issue. What camera are you using and how are you attaching it to your 'scope?

I have a fujifilm finepix f500 exr it has a very good optical zoom and megapixel,its attatched to the scope with a bresser universal digital camera adapter

[Spikey]

Have you tried manual settings at all for a comparison ?

Post a couple of pics up if you can, might be able to help a bit more

cheers

Spike

[redgiantjohn]

I think I'm too ashamed of my images to post them lol the camera has so many settings to it I guess its just a case of finding the right one

[Moonshane]

when taking shots like this (I cannot really be bothered with imaging as I hate the camera hogging the scope!) I tend to use all manual settings. so manual focus (I actually focus with the scope not the camera, manual exposure settings and then do a trial and error with aperture and shutter speed until it looks about right.

I also used the timer on the shutter and set the scope to one side of the moon and let it drift in as the timer counted down. a bit hit and miss but some of the shots were OK these are my only lunar shots and all on the same night. I recall I cropped them a bit and changed to 'black and white' as they looked better that way.

my results were pretty decent but I have not tried any for a while.

do post your images as we might be able to suggest what's wrong with your process?

[redgiantjohn]

Wow Moonshane they are really impressive I would be over the moon (excuse the pun)if I took images like that I will try manual settings the next chance I get.also I was wondering how stop the 'tunnel' effect of the pictures because mine look like a white blur at the end of a black tunnel...I'm such a noob lol

[Rwetherell]

What might be happening John is that the camera is trying to focus on the moon when the button is half pressed but can't, so by the time the shutter is released the camera hasn't focused and you're left with a blurred image. My father in law has a camera in the finepix range but I can't recall whether there is anyway to manually focus.

That said, I can't imagine for one minute that they would produce a mount to attach your camera to your telescope unless it could work.

Any idea whether you can focus manually?

[redgiantjohn]

I've just checked and there is no manual focus but it has various types of autofocus

[pritc]

when taking shots like this (I cannot really be bothered with imaging as I hate the camera hogging the scope!) I tend to use all manual settings. so manual focus (I actually focus with the scope not the camera, manual exposure settings and then do a trial and error with aperture and shutter speed until it looks about right.

I also used the timer on the shutter and set the scope to one side of the moon and let it drift in as the timer counted down. a bit hit and miss but some of the shots were OK these are my only lunar shots and all on the same night. I recall I cropped them a bit and changed to 'black and white' as they looked better that way.

my results were pretty decent but I have not tried any for a while.

do post your images as we might be able to suggest what's wrong with your process?

Love the Lunar X photo's Moonshane

Wayne

[JohnnyD333]

Hey John,

I started off using afocal shots and there is a learning curve to it. It sounds like your using a point and shoot which limits the types of photos you can take. However, u should be able to get pics of the moon with your setup. I would honestly skip using the camera mount for now and hold your camera to the eyepiece. Holding the camera away from the EP might help u focus. Make sure to use an EP with a wide viewing angle, anything below 10mm can be too narrow for a good shot. Also, if your shooting the moon make sure your iso

setting is very low, around 100, the moon is quite bright. Otherwise, just don't give and keep experimenting, u will get it eventually. We were all beginners once and anyone here can tell u about countless hours wasted on getting everything just right. Hang in there

[RikM]

Try manually setting the focus to infinity and don't use the camera zoom! leave it all the way out. Use eyepieces and the scope for the magnification. Keep it around 50 - 100x mag for best results. I don't know if your camera has a video clip setting, but you could try that, then run it through Registax.

[todd8137]

hi focus is the hardest thing to get right

[redgiantjohn]

Hey John,

I started off using afocal shots and there is a learning curve to it. It sounds like your using a point and shoot which limits the types of photos you can take. However, u should be able to get pics of the moon with your setup. I would honestly skip using the camera mount for now and hold your camera to the eyepiece. Holding the camera away from the EP might help u focus. Make sure to use an EP with a wide viewing angle, anything below 10mm can be too narrow for a good shot. Also, if your shooting the moon make sure your iso

setting is very low, around 100, the moon is quite bright. Otherwise, just don't give and keep experimenting, u will get it eventually. We were all beginners once and anyone here can tell u about countless hours wasted on getting everything just right. Hang in there

I'm using a 20mm ep at the moment would you think I should invest in a 32mm or 40mm?

[aussi skywatcher]

Hi, I have Fuji Finepix and have had similar problems, I have never found a way to get it to focus properly so gave it up and bought a webcam from Morgans - much less hassle and the results so far are quite good - still learning!

Cheers Paul

[Spikey]

20mm should be OK. I've just had 5 mins research on the fuji f500 exr and it doesn't have a manual focus for you to try but it does have different autofocus modes. Might be worth trying one of those different modes as it sounds like one uses a contrast detect sensor ?? (could be completely wrong there !) Try using live view autofocus perhaps ??

Keep the zoom at zero and set the iso to as suggested a low number like 100 or 200 as the moon is so bright.

[JohnnyD333]

Spikey is right, 20mm should be fine. I think you will get a good photo with what you have. Achieving good focus just happens to be a pain; software is made specifically to get a proper focus with certain cameras. Also, I think getting a 32mm or 40mm EP would be great to have no matter what.