Photography Help

[king-jaffethehutt]

Hi Guys,

on the topic of photography, I have been trying to use my digital camera (canon Sx200) A-focally but I am finding it almost impossible to get a image lined up.

My scope is a Skymax 127mm and trying to steady the images has been nearly

impossible.

I used to have an ETX 90 and used to use an old Nikon 5200 and got some great hand held results!

Also my scope seems to have got some ghosting under the rear mirror (only noticeable at certain angles)

only started after the last few nights viewing is this normal? it's as if dew has stained the mirror?

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Scott

[JohnnyD333]

What kind of photography are you doing? Im guessing planetary, but if you are you should try some pictures of the moon first. This way you will know if you telescope is having issues or your camera. Play around with the ISO settings on the camera as well. Also, I dont know what eyepiece you are using but try going 20mm or higher, the higher powered EPs can be difficult to use afocally. Good luck:)

[king-jaffethehutt]

Hi,

Yes, it was planetary and moon in particular.

I have a skymax 127 and was using a 25mm eyepiece, it is very difficult to center mag 60x

I have managed to get a few poor pics via my mobile phone though!!

I have a feeling that the focal length of the scope and large profile of the actual camera lens may be my main issue.

The canon can be manually focused and also has full manual control which I have given a bash but with no real success.

I am going to try an old Kodak that I have knocking around to see if that works any better.

many thanks for your reply.

Best rgds

Scott

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

are you handheld shooting ?. if so this is the problem

you may want to mount camera to a tripod and then set up so its over eyepiece. will leave you hands free and a stable base for camera.

best way is tripod mount / afocal camera adaptor takes away all the movement produced with handheld. i to had same problems and a tripod sorted them out.

[garethmob]

There's a few afocal camera mounts on astroboot. Iv got one and it's pretty good as long asthe cameras got a tripod screw on the bottem it will work.

Sent from my Now working iPhone using Tapatalk

[JohnnyD333]

I agree with the above,

Afocal can be tricky because you need the both the EP and camera lens to be at that perfect angle to pick up your target. I think you know this because as you mentioned you got images from your smaller Mak telescope. I really dont think the focal length is an issue unless you have no tracking and the target is moving out of your field of view quickly. The f-ratio is even faster with your new scope so it should show up easier in your camera. Besides getting a afocal camera attachment to keep the camera steady, check to see if you have a tracking mount. If you dont, I would agree that your focal length coupled with a fast moving target may be the issue.

[cosmological]

You can get special adapters that will allow you to place your camera next to eyepiece like this one SkyWatcher Universal Digiscoping Adaptor

[king-jaffethehutt]

hi guys,

many thanks for the replys, the cameras that i have both have decent tripod screws.

I will try them over the wknd with my tripod and i will try and get an afocal bracket holder thing!!!

will post my results when I'm done.

Rgds

Scott

p.s my other shots were all done hand held too.