Lazy picture-taking

[blusky]

Hi all, I find that between the iPhone and my Panasonic compact zoom camera the iPhone camera wins when taking pictures of what I see in the eyepiece, e.g. on the Moon.

When taking the pictures of Jupiter however iPhone offers a fairly crisp focus, but metering that overexposes the planet and loses all the detail.

The Panasonic, on the other hand, while lacking the manual overrides, is capable of clearly showing the bands of Jupiter, but the focus is horrible.

I know this is far from the mainstream setup for imaging (in fact, the worse imaginable?), but is there a way to get decent pictures of what I see in the eyepiece using available cameras, e.g. a compact and an iPhone? I feel a clamp is a must as hand-holding the camera is simply a pain, however I couldn't solve the focus equation using the compact camera. Any views?

[brantuk]

Try one of these "Universal Camera Adaptors" :

The camera you see on it is a Canon 1000D but it has a standard thread that screws into the hole on the underside of any camera.

[blusky]

Try one of these "Universal Camera Adaptors" :

The camera you see on it is a Canon 1000D but it has a standard thread that screws into the hole on the underside of any camera.

A silly question - I can't see: what do you attach the clamp to? Same question if am going to be using a compact camera, and also where should be the CCD in relation to the ideal plane for eyes retina?

Using this adapter - rather short relief to the camera, obviously can't clamp it to the eyepiece holder. Without an eyepiece the camera sees what I see: the cross of the newtonian spider... Confused, although followed the manual...

http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets/4-/26919248/Celestron-Digital-Camera-Adapter/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cat:26919248|prd:26919248

This adapter obviously does not close sufficiently to hold the 1"25 piece...

[LukeSkywatcher]

The EP in the image is the part with the green writing on it.

[blusky]

The EP in the image is the part with the green writing on it.

Got it. The focus on a compact camera hunts through the focal plane without stopping there. Can see a sharp image while it hunts, but without manual focus it's all in vain...

[blusky]

Guys, so is the following mount no good if I decide to upgrade to a DSLR (I think eventually this will happen)?

Any advice?

[JimStan]

I have one of those mounts in post 65. You can fasten a point and shoot camera on the rubberized base ( with the diamond cross-hatching ) and you put an eyepiece into that part that looks like two right angles that screw together. The camera faces into the lens, and you set the focus to infinity, and focus the image with the normal scope focuser.

I have obtained fairly good images of the moon with the setup, and I will look for some examples of them, as well as an image of the complete setup, ready to use.

To follow in upcoming posts.

Jim S.

[JimStan]

Here is the clamp, with a Canon Point and Shoot camera in place. I should mention, that to make successful pictures, you really have to have some degree of manual control over the exposure and focus. This camera is about the bottom of the line for having those adjustments. The little red object is a shim that I had to add in order to keep the platform steady when I tightened down the thumbscrew. I am not sure if there should be one there, but this unit was improved with one in place.

The second photo is the Waxing Crescent phase of the moon, taken with the Canon camera, attached to my little ETX-90 telescope. Balance is a bit tricky with the kit, but can be tolerated for a short time required to take lunar pictures ( around 1/10 to 1/60th second, depending on phase and ISO setting. You have to experiment ! )

Jim S.