Beginners Photography Questions

[DH88]

Well i went out for the first time with my new telescope (Skywatcher Explorer 200) with my aim of finding Jupiter - Which i did successfully !!!

using a 2x Barlow and a 10mm lens i managed to focus nicely and just make out the coloures bands similar to this photo i found

however ... when i hooked up my DLSR (Sony A230) using the t-ring i bought with my telescope i get photos like this

is there anyway to add another adapter or something to be able to zoom in more and get better pictures (and also to be able to focus more accurately)

Thanks for your help !

Dan

[RikM]

It's not easy to get good planetary images with a 200P and a DSLR. You would probably get better results with one of these and one of these.

[tibbs1972]

This is the best image I've ever managed, last week.

From what I've heard this year, most people seem to use webcams for the planets, so I'll be looking into purchasing a Webcam in January, if I have any cash left.

[DH88]

Thanks for your quick reply.

Unfortunately they're kinda expensive for a beginner though.

[RikM]

You will need the power mate or at least a 4x - 5x barlow of some sort but how about a web cam like this.

Here is a quick rubbish Saturn pic I took using one of these from Morgans.

[DH88]

wow thats a great picture as far as im concerned!

how can a £40 webcam be better than a £300 DSLR and how do you get such good magnification with it?

[tibbs1972]

With a Webcam, you can split the footage into frames and then stack the images with a program such as Deep Sky Stacker (free to download) to build up a clearer sharper image.

[RikM]

I used a Skymax 127 with a 2x barlow and an extension tube. This gave me about 3,750mm focal length.

A 200P with a 5x barlow or Powermate would give you 5,000mm and better resolution!

The web cams and such beat a DSLR on planets because you can take hundreds to thousands of exposures (as an avi file) and then use Registax software to stack up all the best bits from the individual frames to make the final image.

I am not being unduly modest, my Saturn pic really is quite poor compared to what can be achieved with this sort of kit, in the hands of someone who knows which knobs and buttons to push.

[RikM]

Registax is the one you need for lunar or planetary processing.

Deep sky stack is very good, I use that too, but is meant for long exposure deep sky images. It detects and aligns on stars in the image.

[DH88]

Ok so just to clarify, would the 5x Barlow be for use with an SLR or only with webcam?

[RikM]

You could try it with a DSLR but I think you would get better results with the webcam.

[Gina]

A DSLR has a very much bigger image sensor than a webcam. It really depends on the image sensor pixel size. Some webcams have really tiny pixels and therefore high resolution.

DSLRs are good for wide objects such as galaxies (and the moon) and webcams for planets (or close up views of craters on the moon).

[lukebl]

Agree with many comments here. Don't even think about trying to image the planets with a DSLR. The cheap webcam is the way to go. There are superb images on this very forum taken with webcams. Take this superb one by oldfruit, for instance, using a similar scope to yours and an SPC880 webcam (sorry, oldfruit, hope you don't mind me plugging your image! Modesty prevents me showing one of mine)

[Gina]

WOW!! That's a cracking image - I'd be very well pleased with that

[LukeSkywatcher]

Last night i made my first ever serious attempt to image Jupiter using a 70mm refractor,2X barlow and a 450D.

It came out as nothing more then a bright white sphere with 4 dots around it (as in Tibbs image above).

I have learned and decided that this method of imaging planets simply does not cut the mustard. So planets are off my imaging list. There are a lot more other interesting things in the night sky that will be easier/better to image using my system.

I might have better luck trying the same thing again with my 90mm refractor which has a f/l of 1000mm (f11). But i wont hold my breath.

[peterules]

If your using a dslr, try making the shutter speed even faster, i got an okish pic with a x3 barlow and 1/200th shutter on Jupiter... It is possible but much harder than just getting a webcam.

[DH88]

If your using a dslr, try making the shutter speed even faster, i got an okish pic with a x3 barlow and 1/200th shutter on Jupiter... It is possible but much harder than just getting a webcam.

I did play around with the shutter speed and got some pictures better than a white dot, however the size just isn't enough to recognise it as Jupiter.

i'll have to try again using my 2x barlow then perhaps upgrade to a 5x

[geordieskies]

don't forget folks, when you're imaging planets or the moon it'll be a sunny day up there for them so use similar exposures for a sunny day here on Earth as a starting point.

[Rocksnipem]

Also, just a tip - I am a avid Sony Alpha fan, I use to have a a100. Currently I use a Sonly Alpha SLT a33.

What I have learned for Jupiter, I have to put the ISO on about 800-1600, autowhite balance, and shutter speed fast 1/400 or higher. Then I assign the focus check to the Trash Can Icon on my camera and digitally zoom in to the first step>re-adjust focus on telescope>finaly zoom in>fine tune focus on scope again.

Now when I take several photos I am able to get some decent color and banding. I am not using a barlow or anything yet, my camera is simply on a T-adapter to the back of my Celestron Nexstar 4SE. The only thing is that when you do increase the shutter speed, the moons disappear.

Webcam will probably be my next purchase, but that also requires a laptop. Why can't man toys be cheaper!

Happy hunting!

[StuW]

Although I haven't managed to try it yet, I'm going to try using my DSLR with the Baader zoom eyepiece and camera adapter to get magnification. I did try prime focus with a 2x barlow, but got very little detail but did capture the bands.

Stu

[ollypenrice]

wow thats a great picture as far as im concerned!

how can a £40 webcam be better than a £300 DSLR and how do you get such good magnification with it?

Very simple. The problem with imaging at very long focal lengths (roughly speaking high planetary-style magnification) is that your worst enemy is the atmoshere. Turbulence, known in the astro world as 'seeing,' makes an image seem to boil. By taking ultra-short exposures in a fast frame camera you can 'freeze' moments of crisp seeing. You just can't predict when they will be there.Take a video run and some of the frames will be sharp, most not. A programme like Registax asks you to pick a good one yourself and then it will sift through the entire run of 2000 frames and pick those which are most like the one you chose. It will then average these and the result will amaze you. An averaged set of 300 bad images beats a single good image into the ground, just as 300 quick measurements of the same thing, averaged, beat one single, careful, measurement. Astro imaging in all its forms is about statistics.

How to get the long focal length? Buy a long FL instrument and/or add barlows to it.

Olly

[Gina]

How to get the long focal length? Buy a long FL instrument and/or add barlows to it.

Olly

Sounds logical to me and with the brightness of planets, particularly Jupiter, you don't need much aperture I guess.

I'm doing some serious thinking about scopes myself.

[RikM]

You still need aperture to give you the resolving power.

[DH88]

could someone please help me out with the setup of my camera?

when i was taking some lunar pictures i plugged the t-ring into the scope and the camera into the t-ring, after a couple seconds of messing about i managed to get a photo like this:

Ok not bad for a beginner, im fairly pleased with that

now, my previous pictures of jupiter (leading to the creation of this topic) looked like this at best:

or

now my latest attempt .... which waxs quite some time ago ... i couldnt even get pictures like this, all i got was a few coloured dots *i know jupiter was there because i could see it through the normal lens* but when i put the camera on there, i couldnt seem to do anything to get it in focus ...

its hard to decribe what it was looking like, think like a very pixelated rainbow ... ?

now when i got my scope it came with a variety of all different adapters and tubes and whatnot .... im wondering if these are necessary for getting it in focus, but im sure i didnt use them before...

Update: actually IIRC it went all fuzzy rainbow and dotty when i tried to put the 2x barlow in there .... but without it, the pictures were as above .... make sense to anyone?

[icrusoe]

now my latest attempt .... which waxs quite some time ago ... i couldnt even get pictures like this, all i got was a few coloured dots *i know jupiter was there because i could see it through the normal lens* but when i put the camera on there, i couldnt seem to do anything to get it in focus ...

Did you purchase any of the extender tubes mentioned in a previous post? It was probably just poor weather though.

When was the last time you collimated that scope of yours?