im itching to take images of planets etc.. need help

[rickygoespop]

Hi all, i am itching to take some photos of the things i can see with my telescope, i have done so much reading on here about equipment but it sounds so advanced and expensive and confusing to me.

i wouldnt mind starting off with taking photos of the moon and jupiter and maybe saturn when it comes round for me to look at. if i can take photos of clusters etc .. it would be a bonus.

i am looking to upgrade scope soon but im not looking for the best just adequate for me and a quick pick up and go scope with not much setting up to do, i have been looking at the celestron 130 eq, i mean a larger version of my current scope would be great which is just a refractor scope, is it possible to use standard digital cameras to take images or do you need special cameras/scopes to do it. I have seen on youtube a guy setting up a celestron 130 scope and he screwed a digital camera onto the scope but i couldnt see how you take photos with it? any tips apreciated.

the link for the vid is and he attaches camera at 4.45

cheers ...rich

[Spikey]

Hi Rich, yes standard digital cameras are just fine. There are various adapters on sale to give a few options with respect to scope attachment. It depends on what sort of camera you have. Many people, myself included also use a cheap webcam to take a short film and then stack the resulting frames together to produce a picture. Take alook in the imaging section, there are some amazing pics taken with modest equipment. Have a quick look in my albums of Saturn, Jupiter and the moon, all done with a £15 webcam and there are many more posts on here using the same equipment with much better results.

[rickygoespop]

hi spikey, i have a 14mp digi cam with hd recording video, do the adaptors simply hold the cam over your eyepiece?, ive looked at yr pictures , they are great if i can acheive half the quality i would be very happy.

[Spikey]

Thanks, they are pretty modest compared to most. What make and model is your camera? there are different types of adapter, some as you rightly say hold the camera over the eyepiece and use the cameras built in lens to take the picture. Better results can be obtained if the camera lens is removed and used to replace the eyepiece and the telescope now becomes the lens for the camera.

[rickygoespop]

hi, i have a pl120 samsung, im pretty sure you cant remove the lens, how about that webcam you have, is it a special type for astonomy or a regular webcam?

cheers

[sublime_mick]

Hi Rich, yes standard digital cameras are just fine. There are various adapters on sale to give a few options with respect to scope attachment. It depends on what sort of camera you have. Many people, myself included also use a cheap webcam to take a short film and then stack the resulting frames together to produce a picture. Take alook in the imaging section, there are some amazing pics taken with modest equipment. Have a quick look in my albums of Saturn, Jupiter and the moon, all done with a £15 webcam and there are many more posts on here using the same equipment with much better results.

i'm in the same boat as ricky -

complete novice -

what make/model webcam do you have?

do you have any pics of how it all sits when set up?

did you just remove the lens?

all help is very greatly appreciated

[Spikey]

It's an SPC900, use the search facility on the forum and you'll find loads of tutorials and tips on using it. Most tend to buy their cams from Morgan computers who do a pre-flashed version with an eyepiece adapter and an IR filter in a package. Thenit's a case of using a free capture pogram such as sharpcap and some stacking software such as registax. Loads of info on this site about using it all but if you get stuck help is always at hand via here.