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might call it a day!

nightfisher

By nightfisher
in The Astro Lounge

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nightfisher

nightfisher

Posted
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might just give this up, seeing as lunar A-focal is my main interest, i ordered yet another digital camera to see if i could get past the "slightly soft focus" problem that point an shoots seem to suffer, ended up being sent totally wrong camera, not the one i ordered, but thats a good thing as the one i wanted would not have done what i needed, found 2 different camera`a that will do it well (manual focus option) but looking at £300.....money i just cant justify spending, so time to call it a day

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cotterless45

cotterless45

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Maybe 'tis the fickle fingre of fate. As a tiny observing group we have barely a chance to set up and observe beofre being beaten by weather.

There are so many deep sky treasures, let alone the planets that a notebook and a few sketches are so valuable , nice.

Clear skies, Nick.

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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All you need with a point and shoot camera is a bog standard Universal Digital Camera Adapter to take images of the moon.

If the camera lens can be removed all you need is a t-ring and a nose piece to attach it to a scope.

I have an adaptor and a pile of point an shoot camera`s that all suffer the soft focus due to auto focus "hunting" on target

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dtr42

dtr42

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what about one of the fuji bridge cameras they have threads on the front and can be fully manual some can be picked up quite reasonably on ebay

fuji s9600 | eBay

hi i thought you couldn't use bridge cameras for astro and if you can were would you get the adaptor for it??

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Whippy

Whippy

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FWIW, I first started with an old canon powershot, you could remove the ring around the lens to reveal a thread and with some adapters, connect it straight to a baader hyperion eyepiece. It worked pretty well. Getting focus takes a bit of patience on any setup, you're not alone!

Tony..

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barkis

barkis

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Might seem like a step back in time, but what about a film camera. I have an Olympus OM10 you can have For free.

I have a couple of lenses too, and it's easy peasy to rig up for afocal imaging. You will need to buy your own film though:D

I don't foresee any problem getting hold of it, and probably still many types available.

Afocal lunar and planetary imaging is very effective, and can produce fantastic results when everything comes together, especially good seeing. It's just the developing that's a bug bear, time consuming, and the wait to see how good or bad they are.:)

Let me know if you want the camera and lenses. If you are at SGL7, you can collect them there, or I can post them to you.

Ron.

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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The problem with a-focal and a point an shoot is the auto focus, you centre the image, get it razor sharp on the live back then set timer so as not to put any shake on the set up, but auto focus ruins a good image by hunting during the capture, i have seen the results of using a camera with a manual focus and they are outstanding

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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Might seem like a step back in time, but what about a film camera. I have an Olympus OM10 you can have For free.

I have a couple of lenses too, and it's easy peasy to rig up for afocal imaging. You will need to buy your own film though:D

I don't foresee any problem getting hold of it, and probably still many types available.

Afocal lunar and planetary imaging is very effective, and can produce fantastic results when everything comes together, especially good seeing. It's just the developing that's a bug bear, time consuming, and the wait to see how good or bad they are.:)

Let me know if you want the camera and lenses. If you are at SGL7, you can collect them there, or I can post them to you.

Ron.

Ron, thats a really kind offer but i have an slr 35mm, the old zenit E, in this day an age i would be better getting a cheap dslr, not that i want one

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RobH

RobH

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cheers olly, i have a webcam, but i like a-focal as i dont have to be to hot with polar alignment and dont have to spend ages processing a capture

Polar alignement isn't critical for lumar and planetary shots.

Astrophotography requires effort......if you want good results you need to work for them. :)

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rowan46

rowan46

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hi i thought you couldn't use bridge cameras for astro and if you can were would you get the adaptor for it??

they are no good for deep space as they are too noisy but they are okay for lunar work you just use the t ring and t mount like a dslr and mount it on the back of the scope the ones with the power zoom don't work well but the fuji s9600 has a manual zoom if you duct tape the zoom to stop it moving you can get some decent lunar images. takes practice though I believe it's called eyepiece projection if you want to google it.

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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Polar alignement isn't critical for lumar and planetary shots.

Astrophotography requires effort......if you want good results you need to work for them. :)

I take your point Rob, but i dont care much for the finished image from a webcam, that is why i have not made any webcam image`s for a long time, i find them far to "silver" in colour, the image`s produced with a-focal are much more natural in colour

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russ.will

russ.will

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I had an EP-1 that I bought a T-mount for, just for the lark of it. A few 'snaps' of the moon and M42 later and I was off down the slippery slope with an EOS 450D, ST80/QHY5 guider, a squillion cables, PC control, etc, etc. Be warned!

In the mean time, these are crops taken with a PEN EP-1, unguided and screwed straight onto the draw tube of my 200p when I knew even less than I do now and it's still not a lot!

post-23184-133877742505_thumb.jpg

post-23184-133877742514_thumb.jpg

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russ.will

russ.will

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thats a couple of nice shots russ.will, how did you rate the pen-ep1
As a camera, it produces really nice jpegs, has excellent in built image stabilization and is beautifully made with a range of excellent, if not cheap, glass.

However, it's slow compared to an SLR, useless at action shots (that's EP-1 specific due to the focus hunting) and too noisy at high ISOs for serious AP. The latter is less of an issue with planetary, based on my very limited experience.

I've kept it, but trying to get into AP with it, is swimming against the tide, especially given the pittance you can pick up a Canon DSLR for. So I did.

Russell

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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As a camera, it produces really nice jpegs, has excellent in built image stabilization and is beautifully made with a range of excellent, if not cheap, glass.

However, it's slow compared to an SLR, useless at action shots (that's EP-1 specific due to the focus hunting) and too noisy at high ISOs for serious AP. The latter is less of an issue with planetary, based on my very limited experience.

I've kept it, but trying to get into AP with it, is swimming against the tide, especially given the pittance you can pick up a Canon DSLR for. So I did.

Russell

looks like i am in the market for the olympus pen, i thought about one when they first came out, will use it for eyepiece projection work, just need to get some money together:eek:

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astromerlin

astromerlin

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I take your point Rob, but i dont care much for the finished image from a webcam, that is why i have not made any webcam image`s for a long time, i find them far to "silver" in colour, the image`s produced with a-focal are much more natural in colour

No silver here, all done with a SPC900 at prime focus.

post-15833-133877745001_thumb.jpg

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