Olympus E420 for astro use, advise and tips....

[jasonT-5]

Hello everyone

Im new to using a DSLR for any type of astro photography and have only had basic experience of using my camera for imaging stars over the past year. I have an Olympus E420 DSLR and so far ive used it to take basic 10-20 second exposures shots of the night sky on a tripod though the lense it came with (Olympus 14mm-42mm 1:3,5 - 5,6).

I guess id like to know if anyone has any experience with the this camera? and to find out if the lense i have is suited to taking pictures of the night sky?, any recommended lenses and filters that will help for basic short exposure shots of the sky would be be great??

I aim in time to use the camera with my 130mm Newtonian on an EQ2 (not exspecting huge results, just some basic smart shots of the moon, jupiter etc), i already have a T mount for the camera but havent yet had a go at using the scope with the camera.

many thanks

Jason

[Space Ranger]

I used to have a E-420 and got good results for wide field sky shots and telescopic shots of the Moon (and brighter sky objects with some perseverence). With the live view function I was able to get good focus quite easily and as a result I obtained some quite good images of the Moon and brighter star clusters. However I found the noise levels to be really quite bad at above ISO 400.

I loved the camera for daytime use (compact, easy to use, reliable results on "auto" etc), but it has limitations for night time photography compared with more modern cameras, mainly due to the high noise levels. The kit lens is of good quality. I suspect a camera upgrade (when you're ready) may be more worth saving for than another lens.

You'll find some examples of images I've taken of the Moon here:

- http://www.flickr.com/photos/57299237@N05/5280386992/in/photostream - 4 megapixel compact camera

- http://www.flickr.com/photos/57299237@N05/5291412236/in/photostream - E-420

good focus and exposure is the key thing for the lunar shots

Gordon