Help please - DSLR Backyard EOS and Jupiter

[Fordos Moon]

Following the BYE guide last night I attempted Planetary Mode with my DSLR (unmodified Canon 1100D).

I used Live View and 5x view after believing I had focussed (Bahmitov mask over ED80).

I did not use the focal reducer, but instead the standard DSLR adaptor and ring.

This was at ISO800.

But this is all I got:

So I guess my questions are, did I mess up focus, was ISO far too high, will it not work with DSLR or has anyone got any advice to achieve success with this setup?!

Thanks as always

Bob

[Gina]

Well, it's certainly very much overexposed - Jupiter is very bright. I've never used this mode on the 1100D so can't help there, I'm afraid, though I've often viewed Jupiter in normal imaging move and live view. You could try reducing the ISO probably down to 100 - as I said, Jupiter is very bright, like the moon but tiny in comparison as it's so far away.

You certainly don't want a focal reducer and a Barlow would be useful. You can afford to loose a lot of brightness and a x3 or even x5 Barlow would work I think. I have used a x3 Barlow with webcam and ED80 scope on both Jupiter and Saturn though DSO is my preference personally nowadays.

[StuartJPP]

Bob,

Looks like it is over-exposed. Try reducing the ISO and increase the shutter speed. The moons will be barely visible when the exposure is right.

[Fordos Moon]

Thanks you two, great advice as usual :-) with live view I actually took 2mins of film as opposed to single frames at 10fps.

I will certainly reduce the ISO to 100 tonight and give it another go, then will look at getting a Barlow to fit between the ED80 and DSLR I assume I will need a 2 inch one, any recommendations?

[Gina]

I've got the SW ED 2x 2" Barlow but that's quite expensive. It is very good though http://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlows/skywatcher-ed-deluxe-2x-two-inch-barlow-lens.html

[StuartJPP]

Bob,

I'd set the ISO to something like ISO200 or 400 then play around with the shutter speed in BYE until you can see some detail in Jupiter itself, It shouldn't be white only, that means it is clipped. You should be able to see some banding (depending on focal length). You will need to zoom in to 5x in BYE or 10x using live view. The image will be dancing around quite nicely, coming in and out of focus all the time but you should get some idea when focus/exposure has been achieved. Rather under expose than over expose, (until you get the hang of it), if it is barely visible, slow the shutter speed down gradually until you can see some detail and do the opposite if it is too bright.

Not sure if I am misreading something here, but don't use the in-camera movie record mode (if you are), it is not appropriate for planetary imaging. Always use BYE to record the movies via USB at 5x. It is way better to get 10fps at full pixel resolution than 30fps at only HD resolution.

Good luck!

[Fordos Moon]

I basically set up all the kit, had my camera on "M" and then switched on BYE. I selected frame and focus and sorted that. Then I clicked Planetary Mode and did everything through BYE not touching the camera again and it said it was recording at 10fps so I assume that is correct procedure?

But no option to change shutter speed as was recording 1200 frames on Bulb setting? Really appreciate your help, and the link thanks Gina :-)

[StuartJPP]

That all sounds correct except that you should be able to change shutter speed, make sure your camera is set to Manual mode "M" instead of Bulb...bulb mode is generally used for exposures longer than 30 seconds. That should allow you to set the shutter speed to something faster, just guessing but something like 1/60 would probably be close (depending on ISO selected and the speed of the scope of course).

[Fordos Moon]

That all sounds correct except that you should be able to change shutter speed, make sure your camera is set to Manual mode "M" instead of Bulb...bulb mode is generally used for exposures longer than 30 seconds. That should allow you to set the shutter speed to something faster, just guessing but something like 1/60 would probably be close (depending on ISO selected and the speed of the scope of course).

I will try that. I think I set the camera dial to M and then the speed to bulb on BYE and did 2 mins at 10fps but will try to set something other than Bulb on BYE.

[Chris-A]

That all sounds correct except that you should be able to change shutter speed, make sure your camera is set to Manual mode "M" instead of Bulb...bulb mode is generally used for exposures longer than 30 seconds. That should allow you to set the shutter speed to something faster, just guessing but something like 1/60 would probably be close (depending on ISO selected and the speed of the scope of course).

That sounds about right. I had a go at using Backyard EOS Planetary mode a few weeks ago, and got the results in the thread below using a Shutter Speed of 1/13 and ISO1600. However this was at F30 (F10 scope with x3 Barlow), so if you are running at approx F7.5 then, as Stuart says, 1/60s should be in the right ball-park.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/178458-io-transit-using-backyard-eos-planetary-mode/

[Fordos Moon]

Tried it last night but not great. No Barlow so image very small and Jupiter came out very blue. No amount if processing could save it.

Wondering if I should have removed the astronomik filter?