Full Disc Lunar Imaging with a DSLR

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Is there a mains power adapter with the cigarette style connector on the end for use with a power pack in the field. Last time my battery died without me realising before an hour, had to do darks the night after

[JamesF]

Is there a mains power adapter with the cigarette style connector on the end for use with a power pack in the field. Last time my battery died without me realising before an hour, had to do darks the night after

I'm not aware of one. I usually have a couple of batteries with me just in case.

Could be worth asking the question in the camera discussion section?

James

[Matt Scunthorpe]

There is this one

http://www.astronomiser.co.uk/canonpower.htm

but just wondered if there were anymore on the market. Would certainly make life easier, as long as it didnt drain the power pack too quickly.

[old_eyes]

There is this one

http://www.astronomi.../canonpower.htm

but just wondered if there were anymore on the market. Would certainly make life easier, as long as it didnt drain the power pack too quickly.

This is the adaptor I use with my 1000D. Works absolultely fine and I run it of the same powertank as my mount. Doesn't seem to take much power compared to what I am using elsewhere.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Thats great. I ordered one last night so (hopefully) dead batteries will be a thing of the past!

[cgarry]

They also have the advantage that they do not get warm like a real battery which is an advantage if you use you camera for DSO imaging.

[Russe]

Say, when using APT and saving the pics only onto the SD card - are they saved as jpg or raw when you ticked to save as raw?

What I mean is, I just looked at files on my SD card and despite having ticked raw and jpg it saved 2 jpg's onto my SD card?????

[Russe]

No worries - found out the problem...

[Russe]

Forgot about this thread. Just stacked 50 raw files of the moon in PS5 by hand...

[Russe]

Depends what mods you want to do I think. Removing the IR filter and replacing it with a clear filter is quite common and a few people have done that themselves though it does involve taking the camera apart. I've done nothing to mine however. It's absolutely stock.

James

Have you bought the LP clip filter?

[JamesF]

Have you bought the LP clip filter?

I haven't.  I do have a 2" LP filter that I can fit to the filter threads on the end of the lens using step-down rings, but I only use that if I'm imaging very close to the horizon.

James

[Russe]

Just downloaded the new PIPP version. It does support raw files? How come I can't see my cr2 files? I thought they were raw format???

Confusing.

So I have to convert all pictures into tif first, I guess.

[Russe]

huh? my comp is developing a personality...

now suddenly pipp finds them

lol...

that's how I feel while on nights too...

hahaha

[Russe]

say, why do you convert the raw files to monochrome?

[JamesF]

say, why do you convert the raw files to monochrome?

Because the Moon really is fairly monochrome.  If you do some fairly heavy processing you can drag a little colour out, but as I don't intend to do that the images might as well be monochrome.

James

[idigitize]

Great post, thanks for sharing all this info James.

[Ramsay]

As others have said this post contains some really good information. I for one am looking forward to trying out some of the techniques mentioned as so far I have only ever done one shot imaging. Thanks again for all the information.

[look out hes above u]

Nice post )

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[LeeWilky]

Another great tutorial! Thanks mate

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[long_arms]

Surprised I only just read this but what a fantastic post James  ! 

My only comment would be that when stacking DSLR images, it often produces a white outline around the moon. This used to wind me up. 

I learnt (from someone else on twitter) that before aligning, if you click on 'show advanced controls', then uncheck 'predict track'...there will be no bright white outline! 

I suppose you can also use the deringing tool in wavelets. 

Not quite sure what effect 'predict track' has but with centred and cropped images from PIPP it has prevented the white outline, for me at least. 

Just my 2 cents 

Dan

Edited December 25, 2013 by long_arms

[JamesF]

Surprised I only just read this but what a fantastic post James  ! 

My only comment would be that when stacking DSLR images, it often produces a white outline around the moon. This used to wind me up. 

I learnt (from someone else on twitter) that before aligning, if you click on 'show advanced controls', then uncheck 'predict track'...there will be no bright white outline! 

I suppose you can also use the deringing tool in wavelets. 

Not quite sure what effect 'predict track' has but with centred and cropped images from PIPP it has prevented the white outline, for me at least. 

I do sometimes get that problem with planetary images but I don't recall ever having it on a lunar image I have to say.  It's entirely possible it's partly related to exposure time and image scale or something like that.

James

[Andy Milner]

Fantastic thread! I will be using these tips tonight!

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[davefrance]

Excellent James, I am sure that many of us novice and not so novice members will get a lot of useful tips and the confidence to "have a go" from your in depth guide.

Many thanks

[JamesF]

Always good to see people getting out there and trying it.  Even better when the weather co-operates and it's possible to get a good run in.

James

[Andy Milner]

Great tips James. But you right the conditions out are terrible. So much cloud here and gusty wind. Need to pack up but got good view if full disc through cloud. Could not even zoom in with eyepiece too much cloud oh well. Clouds look here to stay. Maybe another time. Might stack some old subs using your tips instead. Cheers.

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