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Astrophotography and Canon 600D - getting there


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Well Guys

I am soooo chuffed that yesterday I managed to setup my DSLR to my PC to remotely control it.  It was wonderful to operate the camera from the computer keyboard and to see the live image on the PC screen.  Even down to operating all of the settings on the camera, all now I'm able to do with the computer.  I have ordered a 5mtr USB  cable so I can sit in the warmth of the house and remotely operate the telescope and camera, once all the other cables for the telescope arrive.

T-adapter and T-ring have just arrived for the camera and now all I need to do is to figure out how to focus it using the telescope as a lens.  :confused:  Help!!

:smiley:

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I'm doing the same thing, I have a 10m cable to control the SynScan GOTO system and a 10m USB cable for the camera so I can sit in the house whilst doing photos. The only thing I need to find now is a power plug so I can power the telescope without the battery - thus allowing a whole evening of astrophotography!

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T-adapter and T-ring have just arrived for the camera and now all I need to do is to figure out how to focus it using the telescope as a lens.  :confused:  Help!!

:smiley:

Missed that bit, I focus using the focusing knob on the telescope using live-view on the back of the camera first, then I switch over to the laptop and take a few trial-and-error photos whilst adjusting the focus slightly each time to see which position was the sharpest.

I look forward to seeing your shots!

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Thanks for that Kal

I managed to focus the camera using the distant church steeple and  to do test shots as well.  All we need now is a clear night to check it all out.  Going to my first local astronomy club meeting tonight, so I'm looking forward to meeting and learning from the people there.

:smiley:

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Thanks for that Kal

I managed to focus the camera using the distant church steeple and  to do test shots as well.  All we need now is a clear night to check it all out.  Going to my first local astronomy club meeting tonight, so I'm looking forward to meeting and learning from the people there.

:smiley:

I know what you mean, clouds are everywhere this week :( I was really hoping to get some astrophotography done during my week off :( I did manage to get a semi-decent shot of Orion last week though!

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Well a giant leap for me last night when I joined the Sunderland Astronomical Society. The members there were so helpful I finally managed to learn how to Polar Align the scope and saw M31, M13 and the Moon - it was wonderful.  I would like to thank those at SAS who made the night so memorable with many more to come.

Next up sorting out Stellarium to work with the scope - I've read that can be quite difficult, but nothing ventured nothing gained.

:smiley:  

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I hope you already have Backyard EOS. This helps you with automating image taking, with focusing the scope through the camera, *and* with doing drift alignment by using the camera. 

You really should get a Bahtinov mask. It's extremely difficult to get perfect focus without it. It's a simple and inexpensive solution. Just remember to remove it when you're going to do real imaging!

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Hi there, my name is Adam and I am very new to this. Anyone got any recommendations to what camera mount I should look into buying? I have a cannon EOS 550D, also is it worth buying a mount for my Iphone?


 


Thanks


 


Adam


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I'm doing the same thing, I have a 10m cable to control the SynScan GOTO system and a 10m USB cable for the camera so I can sit in the house whilst doing photos. The only thing I need to find now is a power plug so I can power the telescope without the battery - thus allowing a whole evening of astrophotography!

Do you use an USB to network powered extender for your 10 metre USB cable?

I believe USB only extends to 5 metres without signal degredation and slow transfer rates.

I recently purches 2 of these devices, one was very cheap from China but only USB 1.1 compliant, still good enough for my Philips SPC900 web cam but not suitable for the PS3 and XBox 360 wen cams I modified for atsronomy use so I had to pay a little extra to get the USB2.xx compliant cable (USB to RJ45) which is powered and I can use a long network cable to transfer my signal.

I also use a network cable hooked to my synscan controller so I can control it from the warmth of my tent (where the electric heater resides during our -10C winters).

I still have to work on the remote focus but now winter is over, as soon as the fires and skies clear (I live in Lithgow, NSW, Australia, where we've just had some very severe bushfires), I can get outside without cold being problematic. Now to that mosquito zapper.....

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Hi there, my name is Adam and I am very new to this. Anyone got any recommendations to what camera mount I should look into buying? I have a cannon EOS 550D, also is it worth buying a mount for my Iphone?

 

Thanks

 

Adam

Sorry for the double post, no longer able to edit my former post.

Hi Adam, welcome to the forum!

You will need a standard T adaptor to suit your Canon  if you want to photograph through the telescope (keeping  the focuser eyepiece size in mind). Most newer scopes have a 2" eyepiece capacity with  an adaptor for 1.25"

Myself, I'd go with the 2" unit (my scopes will accept this) because the extra size gives a little more in focus without the 1.25" adaptor, a problem I'm currently having with 2 of my scopes.

For many deep sky objects, many people piggyback the camera onto their telescope because they are't wanting the magnification through the scope for wide field shots. This still provides the guiding feature through the telescope.

$%28KGrHqJ,!hQFBrh%29LDeHBQpVGJyPtQ~~60_

Not sure on the iPhone, I think the Canon is going to weild better results with more features. Having said that, my son has taken some remarkable moon shots hand holding his iPad (complete with 1.3MP camera) to the eyepiece.

Do you know who Plugtop is?

If so, I'm G13

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Do you use an USB to network powered extender for your 10 metre USB cable?

I believe USB only extends to 5 metres without signal degredation and slow transfer rates.

I recently purches 2 of these devices, one was very cheap from China but only USB 1.1 compliant, still good enough for my Philips SPC900 web cam but not suitable for the PS3 and XBox 360 wen cams I modified for atsronomy use so I had to pay a little extra to get the USB2.xx compliant cable (USB to RJ45) which is powered and I can use a long network cable to transfer my signal.

I also use a network cable hooked to my synscan controller so I can control it from the warmth of my tent (where the electric heater resides during our -10C winters).

I still have to work on the remote focus but now winter is over, as soon as the fires and skies clear (I live in Lithgow, NSW, Australia, where we've just had some very severe bushfires), I can get outside without cold being problematic. Now to that mosquito zapper.....

I'm using this USB cable that I picked up from eBay

I'm building my own remote focus device using a 2rpm 12v motor and a potentiometer, I've pretty much got the remote all complete but it's going to be wired since I have no clue about using radio control.

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Well 1 month on from the starting blocks, and after a lot of frustration in aligning the Polar Scope, I have managed to photograph the Moon, Jupiter, Mars and the Orion Nebula, albeit with baby steps.
 
I am delighted to have achieved all this in what I consider is a very short space of time with no experience, brand new kit and software.  I also managed to sit with my laptop in the warmth of my conservatory whilst doing all this.  Eventually I will buy a CCD camera, but for now my trusty DSLR will do.

I have attached one of the pictures of the Moon, no stacking just a bit of tweaking in Photoshop. It may not be wonderful but it's not bad for my first outing, I think.

Now I have the bug I wonder whatever did I do before all of this!!

:smiley: 
 


 

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