Afocal with a point and shoot camera

[skydog]

Hello everyone,,

 I will be attempting to image the moon,sun,and brighter dso's using my Canon powershot s95 digital point &shoot camera which will be attached to a Baader digiscope mount, this will be used on my Televue np127is, losmandy g11 (non goto ) on a Berlebach planet wood tripod. Eyepieces will be televues with excellent eye relief. I have been a visual observer for many years, but....new to AP. I know what your thinking...." why in the world is this guy wasting his time using a point and shoot camera with this set up? )  well......I am interested in pushing the capabilities of this little camera to see what she can do.

   Anyone with any experience doing this?

    Thanks

[Leveye]

Better choice than using a phone. Great little camera.

[happy-kat]

What will you use to protect the gear (and your eyes) when imaging the sun?

[skydog]

Yes Leveye....I agree....lol.

 As far as solar observing and imaging  I have a full aperture glass 2+ made by thousand Oaks.

[happy-kat]

Have you seen if CHDK would give your camera more useful functions for imaging control?

[skydog]

Have you seen if CHDK would give your camera more useful functions for imaging control?

Very perceptive of you happy-kat...yes I just looked at CHDK yesterday and it looks remarkable!  claims to increase exposures up to  64 seconds! The auto shooting mode looks very useful as well for stacking shots.   Do you have any experience with using it?  Any issues with post processing in DSS or registax that anyone is aware of.

[Laurie61]

I have used a Canon G9 for afocal imaging, although with more aperture. I take movies in 640 × 480 and then convert to bmp images in v dub before loading into registax. It can work quite well, I set the focus manually, to infinity, and then focus the scope, you can use the cameras digital zoom in still image mode first to help. I switch lenses to control image brightness as well as scale and use the camera at full optical zoom. A few of my afocal shots- 

     

[skydog]

Laurie61,

  Very impressive!

  Excellent representation of the point and shoot cameras!  How long do you run the video for each shot in order to get enough good bmp images into the v dub software  , then..., what is an average amount of images you process in registax  for planets  and moon ? Also  to be clear  Are you using  CHDK firmware?

[Laurie61]

Laurie61,

  Very impressive!

  Excellent representation of the point and shoot cameras!  How long do you run the video for each shot in order to get enough good bmp images into the v dub software  , then..., what is an average amount of images you process in registax  for planets  and moon ? Also  to be clear  Are you using  CHDK firmware?

I usually run up to 2 min movies at 30fps, select the best 1800 frames and load into registax and then use 700 frames to stack. Ultimately the frames used and processing routine varies dependant on target, seeing ect. So you have to experiment and see what works. I am not using CHDK.    

[skydog]

I usually run up to 2 min movies at 30fps, select the best 1800 frames and load into registax and then use 700 frames to stack. Ultimately the frames used and processing routine varies dependant on target, seeing ect. So you have to experiment and see what works. I am not using CHDK.    

Thanks for the information! I will attempt to get some shots put together by next weekend and post my results.

[happy-kat]

I have san old IXUS I use CHDK with as I like some of the functions it gives like taking images when movement is sensed which is great for remote triggering the camera when you have no means to use a cable saves touching it to set the image capture. I have not used the Raw mode.

[skydog]

I have san old IXUS I use CHDK with as I like some of the functions it gives like taking images when movement is sensed which is great for remote triggering the camera when you have no means to use a cable saves touching it to set the image capture. I have not used the Raw mode.

I will research using in RAW mode. Any issues from post processing from CHDX images?

[happy-kat]

I have not used raw, other than that it takes jpegs as normal whether I used CHDK or not so no difference there that I noticed on the PC. These files I have not used in DDS but can't see a problem.

[nightfisher]

I have used a Canon G9 for afocal imaging, although with more aperture. I take movies in 640 × 480 and then convert to bmp images in v dub before loading into registax. It can work quite well, I set the focus manually, to infinity, and then focus the scope, you can use the cameras digital zoom in still image mode first to help. I switch lenses to control image brightness as well as scale and use the camera at full optical zoom. A few of my afocal shots- 

Mars.dif.pro.r..jpg

     

Saturn.27.04.11.23.r..jpg

14.10.11.11.14.pm.pi..JPG

bor.11.03.14..png

stunning shots, just shows how well A-focal can work

[Laurie61]

I think for afocal work and shooting movies what would be useful would be the ability to adjust compression. I am not sure if this is possible with CHDK. I have tried the camera at 1024 res but despite the bigger frame the data amount is the same as 640 × 480 so more compression. This loses detail in the final image.     

[neilm]

I've done a few afocals with a cheap scope and a point and press, obviously not on par with the Hubble....

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/76193-more-from-last-night/

Cheers

Neil

[skydog]

Nice pics , the megrez 72 is a nice little scope, I bet with a solar filter you could get some nice shots of the Sun usining the Williams Optics scope.

[Langy]

Laurie61 love that lunar image, such a clear image and the way it is rotated with bits missing just adds so much to it.

Back to the OPs question, if your S95 is anything like my S45 (now 10 years old) you should be able to do quite a bit. My S45 has full manual controls very similar to a DSLR.

Focus and exposure time will be the key to any good images once you have it mounted and aligned properly with the EP.

For lunar and planetary imaging I would not think that there should be any issues at all. However DSO may cause you some issues unless you have some good tracking. 

The key is to experiment and see how far you can really push things, which is what I do with my kit.

Good luck and post some images back.