Struggling with pictures and everything else!

[TwinkleTwinkle]

What a great night , clear shots of the moon,

Manage to set up my dslr camera and focused on the moon, best I could with the bundled eyepiece ( nexstar 6se)

Took a few pictures, not great focus to be honest, the pictures I did take were dull, greyish in colour , not like the screen on live view , I tried umpteen ISO settings, speed settings , but still dull . It's a nikon D5300, I'm completely new to both camera and telescope and was pretty gutted I failed miserably after waiting so long for a night like this!

Attached a couple of pics from the other night as iv not transferred tonight's fails on my phone/ laptop

[TwinkleTwinkle]

Sorry the pictures haven't uploaded here either

[Leveye]

The only ISO setting you should be using for a bright object like the moon is the lowest your camera has. Try 1/250th second exposures to start with and experiment from there.Use your camera's live view while zoomed in to assist with focusing better and above all else keep shooting for the stars!!

[proflight2000]

My first time out with the moon I started with a clean SD card and a bit of paper... I took upteen pictures using various ISO settings etc and made a note of what setting went with what picture. Like Leveye has mentioned, on bright objects you need to take fast shots, the moon when full is a killer for bright light, but just do various settings and make a note, that way you build up your own references for your own camera.

[Carina Lass]

The moon actually is difficult to photo when it is full as there's no shadows.

Processing then is important -

Contrast and adding depth are critical.

A dim sub (sounds like a Chinese lunch) is easier to correct in photoshop than an overexposed one

[wxsatuser]

Don't feel bad, thats Astrophotography, it's a big learning curve.

BTW single shots of the moon tend to disappoint because seeing blurs the image.

Much better to stack a few frames or even stack hundreds of frames of video.

Single moon shot

Stacked about 6 single frames

Stacked hundreds of frames cropped video

[Carina Lass]

There again.

Taken with an Aldi 8mpx camera strapped to a lens with an elastic band - eyeball focus

That photo is what got me started with AP!!!

[idigitize]

dslr camera and focused on the moon, best I could with the bundled eyepiece ( nexstar 6se)...

.....not like the screen on live view...

Are you using eyepiece projection and a camera lens, or a direct prime focus through the telecope?

From your mention of the eyepiece, I assume your not using prime focus, and if not, how is the camera fixed?

I have no experience of the d5300, but with other nikons.. Liveview is great for focus and framing and video, but will help little when setting correct exposure settings for stills. (It won't show shutter speed changes) if your using prime focus your aperture is fixed, that means liveview will only show changes in ISO.

Use the viewfinder for exposure settings or... Easier, take a photo and check the resulting pic on the screen. As said above, if ISO is about 200, and your aperture is fixed with the scope, then you should only change the shutter speed to get correct exposure. Start at 1/100th or similar and take a shot, too bright then shorten it, too dull, lengthen it.

[TwinkleTwinkle]

Amazing advice here thank you so much , I will try and attach the single frame pictures I took a little later, carina and wxsatuser your moon pictures look fantabulous ! I won't ask how you stack pictures yet although I have downloaded a program registax I think it was

Idigitize- I used prime focus then had a go with the Barlow, after a while I took put the eyepiece in an eyepiece projector and mounted it up. That's when it went more Pete tongue that before.

But, I'm really loving the experiance , everything and the friendly advice here really does put me at ease with what I'm doing wrong so Thankyou again x

uto

Pam

[TwinkleTwinkle]

I will take all your advice,as I'll re-read the replies till it sinks in

hoping for a good night again , although scope night app does change everytime I update it!

[PeterCPC]

I use a piece of software called Backyard EOS with my Canon and it makes taking pics much easier. I believe there is now a BackyardNikon. You can try the software for a month to see how you like it and it's really low cost anyway. I would recommend it to you as all the settings are done in your computer to control the camera. It does still pictures or AVIs to run through Registax and that's the best way to capture planetary targets like the moon.

Peter