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Saw the moon for the first time. Advice on first camera

John1980

By John1980
in Getting Started With Imaging

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John1980

John1980

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Ok I have bought a telescope for my six year old son. Its a Celestron 127 slt and last night got our first clear night and saw the moon for the first time.

Wow.

We got some photos just holding the phone upto the eyepiece. Obviously nothing compared to images I have seen on here but it is something I will never ever forget.

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So for school projects etc. and after last night I would really like to be able to get a few good pictures of moon and planets. I have seen the neximage 5 as some of the first google results however would appreciate any advise on the first steps towards imaging.

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VigdisVZ

VigdisVZ

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Generally, moon and planets are bright and dont require fancy CCD's and DSLRs, but can be captured with cheaper webcams and alike, by taking a short movie, and stacking the frames to wash out noise into a single image.

Faint deepsky objects require much more from both the camera and the mount.

No experience with planets myself, but there are lots of good people around that should be able to give you advice on what camera.

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John1980

John1980

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From my limited knowledge I do not believe the scope or mount will be capable of getting and DSO's. However if their are any ccd's that would be able to take the brightest DSO's with this limited set up then I am all ears (I also own a fairly reasonable dslr already of I could use that).

I am more interested in just being able to get some good shots of planets and the moon.

Also I am as new to this as is possible last night was the first time really looking through the scope but was soo amazed I just wanted to take a photo to show friends and family straight away.

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JamesF

JamesF

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For full-disc images of the Moon (and the Sun, using an appropriate white-light filter on the front of the telescope) a DSLR works quite nicely with the 127 as the image just fits the full frame of a crop-sensor DSLR when the camera directly on the back of the OTA.  Cameras with smaller sensors will work, but you won't get the entire disc in one go; you'd need to make a mosaic of several.  I use a Canon 450D for this sort of image, for example.

For planetary imaging then some sort of small sensor high frame rate camera is generally preferable (though some people have used the video mode of recent Canon DSLRs quite effectively).  There are a lot of choices for such cameras.  What you choose really depends on your budget.

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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I've actually seen quite a few used SPC900 webcams for sale recently, for around the £50-£60 mark.  These are quite old hat now, but still knock spots off pretty much anything else in that kind of price range and have probably been the "affordable" beginner's planetary camera of choice for quite some time.

I don't know enough about the Neximage 5 to be able to offer an opinion on it specifically I'm afraid.

James

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John1980

John1980

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The Neximage 5 is what I have been looking at this morning. Its only £150 and if it can get some good images then I may well go for it however if there are any suggestions that are better for similar or a bit more money then I would appreciate the guidance.

It seems like a minefield with people talking about cooling etc. However if the answer is to wait, learn more before you get a camera then thats what I will do.

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JamesF

JamesF

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In general cooling isn't a major issue for planetary imaging.  It's more of a problem when you're looking for very long exposures for imaging DSOs.

There seems to be something of a dearth of information regarding the planetary imaging cameras towards the cheaper end of the market at the moment :(  The SPC900 is fairly well-understood because so many people have used it.  At the more expensive end there are lots of users at the DFK21/ASI120 end and it's easy to find people who can show what they're capable of and to discuss their experiences with them.  In between there are plenty of cameras in the £100-£200 region that we don't seem to see people talking about very much.  There must presumably be sufficient owners of these cameras to make them worth selling, but many of them are presumably keeping their imaging efforts under their hats :)

James

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Astrosurf

Astrosurf

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I love your 'wow' reaction! That's a nice shot for what you used. If you have video mode on your DSLR then, as suggested, have a go with that. I use an SPC900NC for Moon and planetary imaging and it's quite good. I've got my eye on an ASI 120MM mono with a filter  wheel. I wish I could be happy with the colour one shot version but apparently it's not nearly as good. But why not post a question about cameras on the review site, Cloudy Nights?

http://www.cloudynights.com/index/

Alexxx

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mak90fan

mak90fan

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Hi. Im also new to this. I am using a Canon 300d Dslr camera. I got a mint condition one for £50 with lens! I mount this to my mak90 and got some first time outstanding moon shots. Hunt around the web to find good condition cameras and you will need a dslr camera and a T-ring and a remote shutter cable. Its a mine field of equipment, so i too will be asking some questions! Thanks....

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Astrosurf

Astrosurf

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Hi. Im also new to this. I am using a Canon 300d Dslr camera. I got a mint condition one for £50 with lens! I mount this to my mak90 and got some first time outstanding moon shots. Hunt around the web to find good condition cameras and you will need a dslr camera and a T-ring and a remote shutter cable. Its a mine field of equipment, so i too will be asking some questions! Thanks....

Ditto that. Do get one with video capability. Mind you, if you decide to image nebulae, you would need to get the camera modded to pick up IR. Mine is modded and videos of planets and Moon are awful. The IR spreads out and I get ghastly halos. Just something to consider!

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JamesF

JamesF

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I would do some more research, to be honest.  I'm not convinced a DSLR would be the best choice here.  It might be worth posing the question in the video astronomy section.  My gut feeling is that you probably are trying to kill rather too many birds with one stone, and I'm not really sure that what works for planetary imaging is really what you want for video astronomy.

James

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John1980

John1980

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Cheers JamesF I agree with you and I am already doing just that. I have read a good guide to using the canon dslr's for just this and certain models have a 5x live view that maintain full HD resolution so it is basically like having a much smaller sensor and the results were impressive however it is my worry as well that I am trying to kill too many birds it may well be that I buy a ASI 120MM now for plantery work and a dsrl in a year or two after upgrading mount and scope to be more suited.

I have decided to stay away from a neximage 5 though however will probably get the colour version on the ASI120 as my bank manager will be calling me soon!

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