Help with D3300 focus problem

[Xoranium]

Hi all,

I'm trying to take photo's attached to a mak 127 goto, I have all the T-rings and attachments. I start off putting these onto my camera body and then attach to the scope main body, I pop my camera in manual mode with live view on and with a little tinkering of the scopes focus the live view shows me a super crisp image.. Great I say to myself.

I then set the shutter speed and ISO and use the 10sec timer to capture, once captured I view the image and it's completely out of focus, tried a few various settings and same results, I have even tried with live view off shows perfect focus but then same upon capture.

The tripod is very stable, I managed to take a video and this remained in focus.

There is probably a setting somewhere, but I'm new to this and would really appreciate if anyone can help me out.

Thanks

Xoranium

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. What shutter speed and iso settings are you using and what are you trying to image ?

[Xoranium]

I was on the moon last night, various ISO and shutter, around 1/125 at 200. The exposure seemed fine after playing round with it, just each time the focus was way off, I tried some daytime objects today and managed to get some images in focus, by randomly switching from live view to viewfinder and adjusting shutter speed. But it was completely random I have no idea what changed to get in focus. Seems like sometimes it wants to sometimes it doesn't, but everything the view in finder and live are spot on. :-(

[Xoranium]

Pardon my manners, thanks for the response :-)

What puzzles me is why the focus is differing from viewfinder and live view. However the fact that I managed to achieve focused images today tells me it is possible? Just wish I knew what deep settings might be causing the focus to play games heh

[Welrod50]

Ok, basics first - eliminate the obvious to start with.

1. Is camera in manual focus mode?

2. Is the tripod, mount and all other bits that need to be absolutely solid tightened up?

3. Are you using a remote shutter release or timed release in-camera with mirror lock?

4. Are you focusing on the moon to start with then trying to capture more distant objects afterwards?

5. Is the scope suitably cooled before you begin?

The reason I suggest these is as follows;

1. If the camera is auto focusing even if you're on manual capture setting, every image you take it may be trying to re-focus each time and as the moon is bright but far away, each time it may be different - hit and miss.  Also, if you're using live view this may have phase detect autofocus and when not live view, may be contrast detect (or vice versa).  Ultimately this will and does affect focus speed and accuracy each shot.

2. A solid base and imaging train as a must.  One weak link anywhere in that chain and every shot will be blurred - this can look like poor focus if it is only a very slight blur!

3. You either cannot touch the camera to open and close the shutter (remote release) or must use the in-camera timer. Ideally you need mirror lock to discount shutter/mirror vibration when taking the picture. This to be fair isn't so crucial so long as everything else is sorted, but it is better to use mirror lock than not use it.

4. If the moon is in focus and you then go for stars the focus difference is very slight, but ultimately the moon is closer, so you will find that stars tend to be ever so slightly defocused afterwards - better or worse depending on your focal length.  I use 420mm FL with my refractor but I can see a tiny change doing this.

5. You're using a Mak which takes longer to cool than other scopes and if going from a warm house to cold garden can take over an hour to settle.  All that while your optics are changing position a tiny bit, but enough to affect focus.

Finally, I'm willing to bet that your live view focus point shifts a little compared to using the viewfinder (for some reason).  I would suggest printing off a Bahtinov mask and cutting it out to fit the front of your scope and forget live view for now - use the mask and focus with trial and error to start of and just review each shot on screen afterwards to get a crisp shot.  But only after you've checked/addressed the points I suggest here.

Keep at it, you'll get there

[Xoranium]

Thanks again for the response Welrod.

I will make sure I do everything you mention, I have a remote for the camera, however lockup isn't available on this model not for shooting anyway.

I will report back with my adjustments an results.

Thanks

Xoranium

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I don't know the camera I'm afraid but could it be something to do with the dioptre setting? I'm thinking what appears to be in focus on the screen isn't really. Just an idea.

Maybe one of these might be helpful/useful:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Koolertron-camera-Raspberry-Panasonic-Camcoder/dp/B004VD7V54#productDetails

Are you sure you're actually out of focus rather than some vibration/movement causing the problem?

Louise

Edit: can you post some example images?

[lensman57]

Hi all,

I'm trying to take photo's attached to a mak 127 goto, I have all the T-rings and attachments. I start off putting these onto my camera body and then attach to the scope main body, I pop my camera in manual mode with live view on and with a little tinkering of the scopes focus the live view shows me a super crisp image.. Great I say to myself.

I then set the shutter speed and ISO and use the 10sec timer to capture, once captured I view the image and it's completely out of focus, tried a few various settings and same results, I have even tried with live view off shows perfect focus but then same upon capture.

The tripod is very stable, I managed to take a video and this remained in focus.

There is probably a setting somewhere, but I'm new to this and would really appreciate if anyone can help me out.

Thanks

Xoranium

Post a picture if possible, it speaks a thousand words. Try and use a laptop screen for focusing  ( this camera must be able to tether to a laptop, I could do it with my old D200 ) rather than the tiny lcd display, a lot more accurate and easy.

A.G

[steppenwolf]

Although LiveView is better than nothing, it can give very misleading results as star sizes appear very small even when out of focus! Far better to scrutinise a capture on your computer screen. To be even more sure of focus, I cannot recommend a Bahtinov mask highly enough as it takes all the guesswork away. As you are coupled to a 127 Mak, the focus you select on the telescope will be the focus you get irrespective of the manual/auto setting on the camera.

Sent from my iPhone from somewhere dark .....

[D4N]

+1 for a bahnitov mask. You can make then at home and they just solve the problem

I use live view if I have a bright star in view but if not I just use short exposures to fine tune.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[Xoranium]

Hi, yea I'm trying to learn as much as I can and am greatful for you all sharing experience.

I may well be able to shoot the moon soon, so will try get some examples.

I did look at my captures from yesterday and a screen print from a video I took was about 10 times better than the still I took at the same focus.

I have managed to change to spot metering. I just took a few test shots of a distant house and the stills were exactly as the live view, low light and long exposure too (through a window).

My 1st time with the mak 127 goto (no power pack yet) so a bit tricky to move it about atm, but I can say the sky's up here on isle of Lewis are absolutely crystal and the clarity of the optics ( revelation eye pieces) are a sight to behold, I hopefully will be able to share some with you once I'm sorted. :-)

Xoranium

[Xoranium]

Ok, ive managed to do a little test, and i'm still having trouble. conditions were perfect resulting in many samples much the same as shown below.

This image is a capture from a movie I took.. (Link)

This is a still from view-finder mode.. (Link)

I am at a loss, maybe this camera just can't do stills.  I can get sharper stills holding my iphone above the lens

Xoranium

[D4N]

I assume you didn't touch the focus in between so that would lead me to think that vibration from your button pushing or the shutter opening could be ruining your stills. Try using the timer delay and shutter delay functions to eliminate this.

People often use video for lunar, planetary and solar imaging anyway though to take advantage of the brief moments of perfect seeing you can capture this way.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Xoranium]

Hi D4N, the video was taken from a physical press, the still was done with a wireless remote.

they were taken within seconds of eachother and at the same focus. I cant work out why the shutter would make it so out of focus, hand held the camera performs brilliantly even at low speeds images are always super crisp, yet soon as the camera thinks its got no lens it just doesn't work properly. 

I tried various stacking software for the moon but its a .MOV file that i have to convert to a low res 640 avi, which in the end a screen shot of the video is better lol

Anyone wanna buy a Nikon D3300? 

Xoranium

[Tinker1947]

Are your using the camera lens and not prime focus, as prime focus what you see in live view is what you take a image of, if your using the camera lens have you turned off auto focus on the lens.....

[Xoranium]

Hi Back again..

not sure what changed here, only thing I did differently was leave the camera out to cool also.. here is the result (it was quite hazy to not that clear)

Not a bad result is it? I'm quite happy with that considering the conditions. 

(link)

Xoranium

[Xoranium]

Well from now on I will make sure the camera gets the same cool down as my scope

Thank you all for your guidance

Xoranium

[Welrod50]

they were taken within seconds of eachother and at the same focus. I cant work out why the shutter would make it so out of focus, hand held the camera performs brilliantly even at low speeds images are always super crisp, yet soon as the camera thinks its got no lens it just doesn't work properly. 

Xoranium

Like I say, make sure the camera is set to manual focus as this gets around the issue of the AF and camera thinking it has no lens on.

As for the cooling - it's all a learning curve.  Keep at it and good capture