Tips for a newbie

[Joe_Dinsdale]

Hi all,

Im really interested in starting with Astrophotography. I want to learn how to take a wide verity of pictures over time, but for now i will start of with something easy and im hope you all will be able to provide some help and tips to get me started in the right direction.

So to start with let me tell you about the kit i have available for me to use.

The camera i own is a Canon EOS 1100D. I have 2 lenses for it. the default lens of 18mm-55mm and the second one is 75mm-300mm.

I also own a good tripod and a remote wireless shutter. The last item i have for the camera are 2 different adapters to connect the camera to my telescope.

Im not sure of the names of these adapters but both need me to remove the camera lens. the first adapter allows me to connect the camera to the base of my telescope,

while the second adapter allows me to connect the camera to where the eyepieces go.

The telescope i own is a Celestron Nextstar 6SE. I have a range of eyepieces from 6mm to 32mm. To go with them i have a filter wheel and a handful of planetary filters.

I have also just order a solar filter.

As for my observation site i have a good view of the horizon from East to West. As for light pollution it is a issue when looking north but its not terribly bad, i cant see the Milkyway but i just about can see Andromeda and Orion with my eyes. here is photo of my site, even tho its in the day im sure you can guess how it would be a night.

Now you have an idea of my kit and what my observation site is like i will let you know what main things i want to learn to photograph.

So the main ones are a landscape shot at night with a general stary sky, the Milkyway, Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, The Moon, The Sun, Jupiter and last but not least Saturn.

So witch would be the easiest to start with? im guessing its going to be easier to start with just taking photos with the camera on the tripod, then once im comfortable with that move on to taking photos with my telescope?

I have tired to take some photos before with out really know much. the first one i did was take a photo of the moon my pressing my iphones camera to the eyepiece. the second photo i did was just the camera on a tripod, that picture was just of the landscape with the stary sky. i got that by having 10 images of 15 seconds exposure each and a little edit in photoshop. i will add these photos to the bottom of this post for you to see.

So if you could help me pick the easiest one on my list and give me some tips to start with like some ruff camera settings and any other pointers i would really appreciate it.

For now the sky is mostly clear and the sun goes down in about hour and half. If it stays clear i will go out tonight around 9 and just experiment. 

[Owmuchonomy]

Hi Joe. Yes I would start with your kit 18-55 lens wide open and your tripod and just experiment at ISO 1600 on a region straight up near Cygnus. Try a 30 second exposure and you will see the affect of the earth's movement on your image. Arguably the most critical item in your kit for astrophotography is the one you haven't covered which is the mount. To have any chance of counteracting the Earth's rotation and its effect on your images you will need a motorised equatorial mount.

[Joe_Dinsdale]

Hi Joe. Yes I would start with your kit 18-55 lens wide open and your tripod and just experiment at ISO 1600 on a region straight up near Cygnus. Try a 30 second exposure and you will see the affect of the earth's movement on your image. Arguably the most critical item in your kit for astrophotography is the one you haven't covered which is the mount. To have any chance of counteracting the Earth's rotation and its effect on your images you will need a motorised equatorial mount.

Hi thanks for your reply. Its still clear out so hopefully i will be able to experiment.

I dont want to see star trails im my photos for today so should i keep the expose under 30 seconds?

I am interested to see how my first popper attempt will turn out. As for my telescope mount is motorized but im not sure what type it is.

Thanks for letting me know to start with Cygnus, i will give it a try. So i will use my 18-55 and leave it at 18mm, with the iso at 1600. any idea for what aperture i should try out?

[ronin]

As you have guessed you are best off to start with putting the camera on a tripod and aiming it at a suitable bit of sky.

Set the lens to say 20-28mm and try it at ISO 800, 20 seconds and wide open and backed off 1 stop.

You will need to manually focus the camera and to manually set everything.

The above setting allow you to add 5 seconds, up the ISO and widen the aperture, step by step to capture a bit more light.

Now the problem: The 6SE is on an Alt/Az mount and tha is not suited to long exposure DSO imaging, you really need an Equitorial with at least motors but preferably goto. The 6SE is an SCT design and too slow for DSO imaging and the focal length a bit too long.

The best imaging for a 6SE (SCT) is to add a webcam and image the planets - capture a viseo and process in Registax or equivalent.

[Owmuchonomy]

Hi thanks for your reply. Its still clear out so hopefully i will be able to experiment.

I dont want to see star trails im my photos for today so should i keep the expose under 30 seconds?

I am interested to see how my first popper attempt will turn out. As for my telescope mount is motorized but im not sure what type it is.

Thanks for letting me know to start with Cygnus, i will give it a try. So i will use my 18-55 and leave it at 18mm, with the iso at 1600. any idea for what aperture i should try out?

As I said, wide open as a first pass.

[Joe_Dinsdale]

As I said, wide open as a first pass.

not sure what you mean?

[Owmuchonomy]

The smallest number on your aperture settings, probably around 4 with that lens I imagine.

[Joe_Dinsdale]

The smallest number on your aperture settings, probably around 4 with that lens I imagine.

Oh now i get it.

Thanks for the tip.

Well anyway i did go out last night and attempted to take some photos.

The first thing i have learned is its actually rather tricky to make sure the camera is pointing directly where i want it.

I did try to aim it at Cygnus but i think i had it to low and off to the side.

Also i believe my camera settings were all wrong.

I must of knocked the zoom on it as they were took at 29mm and not the 18 i had planed.

My aperture was set to 4.5 but i can go as low as 3.5.

I had my iso on 3200. with a white balance of day light, oops.

I will have a look at do what i can with what i took last night but i don't have great expectations.

So according to the weather between 8pm and 11pm the sky's should be clear tonight.

So i will attempt to go out and try again. For my camera settings im planning on this;

15 seconds of exposure

Aperture of F3.5

ISO of 1600

White balance as custom

Picture style as neutral

Flash off

Auto Lighting Optimizer to off

Manual Focus on

Single Shooting mode

Metering mode to evaluative metering

Image quality as raw 4272x2848

if you can spot any setting i will be using that may not be the best please let me know.

Thank you all for your help.

[Owmuchonomy]

Make sure you are in manual mode and setting the exposure time yourself. Then the metering will be ineffective which is what you want. Focus manually first on a bright star using live view mode if you have it then don't touch the focus. Unfortunately with a kit zoom lens you will find that it 'creeps'. Primes lenses or zoom lenses with a zoom lock are better. Leave white balance as auto, take your frames in RAW then you can manipulate them at your leisure on the computer later. Maybe try aiming towards Altair as a first effort if pointing to the zenith is an issue. Just experiment, you'll get the hang of it.

[Joe_Dinsdale]

Make sure you are in manual mode and setting the exposure time yourself. Then the metering will be ineffective which is what you want. Focus manually first on a bright star using live view mode if you have it then don't touch the focus. Unfortunately with a kit zoom lens you will find that it 'creeps'. Primes lenses or zoom lenses with a zoom lock are better. Leave white balance as auto, take your frames in RAW then you can manipulate them at your leisure on the computer later. Maybe try aiming towards Altair as a first effort if pointing to the zenith is an issue. Just experiment, you'll get the hang of it.

Yes the camera is in manual mode and all the settings that I listed is what I have the option on changing. Last night just before it got dark I focused the camera on top of a tall building in the distance.

So to night I will make sure I have better settings and I will focus the camera on Altair, before I start.

[Joe_Dinsdale]

So i was unable to go out and take more pictures for the last 2 nights thanks to the clouds. But i have spent time processing the images i took the first. However they are shockingly bad, so im not going to bother to show them.

I believe that they came out so bad was the settings i used on the camera and my editing skills. Hopefully the night will be clear some time soon and i will go back out and try again with the settings for the camera been a little different.  

[jtlandreneau]

Hi Joe - rule of thumb to minimize star trails is 500 / your focal length. so for example, if shooting at 50mm, you can do a max exposure time of 10 seconds before noticeable trailing

I do widefield shots with a 50mm lens on my canon t3i (600d) mounted to a Celestron CG-4. I usually stay in ISO800, sometimes dabble in ISO1600. To minimize vignetting you'll want to shoot around 4.5-5.2 f-stop (or higher). Without an equatorial mount I think I'd start with as low of a focal length as possible, as long of an exposure without trailing, and boost the ISO to get the histogram fully developed. you'll have to take a lot more subexposures to compensate, but you should be able to get a nice image that way

I attached my most recent widefield shot as an example of what's capable with a small dslr lens

good luck!