Luna Imaging Nikon D3100 & Celestron 8i

[Aussie Dave]

Hi all. I had another go at imaging the moon tonight before the wind took over. These are the better higher magnification shots that I've acheived so far with the knowledge and DSLR I have.

They are over processed. I seem to have a heavy finger when processing but I do like to see the extra fainter details. Any advise is welcome.

Celestron Nexstar 8i

Nikon D3100, 100 ISO

Eyepiece projection

1 Polarising filter

Celestron E-Lux 25mm eyepiece

Processed in Paint.Net

[xtreemchaos]

nice close ups mate,good detail.  thanks for posting charl.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

There is some good detail there, well done for windy conditions. I wonder if these are single shots, or whether you stacked multiple images. Stacking often allows you to get out more detail, because the noise doesn't blow up so easily.

[Aussie Dave]

There is some good detail there, well done for windy conditions. I wonder if these are single shots, or whether you stacked multiple images. Stacking often allows you to get out more detail, because the noise doesn't blow up so easily.

Single shots Michael. I've had a few goes of Registax 6 with a handful of images, still learning on that front. I watched a video tutorial last night about it so I can do basic auto processing with it. Need more time with it though. Maybe I'll try a video next as I don't think I'm going to get any better with what I'm doing now, unless I upgrade to a decent AP imager with a smaller sensor.

atm I'm finding I get better results by processing manualy in Paint.Net. Tonight I've just worked out the histogram and how to adjust that. With histogram, sharpen and reducing noise with accasionally tweaking the usual settings, brightness, contrast and/or curves, I'm making them much better than the original shots even if they're on the over processed side.

I'm still not happy with my results. I'd really like sharper images and it's not happening with the camera I have now. I expected much more from it.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Given the small pixels of a DSLR eyepiece projection might not be the best option. I would try prime focus. Remove the polarizing filter, shoot a series of images with modest ISO setting, and stack those.

[Aussie Dave]

I think it's the larger pixel sensor and larger sensor pixels that are the problem Michael. Even day time photos on full res have poor sharpness at best. These shots here are the first EP projection I've tried. My other attemps in my gallery are prime focus, no difference in sharpness with original images on either, apart from more magnification with EP project. I still need to process them quite a bit to get a half decent shot. 80 single shots last night with most getting deleted and about 15 worthy of keeping. Have only processed 5 of them late last night.

If I don't use the polarising filter, I get reflected light from the moon in the OTA. I did try without the filter but most were deleted because of the reflected light bouncing around in the OTA.

I don't think it will make much difference but I could use a moon filter or neutral density filter.

I focused on live view DSLR screen, live view magnified and the view finder. Looks sharp to me.

I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, I think it's just the camera.