First go at imaging ...

[John78]

Right here's my first attempts, this was debugging mostly so I shot from indoors can get views due East and West but not North-South, its street lamp-fest outside so I'm still on the scout for a darker site.  My scope is a 700mm 60mm Tasco - mounted on an EQ5, the scope is better than I thought it was going to be visually - its quite easy to see the cloud bands of Jupiter using an eyepiece.  Trying to capture an image which is an honest representation of what you can see - now that's another thing entirely.

Shot 1 / Problem 1 : with my Olympus OMD-E5 with a micro 4/3 adapter I can't quite get to focus, the focuser is wound all the way forward its its soft and not past the focal point - I can see how I would fix it if it was all the way out and needed to go further but how can I fix it this way round?  Even out of foucs I can make out cloud bands - so there is hope, its sharp using an EP.

 

Shot 2 / Problem 2: Swapping to a MS lifecam - that will focus no problem, I have  a blob of contamination on the CCD from modding it which will need to be cleaned off, any suggestions on how to do that?  Because I was shooting from indoors my polar alignment was pathetic so keeping the planet in the FOV was an 'interesting' challenge...  Anyway not brilliant, if I turn the exposure up I can easily see all 4 moons also...

Anyway hopefully another clear night tonight I'll go and set-up outside and away from street-lights and get some better results...  Maybe I will try some proper wide field imaging also once I've got the polar alignment sorted out

Clear skies and thanks for any technical pointers!

 

 

 

[happy-kat]

Using a barlow with the dslr might get you a little more inwards  focus travel.

[Waldemar]

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Using a barlow with the dslr might get you a little more inwards  focus travel.

and probably quite a bit of vignetting...

[happy-kat]

As it is a refractor they can't move a mirror up the tube so isn't it try with a barlow or nothing?

[Waldemar]

I realize this is not an easy one, but using a barlow might add another problem.
It seems to me that John is imaging through an eyepiece, which may be the problem, cause the image scale is not what you would expect at prime focus.

If he is already using a barlow, a 2" PowerMate may do better.

[happy-kat]

Did a google on one of those adptors (my Olympus OMD-E5 with a micro 4/3 adapter) and I'm thinking why use it, it is not adding anything as far as I can make out other then putting the camera sensor further away from the focal plane hence lack of inward focus travel.

[Waldemar]

What are those adapters for, just for making macro photo's with a standard lens? If so, they should not be used for astro imaging, I guess...

[John78]

So it's a proper m4/3 to T2 adapter but it is in two parts also so I could easily turn down the part that mounts to the camera body and move the sensor 10-12mm closer... Although thinking about it now I did mount the camera onto the diagonal - if I remove the diagonal and mount the camera straight on I guess it will focus alright? 

[happy-kat]

Yes, don't use the diagonal.

[Waldemar]

46 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Yes, don't use the diagonal.

+1   never use the diagonal for imaging...