rate my first astrophotograph

[scitmon]

Hello all,

I have recently taken my first proper astrophotograph recently (of the moon): 

Here is what I did:

• Used a Skywatcher 80ED DS-Pro with a Canon 1000D (no filters or flatenners).  Should I avoid using the diagonal?
• I manually focused by using liveview, I'm currently looking into hooking up my laptop so I can see the liveview picture better and hopefully focus more accurately.
• I took multiple pics in RAW format, experimenting with ISO settings.  My best results came from setting ISO to AUTO and moving AE lock box to either full black or half way accross the terminator.
• I shot using RAW format and picked out one of the better ones.  I converted using RAWTherapee and played around with the settings without really knowing what I was doing, just going off what looked best.  I plan to stack photos next time.

This being my first time I'm wondering if more experienced people could rate how good my image is and tell me what to look for and how it can be improved?

[Owmuchonomy]

Hi, rather than rate your photograph more to the point are you pleased with it?  Only use the diagonal if you don't have enough back focus without it, that will relieve a bit of weight on your focuser.  Your pixel size gives you the opportunity to shoot at around f/20 to f/25 so you could add a 3-4x barlow or powermate and get a bit closer.  The best technique is to use 'lucky imaging' and take video rather than single RAW files.  You can then stack the video in Registax or my favourite Autostakkert (free).  I imagine your Canon captures mov video files so you can convert them to avi using the freeware PIPP prior to using the stacking software.

[hawklord2011]

Nice pic, I'm no expert though, took this moon photo with my smart phone at x30. Used a moon filter then edited it to mono as it was green. I was quite happy with it. Have you tried higher resolutions, this is where my smartphone started to let me down I think.

[cloudsweeper]

All I can say is it looks good and sharp to me - sorry I can't give any technical advice, being a strictly visual observer!

But, yes - a pleasing capture.

Doug.

[CraigT82]

The full resolution image on Astrobin is impressive! Well done.  I'm constantly amazed buy what those little 80mm EDs can do. As mentioned, try experimenting with barlows to get closer or buy stacking movies to combat poor seeing.

[ecuador]

The 1000D does not do .mov videos IIRC, and even if it did, only the 550D, 60D and 600D have modes that are useful for stacking (normal video skips 2 out of every 3 lines or something like that to get the 1080p). However, all Canons with liveview, the 1000D included, can use the free EOS Movie Record and capture 1:1 pixel video when at 5x LiveView mode which can then be stacked. Of course it will be only the center part of your sensor, so not for full moon pics.

[p14b]

Hi 

Your Moon pic looks good to me, i am also new to AP so can't really offer any expert advise, but i too started with the moon! took the pic below before trying a few DSO. Getting to know your own DSLR in Manual mode is a must. Your Skywatcher 80ED DS-Pro is a great scope, sure wish i would of started out with something like that, i went the good old tried tested and failed method of a F10 @ 2350mm x5 Focal-Extender and a small Cmos camera, what fun that was!!. 

Good luck with your AP 

Thx Paul

PS clear skies in WIGAN as i type this

[Astrosurf]

That's a very good image! I normally stack vids of the moon in Autostakket!2. I think you can stack stills too, though I think you'll have to convert to TIFF - I think you can do that in PIPP. Once you've stacked, take the image into Registax to use the Wavelet sliders. They're really impressive for bringing out detail.

http://www.autostakkert.com/wp/download/

http://www.astronomie.be/registax/download.html

https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/home

[scitmon]

Thank you all for your comments, some good advice here!  I forgot to mention that this pic was taken with a x2 barlow too, I may look into a more powerful one in the future but I have things of higher importance on my FLO wish list

Anyways, the forecast for tonight is looking good and we have a very near full moon so I'm going to have a go at stacking tonight.  I'd like some more advice and whether I should stack videos captured with EOS Movie Record or just take as many RAW images is possible?  What are the pro's and con's of each? From what I've gathered they are:

• lots of frame captures with video means more chance of getting higher number of clean images to stack.
• with video, the image resolution is lower (doesnt matter with planets but with the moon it would?)
• the videos have less data to work with for image processing

It sounds to me that, with the moon, taking as many RAW photographs is the way to go?  

 

[Astrosurf]

If you don't have a modded webcam or dedicated planetary cam, then taking a vid of the Moon with your DSLR would be good. Try that as well as stacking RAWs and see which is best. Let us know!