Some basic advice needed as I take my first steps in planetary imaging.

[SlimPaling]

Hi Folks ...

I hope somebody can help me with a couple of questions that I have.

 

At the next opportunity I am hoping to connect my Astro kit to make my first attempts at Planetary imaging. This is a whole new ball game for me as I have never done it before and have had no opportunity to seek advice from the experts ... until now.

 

My set-up will consist of (unless somebody tells me that I have got it wrong!!!!) : ....

1) APM refractor

2) Starlight Instruments 3.5" Feather Touch focuser

3) 3x Teleview Barlow

4) DMK 21AU618.AS mono Camera

 

My main questions at the moment are:

A) How do I control the exposure of the video frames when using the DMK?

 

Do I need to worry about the "Back Focus" distances between the above parts of kit?

 

C) What, if any, filters will be useful when I start imaging Jupiter and Saturn , etc. .... and .... where exactly do they go in my set-up?

 

Mike

 

 

[knobby]

Not sure if firecapture supports your DMK, but adjust the gain and shutter speed to get around 70 % fill on the histogram, there are how to videos on you tube I believe.

Download firecapture and Sharpcap, both free excellent capture apps and have a play connecting your cam.

Good luck.

Long term if you want colour you'd need RGB filters and a filter wheel.

[CraigT82]

I think you've got pretty much everything you need   You shouldn't need to worry about back focus or camera spacings or anything like that as there's no need for focal reducers or field flatteners, just a barlow.

Control the exposure using the capture software, I use firecapture but Sharpcap is also excellent, download both and see which one gives you the most control over your camera.

If you want colour images you will need RGB filters (and filter wheel for ease of capture) 1.25" filters are fine.

Good luck! 

[AKB]

Note also that since you're not using a one-shot colour camera then, for Jupiter at least, you will need to derotate your separate RGB captures before stacking them.  WinJUPOS is the tool for this.