Best book for imaging planets with DSLR

[Adaaam75]

Hi guys,

I have a Canon D550 (T2i) which by pure fluke seems to be one of the few Canon cameras which is ideal for imaging planets using the video recording cropped 640 video size frames setting. I've read up on techniques etc but if really like a book as a reference to read up further on the subject but am finding most are either dedicated to deep space objects with a full guided set up or only have a small chapter and is more aimed towards the set up than any techniques etc.

I have found the e-book A guide to DSLR planetary imaging by Jerry Lodriguss and it seems exactly what i want but it is only avaiable from the US and costs over £50 before VAT is calculated. Not paying that. The other consideration is Every photon counts which is highly rated on here but again I'm concerned on how much if the content will actually be focused on planetary imaging with a DSLR.

Any input and opinion will be extremely welcome.

Adaaam75

 

I have a Canon 550D with a Celestron 9.25SCT on an AVX mount (including adaptors!).

[ronin]

1 hour ago, Adaaam75 said:

I have found the e-book A guide to DSLR planetary imaging by Jerry Lodriguss and it seems exactly what i want but it is only avaiable from the US and costs over £50 before VAT is calculated. Not paying that. The other consideration is Every photon counts which is highly rated on here but again I'm concerned on how much if the content will actually be focused on planetary imaging with a DSLR.

Do you mean you have found an eBook and want the hard copy? If so have you read the ebook yet to be sure it is what you want?

£50 is still high however, but 100% not sure they charge VAT on books, they may be one of the exempt items. But as it is income they could well do so, also even if expemt you could still get charged as the default seems to be to charge VAT until the customer squeeks.

I suspect that Making Every Photon Count is principally for long exposure DSO imaging.

There are guides on the net worth looking up, Starizona have this. Also the idea behind planetary imaging is reasonably simple - getr a decent video of say 2000 frames, around 60 seconds duration, and stack the best 10% to get a compound image of the good frames. Then you process, what you use to process is your decision and so in some ways independant of the capture+stack. So likely not covered by a book as you could be using Photoshop, Gimp or another freebie off the net like PhotoScape or PhotoPad and likely whatever came with the PC these days.

Check what format the viseo is with the Canon, it may not be compatible with whatever stacking software you decide on.

There is this option: DSLR Solar System

One author is a member here if I recall correct.

[Adaaam75]

That's great advice. I think if I were to put all the advice I've read from different sites and forums i'd have everything I need however i'd love a book that covers everything, as it seems "A guide to planetary DSLR imaging" is. Unfortunately as mentioned this is only available on CD and only importable from America at £48 + £10 postage and VAT if stopped through customs. Not worth it.

APT and Backyard EOS are user friendly and allow my Canon footage to be directly compatible with Registax. I am more interested in the practicalities and hardware side of things along with camera settings etc.

[ronin]

The book you refer to was at some time available it seems as a pdf for download. However the site that comes up is available to buy so it went some time ago, and cannot locate an alternative source. It may have been illegal and so closed down.

Thought I had found it available on Sky and Telescope but I read the wrong item.

Planetary imaging is relatively easy at least at the initial level I suppose like all AP the processing stage can get deep and involved. Equally with the scope you have I suppose that basic is not what you are aiming at. Try searching out Damian Peach and Nik Szymanek as they both use similar to you for planetary imaging. Actually Nik lives around your area - are you a member of any clubs?

Problem with a google search is that it will happily drop "planetary" and substitute "astrophotography" for "imaging" so you end up with the more normal astrophotography options.

[Stub Mandrel]

Consider using a  quality webcam you gain much from having smaller pixels.

[Adaaam75]

28 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Consider using a  quality webcam you gain much from having smaller pixels.

Agreed however my DSLR has a video cropped option that along with the correct software can achieve similar results to a webcam.

[Stub Mandrel]

16 minutes ago, Adaaam75 said:

Agreed however my DSLR has a video cropped option that along with the correct software can achieve similar results to a webcam.

Fair enough, I looked it up and you have 4.3um pixels compared to the 5.19um ones on my 450D, which is significantly clsoer to planetary cam/webcam sizes.

[newbie alert]

I've yet to see a DSLR image come even remotely close to a planetary cam image

[Adaaam75]

10 hours ago, newbie alert said:

I've yet to see a DSLR image come even remotely close to a planetary cam image

Couple of examples on this website.....http://www.astropix.com/gdpi/index.html

[newbie alert]

Yes very good but...like I said.. compare them images to Damien..or Christopher's...

Even if you look at it this way..because of the Bayer matrix in a DSLR a mono camera is going to be 4x more sensitive...

Those DSLR images are good..but not as good as those mentioned above

[PeterCPC]

I have tried planetary imaging with my D550 but they will never match what I can get using my ASI224. I now only use the 550 if I want wider field shots which include moons. This was taken with my Canon 550d.

Peter

 

[Stub Mandrel]

 If you have a DSLR that does crop video, has reasonably small pixels and you can securely hang it off a barlow then it can equal a webcam, but I don't think it will beat one. A DSLR won't beat a dedicated planetary cam, colour or mono.

A decent quality webcam can get near a properly colour planetary camera, and as most people have one anyway or can get one for very little cost, I don't really see any advantage in using a DSLR for planetary imaging.

Sensitivity isn't really important for planetary images, but a mono planetary camera is theoretically capable of getting more fine detail, although I am not convinced it is a huge difference.

 

Going back to the original question, though, whether you capture video through a DSLR, webcam or planetary cam is irrelevant, they all demand the same basic approach of find, focus, get the exposure right and expose as many frames as possible as quickly as possible. Processing the results is done in exactly the same way.

[Adaaam75]

Granted and if love to have the spare cash to get a semi decent entry CCD however i already have everything i need to try in my 550D and if i can zcheive similar imaged to PeterCPC above I'll be stoked!