DSLR shaking my telescope when imaging

[nubs292]

When I try to image the Moon with my Orion XT4.5, the camera shakes the telescope a tiny bit when moving it's mirror and taking the image, resulting in the image being quite blurry. Is there a way of fixing this? Thanks!

 

 

[DaveL59]

does your camera have a mirror lock-up function as that'd be the only way really. Also if it has in-body IS turn that off too

[nubs292]

Thanks! I just realized, that I forgot about the object moving because of Earth's rotation. I really don't remember what shutter speed I was using, but I know that my maximum shutter speed at that focal length was 0.1 seconds, so it could've been because of that. If that is not the case, I will definitely check if my camera does have those functions.

[Moonshed]

1 hour ago, nubs292 said:

When I try to image the Moon with my Orion XT4.5, the camera shakes the telescope a tiny bit when moving it's mirror and taking the image, resulting in the image being quite blurry. Is there a way of fixing this? Thanks!

 

 

Are you using a hand held remote for taking the picture, such as an intervalometer, because if so set a delay of 1 or 2 seconds before taking the picture, this will allow time for any shaking created by the mirror to have died down.

Are you sure that it is the mirror creating the blurred image? How certain are you that the focus was correct? Are you focusing the image using only the camera screen or are you connecting to a laptop and viewing it using one of the popular free apps, such as SharpCap?

It would help if you gave details of all the equipment you were using. Thanks.

Edited January 17, 2021 by Moonshed

[reezeh]

Apart from the things mentioned already there's nothing else to add but the "hat trick" but that's for longer exposures:

Block the telescope view with something dark until all the shaking had stopped. Take the hat or whatever you're using out of the way to expose and return it to end the exposure and close the shutter.

 

It's basically how photographers used to do it on those old huge plate cameras. 

 

Only other way around the problem is to go mirrorless. There's quite a few decent second hand mirrorless cameras on the market nowadays especially from Panasonic and Olympus that can make fine astro cams.

[Retired-Not-Dead]

As mentioned above, the best ways to eliminate as much shake as possible are to set the delay timer on the camera, use mirror lock-up, and shoot remotely - all of which help to decrease the shake. Having said that, you can also shorten the length of the tripod legs to give it a more stable platform. If needed, you can also add a counterweight to the tripod to reduce the wind movement. 

[Moonshed]

@nubs292 Hello, are you still there?

[shropshire lad]

Also Live View if your camera has it, as this lifts the mirror out of the way.

 

[rickwayne]

Many DSLRs (mine for one) lock up the mirror at the start of the self-timer cycle.

[nubs292]

On 2021.01.17. at 23:24, Moonshed said:

Are you using a hand held remote for taking the picture, such as an intervalometer, because if so set a delay of 1 or 2 seconds before taking the picture, this will allow time for any shaking created by the mirror to have died down.

Are you sure that it is the mirror creating the blurred image? How certain are you that the focus was correct? Are you focusing the image using only the camera screen or are you connecting to a laptop and viewing it using one of the popular free apps, such as SharpCap?

It would help if you gave details of all the equipment you were using. Thanks.

I already posted, that it wasn't from it shaking, but from too long exposures, but thanks for the replies!