Please help getting clear images with a telescope/camera.

[kegnkiwi]

Hello all, I hope you can help. I have a skywatch skymax 127 az-go. I have had it a long time now and rarely use it as i don't think i get the best out of it. I have a number of eye pieces and also a zoom eyepiece from celestron. I never use the scope much as have found it difficult to take photos of what i have seen in the scope. First i had a canon eos m and i bought all the attachments to get it to connect to the eye piece. I found that when i connected and used autofocus I saw a great picture in the cameras screen and then it went out of focus. I now think in hindsight I  needed to use manual focus, i've lost the charger so going to get a replacement.  Next i bought a bresser full hd webcam. I got it set up and got pictures of the moon but it was really zoomed in and shimmering. I never managed to get it to record and basically put it away. I then bought a cheap webcam on aliexpress and that never worked as it had no drivers for win 11.  So before i go any further could someone be kind and give me an idea of where i am going wrong or are my expectations two high?

[AstroMuni]

You seem to have been somewhat successful with the bresser, so if I were you, I would go back to that for a start. There are a few software that make life easier eg. Firecapture or SharpCap. These help keep the object centred in the field of view and can take short videos of the moon. The image will shimmer but dont worry, its the next piece of software which will do the magic of stabilising it and making a clearer image. You could try PIPP, Autostakkert & Registax. Plenty of youtube videos are around explaining how to do this. Good luck. Here is one

 

[kegnkiwi]

Thank you for your reply, i was pretty disappointed with the bresser at first, i waited a long time to buy it and when i set it up i thought the pictures were not very good. It seems common and maybe i should spend more time playing with it. 

[AstroMuni]

Forgot to mention - you could also try using your phone camera to capture pretty decent images. Just get an adapter to hold it steady against the eyepiece or if you have steady hands you can just hold it there. And remember, dont use the eyepiece when you connect the camera/ webcam.

[Cosmic Geoff]

Your telescope is potentially capable of taking decent lunar and planetary imaging.  I am not familiar with the bresser full hd webcam. Is this description sufficient to uniquely identify it?  

As well as getting the right kit, you need the right technique. A single shot image will almost certainly be blurry.  You need to focus accurately and take a short video of about 5000 frames, and then process it in free software.  The technique ("lucky imaging") is described in detail in various postings you can find online. And as with many things, practice makes perfect.

[kegnkiwi]

16 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Your telescope is potentially capable of taking decent lunar and planetary imaging.  I am not familiar with the bresser full hd webcam. Is this description sufficient to uniquely identify it?  

As well as getting the right kit, you need the right technique. A single shot image will almost certainly be blurry.  You need to focus accurately and take a short video of about 5000 frames, and then process it in free software.  The technique ("lucky imaging") is described in detail in various postings you can find online. And as with many things, practice makes perfect.

I believe this is the webcam that i got. I am not at home but at work but I am trying to remember what i asked my partner to buy me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bresser-Microscope-Telescope-various-adapters/dp/B01GG2EUWO/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2NDKEG1H8WVKW&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.63YfX1vhUWypvMJUoIu4bhDA8SxecpcycUKS7zf47JwEwsNbYB4TDc7O_EaNTvHRvyBloi_taaD00jNxWmAaWd0qeLWymrXnUWIeylLDz_3JLKXz6fEq-bndTuI45b1MxT6-025SZV7JfBfJ_JRXeWqofkwBCb0JdtqYW_XIa8hVfoPm1kCi0rZn9FRxhwGe2sRecQPb4-dhIK025fYuPaXV_Y7oEqF3miZC_12nD-w.ZD_MQYIkUkNH1EVgGNAMYadg5ZJsCYYtTlQ0PO8-HUg&dib_tag=se&keywords=bresser+webcam&qid=1716306172&sprefix=bresser+webcam%2Caps%2C361&sr=8-1

[kegnkiwi]

20 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Forgot to mention - you could also try using your phone camera to capture pretty decent images. Just get an adapter to hold it steady against the eyepiece or if you have steady hands you can just hold it there. And remember, dont use the eyepiece when you connect the camera/ webcam.

I actually forget to mention i have one of those cheaper camera holders, what i found was it was rubbish if you have a larger phone with a lens in the top left. I use a xiaomi poco f5 pro and at the time had a poco f3 and it would not sit correctly in the mount. I saw on AliExpress that there is a celestron holder that looked a lot more suitable.

[Cosmic Geoff]

I would not have high expectations of a £47 camera.  Check out the prices of the planetary cameras in my signature.  

I have not personally tried using a smartphone for astrophotography, but you should get better results with a dedicated planetary imaging camera.

[michael8554]

"First i had a canon eos m and i bought all the attachments to get it to connect to the eye piece. I found that when i connected and used autofocus I saw a great picture in the cameras screen and then it went out of focus. I now think in hindsight I  needed to use manual focus,"

A DSLR is usually attached to the scope's focuser without the camera lens.

The scope then becomes the lens, a very long focal length one.

You can attach with a lens, but as you said, with manual auto focus you saw the autofocus struggling.

If the Bresser camera's small sensor is giving you a moon view "zoomed in", you need a larger sensor, such as the Canon has.

But the Bresser making video files is better for tiny objects such as the planets.

Michael

Edited May 22 by michael8554