My 1st (poor) attempt at the moon

[acharris77]

Hi all, below are links to my 1st attempt at astrophotography. As everyone will see, it is being done afocally with a Olympus C-350 with no manual ISO or manual control on the images what so ever, and I am taking with out an adaptor:

http://stargazerslounge.com/members/acharris77-albums-my-pictures-picture2074-moon-1.jpg

http://stargazerslounge.com/members/acharris77-albums-my-pictures-picture2075-moon-2.jpg

http://stargazerslounge.com/members/acharris77-albums-my-pictures-picture2076-moon-3.jpg

It is a shame about the focus on moon-2, and I was wondering if anyone knew how to sharpen the image up a little, as my photoshop skills are a bit rusty. Thanks again for looking at my **cough** attempt.

[RichieJarvis]

Nowt wrong with that! Its a good start - don't be so hard on yourself.

Holding a camera to an eyepiece is a challenging task at the best of times - the good news is you can get a simple, cheap adaptor to allow you to mount it rigidly to the eyepiece. Have a look here: Adaptors - Baader Microstage Clickstop digital camera adapter

The trick is to take many photos as quickly as possible and stack them - use Registax to do this.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Richie

[Psychobilly]

Good start the adaptor that RJ mentioned will make aligning the camera with the EP a lot better... it will also allow you to set the camera of using the self timer...

For afocal the camera wants to be focused at infinity... I downloaded the camera manual but cant see a way of setting this on the C 350 Sometimes setting the capture mode to landscape will do this .. easy to try it in daylight by setting the mode to landscape and seeing if the camera tries to adjust focus...

I haven't been able to find the bits and pieces for the SPC900 by the way

Peter...

[ashenlight]

Anthony, these are superb for your attempt. It is a shame about the focus on moon 2, but just learn from that and go forward. I don't use a bracket for the camera myself (just not bought one yet really) but I think Richie's suggestion will really help you. You won't have to worry about holding it then, and can focus (pardon the pun!) on other issues. There is some fantastic surface detail in 1 and 3. How about using an eyepiece that gives a wider FOV (a high number EP) so the whole of the Moon fits in the FOV, and giving it a go at afocal then?

Don't be so hard on yourself mate, they are some cracking first attempts! You should see mine, over exposed to the hilt!!

[acharris77]

Thanks for the advice and comments. Amanda, I did take a few using the 25mm eyepiece and with the 2x barlow to get the whole moon in FOV. Moon 3 was the closest I could get it in the whole eyepiece.

Hoping to try tonight clouds permitting with my 5mp camera phone as that does ISO 800 and it does 6 or 9 quick shots, so hopefully will try that and stacking the images, as mentioned above and have an experiementation session with them. Must have took about 15 shots last night.

Will update with how I get on with that. Thanks again.

[ashenlight]

Best of luck with it tonight Anthony looking forward to seeing the stacked image.

[barkis]

You mustn't beat yourself up Anthony.You will improve beyond measure believe me. My first lunar images were very poor.

They are not at all bad, exposure and focus are the main things to concentrate on initially.

I had a little fidget with your No2 shot. I turned it to greyscale,and a littletweak with Focus Magic improved it a little I think. The a bit of contrast adjustment.

Ron.

[acharris77]

Thanks for that Ron. Turning it grayscale have helped it a lot. I have to remember in future to turn it to greyscale to give lunar shots a better look. There is something else I have learned today from seeing the above picture edit. Thanks again for looking at the image and improving it.

[barkis]

No need for thanks Anthony. I'm pretty much a novice myself in the processing arena, but I look forward to the challenge of it all, and starting in earnest this coming winter.

We are both pretty much on the first steps of the ladder of knowledge. There is lots of help on SGL though.

Ron.