Still trying! Moon 7/6/06

[Kain]

I had abit of a fiddle with the exposure Rog, got the moon looking abit better than I have before

I think I'm improving taking pictures of the lunar surface, though this is slightly out of focus.

Taken with a 20mm EP the Powershot A70

Kain

[MartinB]

It's looking good Kain. Still a tad over exposed. The focus is very difficult afocally, you are only fractionally off I reckon. good effort

[OXO]

Oooooo your getting closer Kain if the exposure had just been a little lower and the focus all but a nudge either direction that would of been a beaut! Looking good though Kain and your getting there mate.

James

[Kain]

Tonights attempt was pitifull..I was usuing full manual mode..

Kain

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Pitiful? It was even upside down for goodness sake!

Do you take just a single picture and then check it out? The way forward would be to fill the memory of the camera with images, then pick the one you like best. Most digital cameras can do hundreds of images before they fill up. By doing loads of images you can get round issues with dim stuff by choosing the best (least messsed up by the boiling that's common) few images.

Digital images are free (well almost) so go mad and do loads. If you have a camera holding device then there will be the possibility of stacking the images to improve the signal to noise ratio. You can get Registax free (see links section) and it will a) magically transform your image into something better, and give you something to play with for hours and hours until you get it just right.

Your images are getting better and better, keep it up 'cos I like it.

Captain Chaos

[CELESCOPE]

Hi Kain . sorry for the late reply , , yes a huge improvement there , as its been said you are only a touch away from cracking it , super image the first one , , keep at it , see if you can get one for Blog .

Rog

[moondog]

Hi Kain

Only just picked up this thread. I started afocal imaging of the moon only 3 or 4 months ago and I had to go through the frustrating learning process. Like you I got lots of good advice from the forum, and have just about sorted the afocal method.

Just a few questions ( I apologies if you've been asked these by others) :-

1) I presume you use a device to clamp the camera to the eyepiece? - often called a digiscope or similar adaptor.

2) When you look at the moon before you attach the camera is the image sharply focused?

3) If it is sharp, then it could be when you attach the camera that the focus slips. It did with me sometimes and depended on the angle of the scope and the weight on the focuser.

4) If you wear glasses or contacts for normal seeing, but don't wear them at the scope - beware. The camera has perfect vision

and because of this you need to wear glasses to focus the scope before attaching the camera. I wear glasses and fell into this trap.

5) Assuming correct focus at the scope, how do you focus the camera?. I set mine on 'infinity' and not auto.

6) For exposure, I set mine on 'spot', auto exposure and auto ASA setting. I adjust the position of the exposure 'spot' over the brightest part of the image. Like you I had all sorts of problems with over exposure when I started.

7) In taking the images I set the camera on a 10 secs delay before pressing the shutter. This allows the mount to settle down.

Finally, the moon at the moment is not easy to image with the sky quality and the fact that the moon is at a lower altitude in summer than the rest of the year. We are all struggling to get decent images. Keep working at it - you're getting there!

MD

[geppetto]

Keep at it Kain, your nearly there 8)

Some great tips from Moondog there.

Check through his list and see if you can tweak your technique a little

[Greg]

Kain,

It's a good start..Your're better over exposing than under exposing...

Are you any good with Photoshop or would you like one of us to have go...??

We won't be offended if you tll us to get stuffed..

Greg

[Kain]

Sure mate go for it I'm no good with PS to be honest, I ain't got a clue what I'm doing!

Thanks for all the info guys

Kain

[Greg]

Ok...

A little tweak here a little fiddle there and Ta Da!!!

A bit more detail I think..

Gone a bit grainy though..

[moondog]

Kain

And here's the second image put into Registax.

Image darkened with the Gamma slider and slightly sharpened up.

You have a good bit of detail in the original, don't be despondent!

I tend to use Registax for most of my images but PhotoShop has many great features.

Just keep on as you are - you'll get there.

MD