How would I attach my digital camera?

[ohoward]

Hello.

Firstly apologies if this is in the wrong subforum.

I have a Kodak Easyshare Z712 digital camera:

Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS Review - Digital Camera Reviews - TrustedReviews

It's a pretty good camera for normal photography, but it only has a 49mm thread on the fixed collar that surrounds the lens housing.

What would be the best way of mounting this on my telescope (Celestron Nexstar 4SE) so that I can begin experimenting with imaging?

Many thanks in advance.

[Space Cowboy]

I have a super zoom camera like yours and its too big and heavy. I have the skywatcher skyscan mount which is almost identical to your nexstar. When i attached the camera to the eyepiece the OTA would tip in Alt. If you have a compact camera that would be far better....better still a webcam if you have a laptop or netbook.

[Space Cowboy]

I have a universal camera adapter for my compact digi cam Adaptors - Skywatcher Universal Camera Adapter

but it was too small for my super zoom.

[Merlin66]

Besides the balance issues raised. The fixed lens of your camera means that imaging through an eyepiece is the way to go.

You'll need an eyepiece about 30mm focal length and preferably a Afocal camera adaptor which will securely hold the camera in position behind the eyepiece. ( Check out FLO site)

Focus the eyepiece first, then set the camera if you can, to infinity focus, with probably max zoom setting. The camera lens should be as close to the back of the eyepiece as you can manage...

Good for the moon and planets....

Hope this helps,

[part timer]

Hi, I don't think your camera has a filter thread on the lens. If not you will need one of the universal adapters the others have mentioned. If it does then there is a much better adapter called the digi T which screws the camera to the eyepiece directly.

You can take images of the moon and planets which are at least as good as most web cams (but not the specialised astronomy ones). Don't forget to try both still images and video footage.

If your camera has longer exposures in manual mode (mine has up to 15 seconds) then you can image some brighter deep sky objects very easily too. You can get a nice picture of the Orion nebula for example with only a single 8 or 10 second exposure.

Here are some good links to help,

Afocal Astrophotography (this one shows just how much can be achieved with this method)

Digital Camera Afocal Astrophotography

Also there is article by me explaining my method for doing this in this online magazine (which is free so don't panic!)

Hope this helps