How simple is it?

[matteboy]

I was thinking about trying to take some piccies of the moon, I have just bought a moon filter and have a Canon 300D (as it came from the shop)

Is it just a case of buying a T-adaptor for this model and attaching it to my little scope to get some pictures, I know it's not a very good scope or mount but was hoping for some details of crators etc

I struggle to find most objects in the sky but am learning and at least I can find the moon:D

Is it going to be that simple or do you need webcams & laptops to take basic pics?

[Speedy]

the moon is a great place to start ...seeing as its so bright, you can take basic pics by holding a camera up to the eyepiece, some have even done it with mobile phones

[Earl]

A T-adaptor will give you Prime Focus photography which Is a great start for the moon.

the tricky parts will be getting the Focus sweet, take your time and take multiple shots as focus will ripple with the atmosphere.

[Earl]

Also consider a webcam for filming, then stacking the film to make your image, this will cost more than just a t-adaptor for your scope.

[Aussie]

Hey there, good thing about the moon to take pictures, is you don't need long exposures, unlike DOS's, as the moon is so bright. So tracking is not essential either, however it does help. It is very easy to take pictures of the moon as I found out last night Good luck.

[matteboy]

Haven't got a laptop so no go with a webcam, the laptop's further down the list after the skyliner 8"!

If I do go for a T adapter, Do I use the lens or does the T take it's place and the camera uses the scope to focus, Would I not need to use my moon filter?

btw don't know what you mean by the 'prime focus', never really took pics before either!

[jgs001]

The t adapter allows you to hook the camera to the scope and use the scope as a lens. I do frequent single shot slr images of the moon and it works quite nicely.

[Astrokev]

btw don't know what you mean by the 'prime focus', never really took pics before either!

Hi Matt

Sounds like you're new to astronomy and photography - welcome to the club!

It's very easy for folks with a little more experience to baffle newbie's with jargon, so apologies from myself and others if this is the case.

To try and answer your questions -

In your refractor, the lens at the front focuses the light from the moon to a point (remember burning holes in paper with a magnifying glass when you were a kid?). This point is called the prime focus and is actually a small focussed image of the moon.

In normal use, your scope eyepiece then magnifies this small image and when you look through the eyepiece, you can see a bigger image of the moon.

To take a photograph at the prime focus, the theory is simple. You simply remove the scope eyepiece and the camera lens and position the camera so that the image at the prime focus falls on the camera sensor. In practice this can be tricky because you have a weighty camera which needs to be secured to the end of the scope. Normally, this would be done with an adapter of some sort which attaches to the focusser of the scope (no eyepiece remember) to allow the focusser to be adjusted so that the camera sensor can be placed at the prime focus. To put it another way - the scope is acting as the lens for the camera, and you can check the focus by looking through the camera viewfinder in the normal way.

Regarding moon filters - you won't need one for imaging. Your scope is not too big, so it won't collect too much light. A bright image is an advantage for what you want to achieve anyway because your camera will adjust for this by using a short exposure. This will help freeze any movement caused by movement of the scope.

It's a good idea to "bracket" your exposures ie. take pictures at a variety of exposures above and below what the camera thinks is the correct exposure. The camera is designed for terrestrial pics and doesn't always get the exposure righth for astro targets. This can be done by using the bracketing function on your camera or, if you don't know how to do this, by using the manual exposure mode rather than using one of the auto modes. Your camera manual will explain this in more depth.

Hope this helps. Keep asking questions, this is a great place to learn stuff.

Kev