Who needs a scope!!

[Robroy]

Well I do actually, but after looking at pictures people were taking with their camera phones I was inspired to grab my wee panasonic DMC-FZ18 and try my hand at astro photography, if the skies were clear that is.

Well during the day the weather wasn't pretty up here, in fact it was appalling, but as the Sun sank below the horizon the clouds parted and I actually got perfect clear skies and I had my opportunity.

The moon looked nice so I popped my camera on a tripod and grabbed this......

This image is zoomed in on the PC, but not bad I thought.

I then got a picture of jupiter with camera on full auto.....

I didnt think much of that one till I zoomed in on it with the PC.....

Is it just me or can you see a wee bit of Jupiters colour in that

I even managed to capture a Jovian moon by adjusting my camera settings.....

Look,look,look.... its a moon!!!

Shortly after I took that pic, the clouds crept back like evil tendrils of doom come to spoil my fun:(.

However, I'll be back and hopfully with a scope .

[Tim]

Its true

Humble camcorders can be used to great effect too, especially with optical zoom.

[Tink_Archived]

I got the same Panasonic camera as you will have to put it on the tripod and try for some pics

I did try putting my mobile up to the ep to see if I could capture some moon images the other night but the results werent great !

[russ]

I use the Panasonic FZ18 too, great camera. I've been giving it's long exposure (starry night) mode a try lately. May have to try some of the moon through the scope. But these are without any scope:

[Tink_Archived]

Think will have to give that a try Russ .. never thought about using the starry night setting

do you have any filters for the camera ?

[Robroy]

Think will have to give that a try Russ .. never thought about using the starry night setting

do you have any filters for the camera ?

Nope, just the bare lens, I wonder if you could buy lenses or make them.

[Robroy]

great pics russ, I especially like the middle one.

[Tink_Archived]

Nope, just the bare lens, I wonder if you could buy lenses or make them.

There is an adapter ring that you can get for it Robroy which allows you to use filters and a telephoto lense !!

This i think is the item

JJC replacement Panasonic DMW-LA3 55mm Compatible: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

which I think allows you to use this lense

Panasonic DMW-LT55E 1.7 x Tele-Conversion Lens For FZ7: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

but i need to do a bit more investigating

[Robroy]

There is an adapter ring that you can get for it Robroy which allows you to use filters and a telephoto lense !!

This i think is the item

JJC replacement Panasonic DMW-LA3 55mm Compatible: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

which I think allows you to use this lense

Panasonic DMW-LT55E 1.7 x Tele-Conversion Lens For FZ7: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

but i need to do a bit more investigating

Just found these.....

- Search Results - Warehouse Express

but at those prices , I might just leave it for now .

[russ]

Head on to Ebay and look for that adapter ring. I picked mine up for £2.99 with free delivery from Hong Kong. That said, i've never used it in the 2 years i've had it. But it does give the option to add filters and the telephoto lens.

I did a search for FZ18 adapter and it turned up this lot on Ebay:

fz18 adapter items - Get great deals on Computing, Photography items on eBay UK!

£4.29 is the cheapest with free delivery for the adapter tube. It will then accept all standard 58mm filters. Or buy a 58-48mm step down ring to use standard 2" astro filters.

Or you could go for this which includes the adapter tube plus a 2.0x telephoto lens all for £24.99:

http://tiny.cc/w0y7a

[Tink_Archived]

Thanks for those links