some of my first piccys

[oakwell]

went out other night to use my camera (canon 350d ) on my telescope.

I conneted it to telescope with a x2 barlow but these are the best i got anyh ideas from people with same camera why they look so ****. i took them with flash off.

the scopes a skywatcher 150p

[brianb]

anyh ideas from people with same camera why they look so ****.

1) Accuracy of focus.

2) Exposure. Try using the spot metering function.

3) Mirror slap / shutter shake ... use a remote release and the mirror lock (or self timer, which has the same effect) to give the scope "hands free" time to stop vibrating after the mirror comes up but before the shutter opens.

i took them with flash off.

ROFLMAO!

[callisto]

ROFLMAO!

That's a bit harsh me old son init towards someone looking for advice

[brianb]

ROFLMAO!

That's a bit harsh me old son init towards someone looking for advice

OK, now I've finished splitting my sides, let me explain.

1. The Moon is 2000 miles in diameter. Think of how much sunlight falls on it. Now consider how insignificant the amount of light your flashgun emits in comparison.

2. Since the Moon is 1.25 light seconds away, it will take 2.5 seconds for the vanishingly tiny amount of light from your flashgun that's reflected by the moon to arrive back at your camera. The shutter will have closed long since, so the handful of photons involved won't even be registered.

A flashgun is completely and utterly useless for photography of any astronomical target. End of story, except that you should probably reflect on the fact that, if you start firing off a flashgun at a star party or other astro observing event, you ain't exactly gonna be the most popular kid on the block.

[callisto]

Thats more like it

Nicely explained for first timers seeking advice

[oakwell]

what i meant is that i used the option on the camera that shows flash off. even i know the flash is useless! lol

thanks for advice

[Shibby]

A good first attempt. I'd say there's a definite wobble so you should use the mirror lock. Also, get or make yourself a bahtinov mask, I find mine essential!

[oakwell]

A good first attempt. I'd say there's a definite wobble so you should use the mirror lock. Also, get or make yourself a bahtinov mask, I find mine essential!

whats one of them bahtinov?

[Earl]

If you have a remote shutter contol it will help loads, but if not, set the delayed shutter option for 10 seconds this will help some on on shake issues.

Set the camera to Manual mode

Drop the ISO down to 400 and increase the shutter speed, and play with these until you get an image you are happier with.

as for Focus, you can get it rough then tweak.

A Bahtinov mask is a focusing aid, basically it makes a star split into 3 lines like * if there all sweet and go through the center focus is good.

Focusing is to be honest a pain, and has to be done slowly.

Dont forget that focus on the moon will ripple due to atmospheric disturbance, so what looks sweet a second ago can look iffy a second later.

Once you are happy with everything take plenty of shots so you can pick and choose the one from the session you are happiest with.

[Earl]

This was my first moon image using a Celestron 4SE and a Nikon D60

You will notice a) focus is iffy and colour is odd

[oakwell]

i am finding this hard to master i have the above mentioned camera with proper connecter and wondered what else i could be doing wrong still same results. should i use the barlow etc i cant seem to zoom in with the camera as i had to take the zoomer off the front and attach the camera straight to scope.

sorry i am a complete notcie at this and am probably just going too far forward into taking piccys before i even fully understand the scope!

just promised my grandad a good piccy of the moon for him!

[Shibby]

oakwell, you will be better off without the barlow. The 150P has enough focal length to give you a decent scale for a whole moon pic. The barlow will only introduce chromatic aberration (not that I see much of this in your pic). This is normally seen as blue and yellow finging. However, you might find you can't reach focus at all without the barlow?

You can't zoom in with the camera - you're using your telescope as the lens and that is fixed so cannot move to affect focal length / magnification like your lens does. The exception is using a barlow as you are. This doubles the focal length and therefore the magnification.

Are you using the timer to take the picture, or pressing the shutter manually? You should set the timer as long as possible to ensure the telescope has stopped wobbling before the shutter releases.

Focus is key. I'd highly recommend the Bahtinov, but if not at least try constantly tweaking the focuser until you get an image you're happy with.

[Taff]

Hi' Well done with your first captures of the moon.Mark

[Beyond_Vision]

I would use the camera in manual mode and set the ISO to 100 and use short exposures of probably less than 1/250th. Adjust the exposure until the image is bright enough without the highlights being saturated. As others have said good focus is so important. It may be worth reading up on collimation as your scope may be out of collimation and you will not achieve good focus.

Regards

Kevin

[oakwell]

thanks for all the help people much appreciated.

I will have a look at the mcamera and go again!