Afocal astrophotography

[prbaxter]

ok so I've taken the plunge and purchased a camera mount for by binoculars.

Anyone got any tips for afocal astrophotography?

[Tinkerbell]

Try a few test shots during the day on a distant object.

If you have a remote use it, if not use the self timer function.

Its amazing how pressing a shutter button can upset all your careful preparations. When you do get an image in focus use some tape to mark all the relevant equipment positions so that later when its dark you will have some chance of getting it put back in the right place. A picture of the equipment you are going to use along with a list of cameras and lenses would also help others offering suggestions.

[prbaxter]

yeah good idea.

I will be using a Seben DKA1 camera mount (see pic)

Fujifilm S5800 bridge camera

Visionary 20x80HD binoculars

Visionary VT-70 Tripod

[Tinkerbell]

Right, I take it that this is the camera < Fujifilm FinePix S5800: Small camera - Big pictures: Digital Photography Review >

I have the 4900 and I can manually focus it but I'm not sure about yours.

The 4 second shutter might be a problem. After you have it focused, set the dial to M then set your shutter speed to maximum and ramp up the ISO to 1600. Turn on the self timer and off you go. If it wont play ball You could give the movie mode a go and see what results you can get.

[prbaxter]

yeah it does manual (and A, P, S modes) and also has a manual focus setting which is fiddly but does the trick. I find ISO1600 to be too noisy so only use ISO800 max for stars. I tend to take 3 continuous shots and then stack the images to bring out some refinements. movie mode is rubbish for wide field but might be better through a scope. There's no settings in movie mode.

I managed this a few weeks ago with the fuji s5800 on its own, no lenses or scopes:

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/124795-first-couple-attempts-orion-constellation.html