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I can't take astrophotos!

Remagoen

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Remagoen

Remagoen

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So I recently acquired my parents old SLR (Pentax MV-1) and I've been going nuts trying to take as many pics of the sky as I coan. My method so far has been piggy backing on my ETX-90 and I took some decent pictures of the night sky. For Christmas, I got the basic camera adapter finally, but I hit a road block...

The first problem I noticed is that when I tell my scope to goto an object, it consistently missed what I wanted. I think I fixed this by adjusting the train drive; I'm just waiting for a clear night to go out and test this.

The second problem is that when I look through the camera's viewfinder, I can't see anything dimmer than the moon. Even the moon is about 1/4th as bright as it normally is when I look through just the eye piece.

This makes it extremely difficult to not only verify that the object I want to take a picture of is in view, but it also makes it impossible to focus. Even Sirius is too dim. I don't want to be limited to going out when the moon is still out, are their any solutions?

One other question is that my few test shots of the moon were rubbish because the image had moved from either wind hitting the scope or the shutter moving so violently. If it's the shutter, would placing a dark object in front of the scope before I start the picture to obscure any movement and then removing it damage the image quality?

Thanks in advance!!!

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msinclairinork

msinclairinork

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I think you are finding out the hard way why DLSR's are much easier to use than SLR's. The viewfinder is usualy not an option for deepsky work, so what you tend to do is take test shots and review them on the screen.

Obviously with a SLR you don't have that option and makes life all that more difficult and probably expensive due to printing costs.

I can't help you with SLR imaging, but I have seen some great pics taken using SLR's so maybe someone can advise you on that.

IMO first chance you can invest in a DSLR, they go pritty cheap these I got my 300D for £130 SH.

Good luck and stick in! :)

Michael

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Remagoen

Remagoen

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Thank you so much for the replies!

Steep:

I've thought about modding a webcam to attach onto my telescope, but I don't think I can. My laptop is 10 years old and can barely run one modern program at a time. I suppose it's still worth the effort...but... We'll see...

Would any webcam work for this, or must it be a certain quality/brand/type?

Ender:

I never considered that it may have been an uneven base causing the issue. Such a simple oversight... Rah! It does have a self timer though, but it only work for snaps, not extended exposures.

msinclairinork:

I absolutely understand the need for a DSLR camera, but I simply can't afford it any times soon. If I have enough money left over from my trip to Florida, I might be able to buy a used one.

As an aside, should I invest in a tripod for the telescope first, or DSLR?

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msinclairinork

msinclairinork

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msinclairinork:

I absolutely understand the need for a DSLR camera, but I simply can't afford it any times soon. If I have enough money left over from my trip to Florida, I might be able to buy a used one.

As an aside, should I invest in a tripod for the telescope first, or DSLR?

I would probably say a good mount first to save any frustration, a good mount makes taking pics ALOT easier.

HTH

Michael

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Shaun0957

Shaun0957

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or if you can reccomend another webcam that would be cool, oh my laptop runs on windows 7

Hi see this link get it flashed saves a lot of trouble then also get the adapter & filter whole kit, all you need to do then is take of lens cover remove lens and fit items purchased dead easy, even i did it, lol but get it flashed save a lot of messing about

Shaun

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