Moon in all it's glory

[risingmoon (Sandra)]

I still can't get a focus on the moon or Jupiter and it's moons. This was taken with my faithful Cyber shot but I can't quite work out what settings to put into my canon because everything comes out too shiny like a large light. Not sure what I am doing wrong and it is very hard to gt your settings correct when you cant see and only have a few seconds to change the lens to the camera lens. So frustrating but will keep trying.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

nice work Sandra,

the first moon shot looks to be in focus (right hand side is sharp) but perhaps was affected on the left by atmospheric turbulence. The seeing really makes the planets clear or not! and focus is difficult when they are jumping around the place!

With your canon really lower the iso down for the moon to 100 or 200 and reduce the exposure time to well under half a second. Jupiter may need something around iso 800-1600 and longer exposure - use live view and have a play with the settings. However most people use video capture for the planets as the seeing has it blur in and out of sharpness. then use a program like registax 6 to break down the frames and select the sharper ones for stacking.

[OzStarGazer]

Hi,

Yes, what Russel said. It might also be easier when the moon is not so close to full.

I think that with the moon for example if you leave the settings on "automatic" it might be problematic because your camera might set the ISO too high because of the darkness of the night sky, so it might get a bit confused. It is much better if you choose the settings yourself.

Nice work!

[kon1966 (Kon)]

good to see you have started down the astrophoto path. The guys are correct, lower ISO and increase shutter speed on a bright moon. I prefer when the moon is half which provides more shadows.

When you use your 70D connected to the attachments you bought, it will be easier. Also on the 70d, find the setting in the camera menu for mirror lockup and activate and also use a 10 second countdown. This will give the telescope a chance for vibrations to settle.

regards
Kon

[raymo]

I use Live View on my Canon, and all my best pin sharp lunar images
were taken at around ISO 1600 and around 1/3200th sec. DSLRS suffer
from both mirror and shutter vibrations, and as I can't lock up my mirror,
I use very high shutter speeds so the shutter opens and shuts before the vibrations can really get going. I have never yet managed a truly sharp
lunar image at lower shutter speeds. I use the high shutter speed, and get the right exposure by varying the ISO. Sort of back to front, but it works.
raymo