astrophotography

[lesbehrens (Les)]

hi. i am interested in getting into astrophotography and was wondering how i can get started. i have a 10" dob.
thanks

[dannat (Daniel)]

are you looking at moon/planet photography - most I think use a webcam like toucam or buy a commercially available like nexImage or meade lpi
These really take a movie, and use software to construct an image, search for threads - & lok in the articles section - I think there is one there

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by lesbehrens

hi. i am interested in getting into astrophotography and was wondering how i can get started. i have a 10" dob.
thanks

With that setup, you'll only really be able to do the moon and planets, as for any deep space object, you really need to take a long exposure shot and have some way of tracking the object (without getting field rotation and such). A webcam would be alright for the job, so would any of the commercial products built for the task...such as Meade's LPI.

If you want to try and take pics like you see some of the others take....shots of nebulae, galaxies etc, you'll need an equatorial mounted scope or an alt-az mounted scope with good tracking capabilities and a field derotator (or a really good CCD camera that can correct for field rotation).

However, with something like Meade's LPI and your dob, you'll be able to take great shots of the Moon and the planets

[Jeff]

Summary by renormalised is spot on.

Below is a description from Bintel (https://www.bintelshop.com.au):
https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Images/Stock/6717.jpg
Click here for larger picture

$149.00Meades's Autostar Suite, supplied with the exciting new LPI (Lunar Planetary Imager) can be used on any telescope for making images! It's VGA resolution (640x480) color CMOS chip is capable of creating high-quality lunar and planetary images, as well as daytime terrestrial images. In addition the Autostar Suite software allows autoguiding and control of Meade Autostar operated telescopes and image processing once your images have been captured! For more details visit www.meade.com/autostar/index.html

I purchase something similar (Meade DSI-1) to use with my 10" dob, and had lots of fun just learning the basics of astrophotography (snapping the moon, planets, some bright clusters, and star trails around the South pole). My logic was to learn/play with basic astrophotography before maybe deciding to part with some serious hard earned $ down the track (eg. LX200, heavy EQ mount, etc).

Hope this helps.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Before you purchase any new equipment, you might already have what you need to get you started.
The images I've posted here have been taken through my 10" Dob using my old Panasonic digital video camera and my Canon Powershot.
For the planets I used the Panasonic with a 12.5mm EP and a 2x barlow lens, then butt the cameras lens up to the EP, focus the telescope then start recording your .avi's.
I've also used the video function on the Canon Powershot to capture .avi's as well but with less success.
The moon was imaged through a 30mm ep using the Canon Powershot S3IS.
It's worth having a go.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Hey, I just realised that you only live up the road from me!!
I'm on Mary Smokes Creek Road.

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi jjjnettie,

those images are fabulous. I'm at this 'wanting to start imaging' stage too and so your article was of interest to me also.

Just a quick question or two if you don't mind .....

Do I have to set the DV camera to any specific settings? And is the DV camera taking film footage or are you using it as a 'still' camera. Also, is any tracking involved or are these shots not sufficeintly long enough exposure to be concerned about tracking?

If there's anything else I should have asked, but am too daft to even realise I should have asked, feel free to include those snippets too

Cheers jjjnettie ,

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

You'll be wanting to capture small snippets of movies, then upload them to the computer as .AVI files. It's not easy to start with, with the camera in one hand aligning it with the eyepiece, and with the other hand nudging the scope to keep the planet in view. With practice you'll manage to capture up to 15 or 20 seconds at a time. But at 30 frames a second, that means you'll have up to 600 individual frames to stack together to make your final image.
I use the camera in Manual Mode. Set the camera to 1/50 sec exposure or slower if you can.
It's easier to get focus using the telescope than to fumble in the dark trying to focus the camera.
Never use digital zoom, only the cameras own optical zoom.

[lesbehrens (Les)]

hi. i like your photos. i had a go using my digital camera on Saturday by holding the camera to the eye piece. i took photos of the moon and Saturn. i was shocked to see how well the photos came out. but i had a lot of trouble holding the camera at the eye piece because i couldn't keep it still to well. is there a easier way?
i live 5k west of kilcoy.

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Before you purchase any new equipment, you might already have what you need to get you started.
The images I've posted here have been taken through my 10" Dob using my old Panasonic digital video camera and my Canon Powershot.
For the planets I used the Panasonic with a 12.5mm EP and a 2x barlow lens, then butt the cameras lens up to the EP, focus the telescope then start recording your .avi's.
I've also used the video function on the Canon Powershot to capture .avi's as well but with less success.
The moon was imaged through a 30mm ep using the Canon Powershot S3IS.
It's worth having a go.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Wow, you're Saturn is so much better than my first effort.

You can purchase a DigiScope Adaptor from various vendors.
http://www.myastroshop.com.au/produc...asp?id=MAS-238
You fit your camera to the plate, then the adaptor clamps around the eyepiece.
Holding the camera lens firmly to the eyepiece.
I found it wasn't suitable for my purpose. My video camera was too heavy and unbalanced the scope, and my digital camera lens, because it zooms in and out, was unsuitable for it as well.
But that was only my experience, others use them with great results.

If you go to the Kilcoy Show tomorrow, Saturday, you should drop in and say Hi. We have our Coffee Cart there. Greg's Mobile Coffee.

[Ian Robinson]

You might find the table at the bottom of the webpage handy if you don't have any way of tracking the stars , just a fixed tripod and a camera and a lens.

http://www.eskimo.com/~rachford/widefield/calc.html

Interesting that a 200mm f2.8 (71mm diam) telephoto can record stars as faint as +11 mag in just a couple of seconds , w/out tracking and you can still get round star images.
(ON film) , I'm betting a DSLR can do a lot better than that .... would be nice if someone made the appropriate measurements to get the correct constants for DSLRs in the equation

Mag = 8.0 + 2.512 * log10(A2/A1)

Tracking accuracy wiould also need adjustment for pixcel sizes on the chip I think so :
T = P / 8.33 would change.

So would maximum image size for sharp stars :
M = P / 33.33

But handy anyway I think. I use it when I am on holidays and have left the handy GEMs at home , but still have my camera and a couple of lenses handy.

Got some very nice photos of the comet last year that way.

You can easily plug in the info for your 10" dob and get a handle on max exposures you can do and still have nice round star or "sharp" moon or planet images recorded without tracking.

A good way to do some poor man's astrophotography.

[John Saunders]

Jeanette - you are a wealth of information. Guess what I am going to save my bikkies and buy - yep that camera mount looks great and your instruction helps a lot - particularly the idea to take footage rather than stills.

Looks like you have a budding Kilcoy astronomers club?

Not sure if I'm going to get back to Kilcoy to do any services at the local UCA, but if I do I'd love to come over for a yarn.

Cheers,

John