crux on a near full moon lit night with a point and shoot cam

[seeker372011]

Near full moon and windy so was just playing around with the point and shoot digital camera and was amazed at the results

Ttwo nights before full moon from my backyard location with a Canon A 85:
a single frame at ISO 400, 15 seconds exposure gradient removed in Photoshop

Isnt this technology wonderful-turning night into day!

[MiG]

When I got the Canon G3 I kept taking night time long exposures of the most mundane things. I understand your excitement.

[Exfso]

yeah gets one in. Only problem with my Canon G5, time exposure is limited to 15 secs only, not enough for deep space stuff. I gotta get me a digital SLR with bulb setting.

:astron:

[tony66]

Hi, i've just bought a canon a85 and cant wait to give it a go on my 8 inch reflector. I see scopetronix.com sell digi-t systems for most camera's. Does anyone know if there is anything cheaper locally.
Cheers, Tony.

[seeker372011]

Hey Tony

firstly welcome to the forum.
:welcome:

Bintel sell the Orion steadypix-cost $99 last time I priced it.

It is not the same as the Scopetronix gizmo though.

Astronomy Online also sells some universal adapters but they are not cheap..you can see prices on the AO website

see John Hs post elsewhere where he talks about having to buy a piggyback adapter for his ETX 90 that cost $99. It appears that if they (the scope manufacturers) cant get you on the scope they nail you for sure on accessories

I am sure other people may have some suggestions for you as well..but you may find that unless you make your own it is going to be pricey.

Ving made his own and so did some others-there is a thread somewhere here as well

[iceman]

Hi Tony.

What type of mount is your scope on?

I've written an article here which may have a few hints and tips for you.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=63,201,0,0,1,0

[tony66]

Hi Seeker and Iceman, thanks for the replies and advice. Seeker, yeah it looks like around $100 for and adapter that fits onto the camera, as i dont know if i am cluey enough to make one. Anyway it will be money well spent i think. I'll just have to have a shop around first. Iceman, I have an eq5 mount, but i read your article on dobs and it had some great tips in it, i'll definately refer back to it. What do you think is the easiest and best program to use, Registax or Astrostack. I currently have astrostack and I haven't mastered it yet.

Thanks, Tony.

P.S. I think this is the most helpfull site I have come accross, keep up the good work.

[iceman]

Hi Tony.

Are you a friend of Mick? I noticed you're from Mackay also..

I'm not familiar with Astrostack so can't really comment - but I do know registax quite well, and once you get over the learning curve it's quite a nice powerful tool, and is easy to use once you get the hang of it.

Also, on the plus side, there's thousands of other people using it and so when you get stuck, you can always ask a question on the forums here and you'll be able to get assistance no problems.

Registax 3 is the latest, make sure you get that. It's much faster than Registax 2, and has some nice new features too.

You should get some nice images with the a85 on your scope.. but in the future you might also consider a ToUcam (if you have a laptop) for planetary/lunar/solar images. It's leaps and bounds ahead of the digicam for those targets.

Good luck!

Thanks very much for the positive feedback, it's always wonderful to hear. This community is great, always willing to help each other out.

[seeker372011]

Tony,

one useful place to check out for all Canon Powershot Ax users is:

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/345259/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

[tony66]

Ice and Seeker, thanks for your help. Ice, I have noticed Mick on this forum and another one, but I have not yet caught up with him, but I plan to some time in the future when work allows me. I think there is a local club here and I think some advice from someone with some experience would be very beneficial. I will download Registax, as I find Astrostack a bit hard. Seeker, thanks for that link, it has heaps of info on it and will help me greatly.
Cheers boy, love this site.

[Mick]

Hello and welcome Tony, I can PM you some info about Tropical Stargazers if you want. I've been out of town with work myself but it has its advantages, binoculars and wonderful dark skies. Good luck with the new camera.

Nice colour in your crux seeker, digital cameras are lots of fun.

[cometcatcher]

Hi Tony and welcome! I must be the "other one". :D

I use Registax for my astro pix. Great program.

@Seeker, I remember thinking the same thing about turning night into day when I first started photography back around 1980. Needed 4 hours exposure to do it though!