DSLR planetary photography? possible?

[AlexN]

Is it possible? has anyone done it? if so, Links to results??

Just wondering as I'd imagine a 12mp CMOS sensor would pull more detail than a 1.3mp web cam or the like....

I had a look through one of my cameras and my 8", Image scale seems to be the main issue.

Just throwing it out there...??

Alex.

[bluescope]

Hi Alex

It is possible but not easy ! Atmospheric distortion is another problem which is why video images such as done with webcams give better results. The guys who are really good at this technique stack hundreds of video frames in programs like Registax to get superb results. Mike Salway " Iceman " has some crackers ... I assume you know who he is ... so do several other members of IIS. Check out their images in the Solar System forum.

Here is a megre effort that I did with my 350D and a Meade variable projection tele-extender and I think a 2x barlow as well. Quite a hefty lot of stuff hanging off the side of the Newt. It is also a stack of images but I can't remember the details now, it was a while ago.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=25485&d=1176099791


:thumbsup:

[AlexN]

Yeah I've seen a lot of the web cam results, and have a taken a few myself. (not to the standards of others on this site just yet.. but hey, im new!)

Anyway, I was just thinking out loud sort of thing...

By the way, you're 'megre' result with the 350D is far better than my webcam results so far....

Thanks mate.
Alex.

[iceman]

It's possible, but you'll never get the sort of results you can with a webcam.

It seems strange to people that a 640x480 $100 webcam can produce better results than a 3000+ pixel $1000 DSLR, but it's true. It all comes down to the method of capture.

If your DSLR could capture 3000+ pixels at 30fps with a shutter speed of 1/30s, then it may do a better job. But it can't.

The webcam freezes the seeing, and takes many frames in a short period of time. Software in post-processing (registax) does the rest.

[Matty P]

Hi Alex,

I recently attempted to image Jupiter with my DSLR but the results were terrible. I managed to capture a small amount of surface detail as well as a couple of moons but the major problem was the lack of magnification.

Even though it is possible to get a decent image of a planet with a DSLR a simple webcam would have done a much better job.

:thumbsup:

[Geoff45]

Quite aside from the fact that you can't take 20fps with a DSLR, another problem is the vibration caused by mirror slap. If you lock up the mirror, you will get better results, but nothing approaching webcam quality.
Geoff

[bluescope]

Thanks Alex, oops on the typo 'megre' it was late ok !

:thumbsup: