Attaching cameras - mounting position

[mr.sneezy]

Are there any diagrams or posts here on IIS describing how a camera is attached to a telescope in regards to the distance required from the EP or Secondary Mirror (if that works at all) ?

I'm thinking of point and shoot type cameras, like a small Sony Cybershot.
I've searched myself, but not found that basic info....
Maybe somebody has used these types before ?
Thanks
Martin

[Shano592]

Hi Martin,

I have seen on eBay, that you can buy the mounting devices for personal digital cameras.

From memory, they around $30, and seem to be pretty universal.

If I am not mistaken, I believe they are a ring-clamp type of device, that clamps around eother the eyepiece, or it's mount.

I'll try to find you a link.


EDIT : PM SENT

[rastis95]

Hi Martin,
This is the camera adapter i use for afocal photography
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=37729

With regard to distance from the eyepeice, i found around 10 - 20mm from the lens works well otherwise you end up capturing the edge of the eyepeice. With your sony you would just attach as seen in the picture line everything up and away you go. I usually use a 15mm ep and just use the zoom on the camera to get a close up on the moon or planets.

Hope that helps a bit,
Cheers
Scott :D

[mr.sneezy]

Thanks Shane, thanks Scott.
OK, so I need to use the EP. One question answered.
Distance to a pocket camera, quite short. Question two answered.
Going well....

Scott, your adapter looks very good and universal. What does the long rod go down too (under the EP) ?

I have a lathe (and know how to use it) so I could make a pair of rings for the camera and focuser and make a custom mount.

Thanks for the link Shane, that unit also looks OK though my EP is only 1 1/4".

Martin

[gbeal]

Adding to what you have already, I found that a slight zoom setting worked better, not too much, but definitely not the wide setting. Try a few eyepieces as well, some seem to work better than others.
Gary

[rastis95]

Hey Martin,

The long rod under the ep is just an extension rod so the main platform of the mount can slide up and down to accommodate various camera sizes. If your into making things yourself i believe Eric on the forums made a similar unit out of wood and other bits and pieces so its not overly hard, as long as its solid enough for your camera weight while your moving your scope around.

Cheers
Scott :D

[RobF]

Don't be afraid to give the video mode a go for some planetary work too Martin. Fair bit of fiddling about converting video formats, stacking, etc, but if its all you've got its better than nothing.

This was done last year with my Sony P200 on 8" newt and Registax software. (I think Mike Salway is safe!)

[mr.sneezy]

If you have a moment... How does that work ?
Shoot a short video, then lay the frames over each other ?

I'm still working on a first still though, video is a few light years away.
Martin

[renormalised]

Here's a shot I did last year of the Moon....afocally. Had a 26mm EP in the scope and just held my Canon A460 Powershot upto the lens. Didn't bother with my camera mount....didn't want to fiddle around at the time:)

[RobF]

To do decent planetary, yes, you really need to stack multiple images from video. From memory, I had the P200 at max zoom on a digicam adaptor - as close as I could get to the eyepiece (can't remember if it was 40x or 100x eyepiece sorry...)

Shoot a few videos of 30sec to a min.

Get a freeware program called Virtualdub - Use that to convert Mpeg video clips from camera to AVI.
Then get the freeware program Registax and load up your avi.

You'll need to do a bit of reading up on registax and how to get it to pick and align frames - its not terribly intuitive IMHO - but fantastic in what it can do.

The image I showed was stacked, then sharpened using the wavelet function.

That should be enough to keep you busy for a while!

Rob