Help with 350D settings for Jupiter pics

[Chris Southby]

Hi
I have been trying to get some pics of Jupiter but am not having much success.
I have a 200mm newt on an EQ5 goto mount and using a 2x teleview barlow with a 12mm or 6mm plossl EP.
My question is whether it is best to use the highest resolution of the camera or to drop it down a bit.
The exposure times are on less than 1 second on 200 ASA setting so movement blur should not be too much of an issue. This comes down to around 0.25s on 400 ASA.
I think that I need to get a focuser with fine focus control as well as focus seem hard to get just right.
Im just startingl to learning to use Avistack as well but haven't had much time to try to get it working well.
Any suggestions on settings for the camera would be great, the 350D is inmodified and not likely to be modified as it is the family camera.

cheers

Chris

[deadsimple]

0.25-1.0 seconds is long! I wouldn't be surprised if you lost a heap of jupiter's detail from that (apart from a hint of cloud-bands).

Most of us generally use webcams (can source a Toucam for <$150) as they provide a much faster capture rate (10fps+) and good sensitivity, and you don't really need high resolution (640x480 is fine) with your aperture and most likely general seeing.

[Astrobserver99]

DSLRS are not the best for planetary imaging. Like Ash said, web cam type cameras are better. You can capture a stream of video using something like K3CCD and stack a large number of images to get the best detail.

[Geoff45]

Try using the mirror lockup to reduce vibration. I presume you are using a remote control. However, you are probably not going to do much better than the pic you have unless the seeing happens to be exceptionally good. I used a 350D with my 12" dob and never got near as good pics as the one in my avatar which was taken with a 4" refractor and a webcam.

[Paul Haese]

There seems to be a lot of people trying to go down this path with DSLR's and imaging the planets.

It is far more cost effective and you get better results with a webcam. DSLR's cannot perform the same way. Start with a phillips 900 NC. Mathew Lovell has them at http://www.telescopes-astronomy.com.au/

He is a little slow to respond, but I know he has them. You will need to use an adapter too and he has them too. Total cost something like 250 dollars. You just need a laptop to complete the basics. A good quality barlow and you can be like the rest of us waiting for that night of perfect seeing.

[rastis95]

Is it possible to use the movie function of some of the newer dslr's to capture an avi then process in the same way as you would with a web cam. I know mine does around 30 fps at 1280x720 and 640 x 480 but haven't tried this yet on planetary imaging,

Cheers
Scott :D

[Paul Haese]

Again this is not the ideal situation. I have heard of people experimenting with this but no one of note is doing images worth talking about. Webcam technology is better suited for the task.