first attemt at mars with a DSLR

[5ash]

I assume i can upload pictures now so i've repeated my previous thread for pics i took on the 27th october. Thought i'd experiment with my canon 350d on my old 6 inch skywatcher refractor. Took 100's of pics at different exposures by eyepiece projection using a camera adapter and 10mm eyepiece. i selected 15 pics at 1/30 sec exp and at iso 400. stacked them and processed them in registax .It was difficult to focus through the viewfinder and centre images. Any tips?? Though the result is not great i think you can see the dust cloud. will try again but on the lx90 next time. Though im a bit concerned about loading it up with extra weight and being able to centre images.
philip

[beren]

:) Nice work.... i think your LX90 should be able to handle a DSLR without counterweights....for focus what about taking a number of exposures on a nearby star and tweak the focus

[h0ughy]

You are better of balancing the scope so as to reduce the load on the gears and the torque on the dec motor. Nice first attempt, and I too have asked about that focus question many times.

[RB]

As Houghy said you need to balance the scope as best you can so the gears aren't fighting the weight. It should handle the weight as long as it's balance.
I think it's very difficult to use a DSLR for planetary imaging though.

As for focus - it's basically a trial and error excersise. Take multiple images adjusting the focus as you go.
The hard part is that you can't really use the view screen to get it exact.
The Canon rightangle finder is very useful as it clips onto the viewfinder and magnifies the image at 1.25x or 2.5x but it's expensive.
Image below:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5651

Cheers

[cventer]

Best option for focus is on chip focusing. You see what the camera sees.....

Use either of these software packages.
1. DSLR Focus
2. Images Plus,
3. Maxim DL /DSLR

You can focus on a nearby star. Get focus perfect then slew to mars and away you go......

Regards
Chris

[[1ponders]]

Or for focusing you can use a hartmann mask on a nearby star and then slew to mars.

See http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=63,187,0,0,1,0

You will still need to zoom each image you take during focusing to check to see how close you are getting but with the three images produced by the hartmann mask it makes the task much easier