Quote:
Originally Posted by telecasterguru
Thanks for the advice Greg. There is a bit of coma in the scope as it is a f5 Newt. I would like to get an MPCC.
I will be out again tonight with a higher iso (weather permitting). I am used to imaging right in the centre of Sydney and I find if I push the iso higher than 400 it washes the whole image out and vignetting becomes a huge problem.
I spend a lot of time drift aligning to make sure it is right but I find that getting focus is the biggest issue.
Frank
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Hi Frank,
That makes sense. I used ISO3200 at a really dark site.
Definitely get the MPCC and hopefully that will be the end of the comet shaped stars.
Images Plus has a nice focus routine. You use it just like a CCD camera. You take short exposures, they are downloaded and displayed along with a graph plotting sharpness or brightness and that helps show the improvement or worsening of focus.
Or you can use a Stiletto focus aid (ads for this are on Astromart all the time) or use the live preview of your Canon (does it have live preview?).
I am pretty sure you can zoom in on a section of the live preview on a Canon DSLR and that helps. Its hard to tell if something is in focus on a small screen on the back of the camera.
Stilleto is probably the way to go if you don't want to be stuck with having to use a laptop.
Once you sort your coma and focus it'd be worth finding a nice dark site to go to on weekends. You'd have a ball and you whack the ISO up and get a brighter image in 1/3rd the time.
There's something very peaceful about a dark sky at a remote location.
Greg.