Quote:
Originally Posted by lazjen
2. Focus. I had a lot of issues with this. I did the G11 PA assist with the eye piece in, so focus wasn't an issue. I then switched in the camera to check the results of the PA as I don't believe I have any other way to do so via the eye piece. I found it difficult to focus with the live view either on the back of the camera or on the computer screen. I think this was a combination of issues - it's quite a precise focus required and small movements either way could throw it out. The small screen on the back of the camera, even at 5x or 10x wasn't easy to see the differences. It was slightly easier on the computer screen - but a current limitation is the computer is inside, not conveniently near the scope. Then there was the to-ing and fro-ing between screen and focus adjuster. In the end, the best result I got was pointing to the moon and focusing on that before heading elsewhere.
I did some research and note the use of Bahtinov Mask to help focus. Does a Bahtinov Mask work well with the live view mode of the DSLR?
Although I may get a laptop in the near future to be able to bring closer to the scope, I think my manual fiddling with the focuser is error prone. What alternatives to manual focusing can I look into? Any recommendations for my setup (see sig)?
With the DSLR, I noticed that the focus got softer the more I zoomed in on the captured image, so while it might look ok at certain resolution/zoom levels, looking too "closely" is not good. I've read that this is something to expect with DSLRs, so I'm not overly concerned. For my Canon EOS 6D, how can I determine the quality of my focus for an image and/or how much zoom can I expect to be able to do and still have reasonable focus?
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Ok, perfect focus is best achieved using a computer connected to the DSLR camera and running a camera control software package like
BYEOS or
APT. Also you may need to re-focus depending upon temperature changes over the imaging period.
Laptops give much bigger screens can be zoomed in much larger with much higher resolution than the rear camera LCD screen.
Also, these DSLR camera control programs have focus routines built into them and control of much more....focuser's, telescope mounts thru ASCOM etc etc.
Spend a few $ on a program and toss the EOS canon utility....you will be glad you did after first use! APT even has a freeware version that has most function enabled so give it a go.