moon, 16-11-2007

[joshman (Josh)]

hey, here's the first official picture out of my scope/camera kit.

canon 400D, prime focus through S/W ED80 on S/W HEQ5, 1/200s @ ISO400

Unsharp mask and crop applied, curves adjusted. used maximum jpeg compression, so it's got some artefacts.

my focus is slightly out, but not to bad considering i got my focus through the camera viewfinder on some bright stars earlier.

[dannat (Daniel)]

well done josh -pretty good shot - just wait a month (outside) now so you can put all the phases on your wall & have the complete set

[h0ughy (David)]

remember to check your focus every hour or so, it changes WITH TEMPERATURE

[joshman (Josh)]

i like your idea dannat, unfortunately there's cloud hanging around and my next month is pretty busy with working and flying around, but it's definitely going on my 'must do' list!

thanks guys, the weather was pretty tempermental friday night, so i was only able to be set up for a few hours, and this wasn't taken long after focusing... goes to show that it wasn't pefect!

are there any focusing aids that i can use to help me reach focus?

[iceman (Mike)]

Great first shot. Also it's a good idea to resize it smaller before saving as jpeg, so you'll avoid the compression artifacts.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

Originally Posted by joshman

are there any focusing aids that i can use to help me reach focus?

you could use dslr focus, a number here do...... or you could use a hartman mask....... or place a couple of wires accross front objective to create diffraction spikes and once spikes are as tight and long as you can get, you have focus.....remove wires or leave on as required. you will need to use a bright star for most of these applications