I've been finding Mars to be a tricky planet to get a good photo of. Still playing around with different camera settings, but finally starting to get a bit of detail out of it. I'm hoping it gets a bit easier as it gets closer. This is probably my best one so far, taken this morning.
Thanks, camera is a Canon EOS 600D and the telescope is a Skywatcher 10 inch dobsonian. Using a Saxon eyepiece projection, the standard 25mm eyepiece and a 2x barlow.
Thanks Andrew, your Saturn is amazing! Not a single shot. I took about 16 short videos, just letting the planet drift through the live view. Not easy to do, and the finder scope has to be lined up properly. I then joined all the videos into one with PIPP, and stacked with Registax. I've found this method works best so far for me on Jupiter and Saturn. Better than making one long video and trying to keep the planet centered, which creates too much vibration.
OK, thanks for the info, that is certainly a really good job by continually pushing the scope to the right spot! Are you using something like Backyard EOS to record the videos directly to computer at 5x zoom? This will certainly give you the best quality, but will make it even harder to get the planet centred
Thanks, no I haven't even heard of Backyard EOS- just quickly looked it up a few minutes ago. I just take the videos on the camera and then put them on the computer later. I don't have a laptop so not sure how it would go. But sounds like it could be a way to get better images. I'll have to do some more research on it, cheers.
The best way to take planetary images with the Canon DSLR system is by recording the Liveview at 5x zoom through a USB cable directly onto a computer. Recording movies inside the camera leads to a lower quality image because of the compression used inside the camera - the 5x zoom in Liveview records the pixels at 1:1 (or close to) resolution, and you end up with a series of jpgs at 99% quality level in an avi file. A good description of the process is here, and Backyard EOS allows you to do this quite easily. Unfortunately the sensor size is quite small at 5x zoom, just 1024x680 for the 600D, which I reckon will be very difficult (if not impossible) to manually point and keep the target in frame.
I used this process last year with my 700D and Celestron Evolution and 6" SCT, but since I was able to track the planet with my mount I was able to get reasonable quality results. I've since upgraded to a C9.25" SCT and ASI224MC planetary camera, but learned a lot with my 700D.
And like Ross says, AS!3 is more usually used for stacking.
Thanks Andrew and Ross, much appreciated. I'll have to try and get AS!3 running. I've been recording at 1920x1080 (25fps) and using the digital zoom. Normally 3x for saturn and jupiter, but I think I pushed it up to 4.8x for this mars. There was a paragraph in that link you sent Andrew that said this digital zoom with the 600D is no good, and that live view at 5x zoom will give better results. I haven't tried that yet, don't know how to at the moment, but I'll see if I can get that to work. Thanks.
Yep, from all I've read online, recording the LiveView feed at 5x zoom is reportedly the best way to do it - unfortunately I don't believe you can record this inside the camera, it has to be done via USB directly onto a computer. Backyard EOS has a dedicated window for this, as well as windows for more normal astrophotography and focus assistance and alignment. You can use it for free for a month if you want to try it, otherwise the free app EOS Camera Movie Record will also do the job, but with less bells and whistles.
My best image of Jupiter was taken this way, on my 6" SCT and Evolution mount. I took 5000 frames at 20fps over about 4 minutes, stacked it in AS!3, sharpened in Registax and a bit more processing in Photoshop.
Here is a discussion that was had on the CN forum site a couple of years ago which you might find interesting. BQ Octantis (also in Oz) also uses the eyepiece projection method, while I use the direct in-line approach. I think the takeout from this is that if you want to improve your images (which are already pretty good btw), you will need to record the 5x zoom from Liveview onto a dedicated computer.
Thanks again, yes that was interesting. What about if I got a different camera, one of the ones on the list that give 1:1 ratio with the 640x480 movie crop mode? (550D, 60D or 60Da) Would that work better?
To be honest, I don't know, it was something I thought of also before I started imaging with my 700D. However, Jerry does say on his website that he believes that you would only see the difference if you have: 1. A large telescope with excellent optics
2. Proper thermal stabilization
3. Excellent collimation
4. A master planetary astrophotographer with great technique
5. Excellent seeing conditions
Meeting all five of these criteria is rare indeed.
The main factor in all this is #5, I don't think you would notice a difference recording at 1:1 or close to (in my opinion only). However, from all I've seen online, the biggest difference you will see to your images (short of buying a dedicated planetary camera like the ASI224MC) is if you record the Liveview video stream at 5x zoom rather than recording movie files inside the camera.
Yes I'm learning that seeing conditions are very important. Starting to get cooler weather here now, and more clouds and dew. Sounds like the Live view at 5x zoom would be the best way to go for the 600D. I'm going to get a 60D and try the crop mode just to see if it makes any difference. Ideally I'd like a setup like yours, with tracking mount and dedicated planetary camera, but that might have to wait a while. In the meantime I'll just have to use what I've got. Here's my current best (or close to best) saturn and jupiter taken with the 600D using the 3x digital zoom:
