First photo of Saturn

[Uchtungbaby]

Well, I did my first photo of Saturn the other night when it was butted up beside Venus. I found that my lens was to magnified to get both planets, so I ended up with just a shaggy photo of Saturn. Nothing to write home about mind you.

I think if I raise the iso up a notch on the camera, it will make the light of the planet more pronounced. Maybe more of the ring will be evident. Still, I was surprised to get what I got.

In the picture you can see a fragment of the ring disecting the planet on an angle.

As I say, it looked wonderful with a naked eye viewing through the lens. It's the camera photo which really let me down. I could even see colours with the naked eye view.


http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6383/saturnqk3.jpg
By Uchtungbaby at 2007-07-01

[iceman (Mike)]

What telescope, camera and lens did you use?
What settings?

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

As small as it is, atleast I can tell it's Saturn. Thats the main thing to starting out, getting something that's recognisable. Then build on it.

Keep at it and the guys with DSLR's will no doubt help you out.

[leon]

Like Ken said it is tiny but it sure is Saturn, good effort.

Leon

[little col]

great effort there , i have tried this with a 300d and would not recommend increasing the iso as you will burn the planet out , you would need to let us know what equipment you was using though to give us a better idea of what can be advised in regards to image scale

[Uchtungbaby]

I'm using a panasonic digital FZ-2. It has the big lens like the slrs. I mount the camera onto the 25mm lens of a 125mm Hugo reflector. I'm using a homemade camera mount to position the camera lens over the eyepiece. I made the camera mount out of a cardboard tissue box and a toilet roll. I cried when I found out how much a real camera-telescope coupling costs and that's how I found out how to make one with a tissue box.

My big problem is that it is very difficult to focus the image when I increase the magnification on the camera. I find that if I go too large in magnification on the camera it ends up splaying the image out of focus.

My cardboard camera mount is quite crude and centering the image using a smaller eyepiece is a difficult task because the tube frame of the reflector tends to flex and the image drops out of view in the 25mm lens of the telescope. I am sure if I spend enough time playing with the telescope I will eventually figure out how she moves when I'm trying to take a picture. The hard part is allowing for the drift or flex in the telescope. It's not simply a matter of positioning the planet dead centre in the eyepiece. I have to position it in the upper lefthand corner, and allow the flex of the telescope to drop it into the centre when the weight of the camera is added to the scope.

Anyone else have these sorts of problems when lining up the planet in the telescope?

[Uchtungbaby]

Oh yeah, and I'm using Photoshop to try to bring out more of the image.

I can't remember how it's done, but I know there's a way in Photoshop to increase image size without pixelating the image. I just can't remember the steps involved.

Does anyone know the steps involved in increasing image size without causing the image to pixelate?

[iceman (Mike)]

With such a small resolution image you'll never be able to increase the size artificially without getting pixelation. You can blur it somewhat and do more processing on the upscaled image, but you're not gaining resolution - you'll just end up increasing artifacts.

How many megapixels is the camera?

Did you crop that part of the image?

[Uchtungbaby]

Yeah I cropped the image down from a 45cm by 30 odd centimetre image. That planet actually represents a pin prick in size on the photo.

I think the camera is probably at least a 5 or six megapixel.

I found a method in a Photoshop tutorial for enlarging the image without pixelation. The image is attached. The image is blurry because the shutter speed was probably a little bit too long in duration for such a small image. Remember, I don't have a clock drive to offset movement. Nonetheless, a ring can be seen disecting what looks to be a pinkish planet. The ring looks fairly unblurred but there is distortion in the image of the planet. That would be the shake of the camera as vibration effects the stability of the shot. I have attached the new image.

I think I am onto something here. I think I can produce a better image if I increase the iso. When I increase the iso, the ring should be more pronounced. If at the same time I lower the shutter speed a little bit then maybe, I will lose a little of blur that has obscured the orb shape of the planet.

By the way the image has already been given a sharpen in Photoshop.

Looks like I might get another clear night again tonight, so cross fingers, I'll give it a go and see what I come up with this time.


http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3892/saturnake3.jpg
By Uchtungbaby at 2007-07-02

[little col]

may be worth trying a 25mm e.p with a 2x barlow to increase image size but you will find focusing a bit harder with this setup.
you never know i could be wrong ,not up on this camera myself

[davidpretorius]

hmmm, toucam time!!!!

[Uchtungbaby]

Changing the iso didn't work. In fact, I got less image. I might try altering the ev to make it more susceptible to light. I might also try altering the setting down to f2.8 from f4. Maybe that will at least over-expose the image and make the ring more prominent.

I can't do anything about it for now though, it looks like the rain has set in again.