hey lycanthropes

[ving (David)]

heres a pic i took of our very own gorgeous moon last night. 9mm plossl EP afocally with my trusty sony dsc-p31 2.1mp camera. 16 images stacked and slightly processed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4..._dob/final.jpg




(actually looking at it, it is a bit smallish)

[rumples riot]

Nice Ving, good to see you finally entering into the fray, keep em coming. Looks like an afocal shot. Looks sharp, tell us some more details?

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice on Ving.. you should try using your cameras optical zoom (if it's got it?) to zoom in past the vignetting a bit. You'll always get some vignetting with the 9mm eyepiece though.

Perhaps you should try it with your 25 or 15 plus a 2x barlow - you'll get a wider eyepiece lens and longer eye relief, which may help you get the camera in a better position and reduce the vignetting.

Also make sure you use your full resolution when taking the shot and when you crop in on it, it might make it a bit bigger for you.

Good to see you taking some shots again!

[ving (David)]

this was really an experiment. I dont have anything that takes avis but i wanted to do some stacking so i used the multi-burst option on my camera, it takes 16 shots 1/25 of a sec apart. but when you view these shots on a computer it puts them all on a 1600x 960 image, then i have to cut them out and make them into seperate images and finally registax them.

my camera doesnt have optical zoom, its a pretty old one. I probably need to buy a new camera
something that takes avis too i think.... then work on a new mount for it.

but yeah, a barlowed 15mm would prolly be a bit better
thnx for the comments

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Well here goes.....this is my first afocal moon shot
I have a better one, just cant find it at the moment



10" GSO Dob, 7mm Seibert optics wide field EP.2MP point & shoot camera.

[iceman (Mike)]

Good start Ian!

Does your camera have exposure controls or shutter speed controls?

As silly as it sounds, when I used my first digital camera (kodak 2mp point and click - no manual controls), if I turned the flash off (as you think you should), the camera would over-expose the dark image trying to get exposure right, and so the moon was always very washed out (like your image).

I found that turning the flash on tricked the camera into not overexposing the image, so the details came out much better. You could try this, and tape something over the flash so you don't blind yourself

If your camera allows you do manual adjustments of exposure or shutter speed, then use that instead of the flash.

This is my very first (that worked out) afocal moon shot using my old Kodak 2mp, using a 25mm or 32mm eyepiece (I can't remember).

[mch62 (Mark)]

Hay Ice , zooming in on some cameras is not the best choice as far getting minimal vigneting.
For example on my Minolta D7 digital it has the equivalent of a 28-200mm lens and the only FR that works with minimal vignetting is at about 45mm equivalent not 200mm -- full zoom .
If i go over or under I get the drain pipe effect and that is with a modified 2" eyepiece and only a 1mm air gap between EP and camera.
It depends on how the lens groups are arranged and move on certain cameras, and it is best to try different settings.

Mark

[ving (David)]

welcome to the afocal moon shot thread...
the was a breif moment last night just on dark where it wasnt raining, so i got desperate and carried the scope out...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4..._dob/moon1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4..._dob/moon2.jpg

[iceman (Mike)]

Is that with your new eyepiece? You got to use it!

[ving (David)]

yeah, just briefly tho.
you want a quick write-up?

[iceman (Mike)]

Only if you've got something interesting to say, like, I saw the bottom of the clouds as they rolled in over the moon

For sure do a writeup! I want to get one of my own. and Mick hasn't done a review of his!

[ving (David)]

he hasnt?
what a slacker!