Barn door with digital camera

Uchtungbaby · #1 23-10-2006, 06:46 PM

I'm going to build my own barn door tripod complete with the adjustable screw to allow for rotation. I need a little help because I'm new to this sort of thing.

Can someone tell me whether the display screen on the digital camera will show the stars on the display screen? The reason I ask is that I pointed the camera up in the sky the other night and only saw a black screen.

I'd also like to know the easiest way to get my first pictures of a star(s) without getting too technical? Can someone tell me how to set my camera to get an easy to do picture of a cluster of stars? I have a Panasonic FZ2. It has all the settings that most of the expensive cameras have like aperture, shutter speed, iso et cetera.,

As I say, I don't know very much about astrophotography, so any help in this area will be appreciated

iceman (Mike) · #2 23-10-2006, 06:54 PM

Hey there,

to the forum! How did you find us?

You should see bright stars on the LCD display, but you won't see a lot.

Use a fast aperture (lowest f/number), high ISO (400+) and it might help see it on the LCD. When taking pictures, use a long shutter (15s to start with) until you have your barndoor tracking.

Good luck!

There's a few members who have made barndoor mounts, do a search and see some of their handywork!

Uchtungbaby · #3 23-10-2006, 10:50 PM

thanks Iceman, I'll give your ideas a go and see what happens. I think I'll get up early some time during the week after I've made the tripod and see what I end up with.

middy · #4 27-10-2006, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uchtungbaby

Can someone tell me whether the display screen on the digital camera will show the stars on the display screen? The reason I ask is that I pointed the camera up in the sky the other night and only saw a black screen.

As iceman says, you will only see the bright stars on the screen. When I am trying to aim the camera at a particular section of sky I take an exposure of 10 secs or so to get a few stars in the image. I review the image on camera and compare with my star chart. Then I adjust the camera position if it is not aimed correctly and keep repeating until I get the camera pointing where I want it to be. Once I am happy I then start the barndoor tracking and go back to my usual 64 sec exposures.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #5 27-10-2006, 07:42 AM

Uctungbaby. Head on up the Sunshine Coast on the 18th of November. We'll be having our monthly dark night session. There will be at least one (me) astrophotographer there, so you will be able to pick our brains.

On the site here, our maestro barn door tracker maker is leon. Do an advanced search for threads started by leon. He has made a couple of pearler BDTs

ps. Ditto for you to Andrew. Head on up to Astroron's at Cambroon for a pre-xmas viewing and get togther. It would be nice to put a face to a handle

Dennis · #6 27-10-2006, 07:50 AM

A useful technique is to focus on any of the several bright stars you can see on any clear evening, and then re-point the camera to the region of sky you would like to take a photo off. Take care not to move the focus ring, which I presume you will have set to manual.

Cheers

Dennis

middy · #7 27-10-2006, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

ps. Ditto for you to Andrew. Head on up to Astroron's at Cambroon for a pre-xmas viewing and get togther. It would be nice to put a face to a handle

Thanks for the invite and I would love to head up there one day. Unfortunately, Nov 18 is one week before we are moving to a new house so I could be a little busy.