My First Picture - The Sun

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Hi all,
After a week with the telescope I have my first picture. The sun at prime focus though some light clouds with Baader ND5.0 filter. A couple of small sunspots and that's about it. I was tweaking it a bit with Photoshop but quite after a few minutes as I seemed to be making it worse

I also mucked around with some filters, eyepiece projection, and the ND3.8 photo film but nothing really any better than this.

The eyepiece projection is doing my head in. So far the only eyepiece I have that seems to work is my 32mm one. I will keep toiling away wit it and hopefully figure out some tricks to get some of the others working.

I took a movie of Saturn last night that turned out to be a washed out white blob for 3 minutes.

Cheers
Mick

[leon]

Well Mick, for a first attempt that is pretty good I reckon, well done.

Leon

[RB (Andrew)]

Nice one Mick.

[sil (Steve)]

Originally Posted by mikeyjames

I took a movie of Saturn last night that turned out to be a washed out white blob for 3 minutes.

Yep thats normal, you won't get a great pic from a DSLR until you hit it with wavelets, run your blob video through registax or autostakkert.

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by leon

Well Mick, for a first attempt that is pretty good I reckon, well done.

Leon

Thanks Leon.

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by RB

Nice one Mick.

Thanks Andrew

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by sil

Yep thats normal, you won't get a great pic from a DSLR until you hit it with wavelets, run your blob video through registax or autostakkert.

Hi Sil,
Well, another lesson learned - don't delete stuff just because I can't see it's value instantly. Appreciate the advice (for next time).

Thanks
Mick

[silv (Annette)]

but nothing really any better than this.

sounds a bit like you are expecting seeing the swirly structure?
For that to show you'd need different gear.
Which gear? I have no idea! I just know that you do.

I find your sun really good!

[sil (Steve)]

Originally Posted by mikeyjames

Hi Sil,
Well, another lesson learned - don't delete stuff just because I can't see it's value instantly. Appreciate the advice (for next time).

Yep I kicked myself for deleting what I thought were useless captures once I tried registax wavelets. Also expect your video to be "jumping" around as atmospheric conditions refract the planetary light, this is still acceptable to process too. A common mistake people make starting out planetary captures is over exposing to make the planet look better on the camera screen. This is wrong, you have to remember the planets are in "full daylight" so fast shutter speeds are required. To test for yourself take moon photos and you'll find to get a pleasant exposure you'll be using shutter speeds that you'd usually use during a day at the park taking pics. Get used to ignoring all the "blackness" in the shot, it has zero effect on how bright your target is. If you can easily see a planet in live view you are overexposing it (which you cant correct for later). It sounds counter intuitive to a newbie but give it a try anyway and your planetary photography will take a forward leap.

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by silv

sounds a bit like you are expecting seeing the swirly structure?
For that to show you'd need different gear.
Which gear? I have no idea! I just know that you do.

I find your sun really good!

Thanks Annette

[mikeyjames (Mick)]

Originally Posted by sil

Yep I kicked myself for deleting what I thought were useless captures once I tried registax wavelets. Also expect your video to be "jumping" around as atmospheric conditions refract the planetary light, this is still acceptable to process too. A common mistake people make starting out planetary captures is over exposing to make the planet look better on the camera screen. This is wrong, you have to remember the planets are in "full daylight" so fast shutter speeds are required. To test for yourself take moon photos and you'll find to get a pleasant exposure you'll be using shutter speeds that you'd usually use during a day at the park taking pics. Get used to ignoring all the "blackness" in the shot, it has zero effect on how bright your target is. If you can easily see a planet in live view you are overexposing it (which you cant correct for later). It sounds counter intuitive to a newbie but give it a try anyway and your planetary photography will take a forward leap.

I appreciate the advice. Thanks Sil.