Glen,
Nice images. I too had a similar disappointment with my moon images and soon came to realise that there are limits to one's gear. I found the following to be relevant (and in general order of importance) to improving my moon shots.
1. Focus - This is critical and obvious. Having a single speed rack and pinion is average and difficult to fine tune. Use Liveview on your camera.
2. Cooling. At a FL of 814mm (my OTA), thermal currents show up and prevent a uniform clear image. Take the scope out and let it cool. Better still, use a fan to cool if you're imageing via a Newtonian.
3. Collimation. Very important for Newtonians. Your scope may not be as subject to this as a fast Newtonian.
4. Mirror lock up on your DSLR. Usually found in the functions menu. This locks up the mirror before taking a photo. I usually wait about 6 seconds.
5. Stack. Take many photos and stack in Registax. Be careful though as you need to a reasonable polar alignment to do this otherwise each photo will slowly skew and Registax will have difficulty. For single exposure, polar alignment is not mandatory - it only helps keep the moon in your field whilst tracking.
6. Have fun! Experiment. Keep your gear clean. Try an external aperture mask (I did and found I got better results by increasing my focal ratio from F4 to around F7).
7. Get a Takahashi FSQ scope (eg 106) with a 5D MkII
- Ok, I'm being a little sarcastic but this scope has seen some extraordinary single exposures of the moon I have ever seen and often rival (and beat) multiple stacking on much cheaper scopes. Have a look at what others have tried and you can gauge when you are hitting the limits of your gear.
You'll find your setup will be more than adequate to learn and sharpen your skills on without blowing the bank.
Good luck!!
Darrin...
