Tonight and probably inspired by the recent Stargazing Live series, my 8 year old wanted me to set up so he could look at Jupiter. Then of course the moon.
Naturally after that he wanted me to get a photo of the moon and the only thing on hand was my iPhone, so I grabbed a couple of shots. One is the iPhone afocal with an ST80, and the other with my C925 SCT. Both surprised me for the quality of the shot, particularly the SCT. Both shots are hand held.
I guess I really had better start having a crack with the modded 350D I have!
I have been on that slippery slope for a long time, but the money side of things (Other priorities) has kept me from buying some extra bits of hit to make it worthwhile, such as a guider. At 2350mm focal length the guiding would be a must for longer exposures and at F10 short ones are not going to really do much!
My other thought was got get a modern camera suitable for planetary work and do some of that given guiding it not such an issue there.
Last edited by The_bluester; 13-04-2017 at 08:30 AM.
Common (mis) perception that you have to spend arm and leg for decent results as astronomer amateur is actually much much more surprising.
You can even do a science with modest equipment.... if you know how and if you don't follow (expensive) trends.
I think the operative there is "Decent" results. For a modest outlay yes, pretty handy results can be obtained.
The guys on here with big dollar rigs I would say rather than producing "decent" results are often producing astounding stuff. Even ten years ago the kind of images produced by Andy01 (As an example as we are friends) would be stuff you would expect to see coming from Hubble, not an amateur with a kit of gear that would fit in the boot of a moderately small car!
I think the kind of images I put in the OP show just how far tech has come, even the first image. Taken with a camera that about 20% of the population of the world carries in their pocket every waking moment through a scope that I picked up for under $200 secondhand and at an exposure time that would work mounted on a fixed tripod!
Nice work on your first AP post, you're in trouble now, it's addictive
BTW: Hope you don't mind, I took a screenshot of your image and ran it through Photoshop - the original detail you have captured there is astounding when brought out!
Your post takes me back to some very fond memories of imaging with a phone. I think that getting the DSLR out might spark an addiction like no other. So... Go for it!
This is my first astrophoto, taken on one of my first nights out with my brand new LX200 10" and my iPhone 3GS and the stock Meade 26mm plossl 11:19PM Feb 1st 2010.
Tonight and probably inspired by the recent Stargazing Live series, my 8 year old wanted me to set up so he could look at Jupiter. Then of course the moon.
Naturally after that he wanted me to get a photo of the moon and the only thing on hand was my iPhone, so I grabbed a couple of shots. One is the iPhone afocal with an ST80, and the other with my C925 SCT. Both surprised me for the quality of the shot, particularly the SCT. Both shots are hand held.
I guess I really had better start having a crack with the modded 350D I have!
Lovely Paul ..just goes to show what fun one can have ! I do this myself occasionally
bigjoe
nice work on your first ap post, you're in trouble now, it's addictive
Btw: Hope you don't mind, i took a screenshot of your image and ran it through photoshop - the original detail you have captured there is astounding when brought out!
This is my first astrophoto, taken on one of my first nights out with my brand new LX200 10" and my iPhone 3GS and the stock Meade 26mm plossl 11:19PM Feb 1st 2010.
Nice Col .These , actually 10inch + Meades can really surprise you optically ..even on tight doubles!!
Selling mine; maybe I should not!!
bigjoe.
