My first moon shot

[Striker (Tony)]

I took this picture with my little 2 megapixel digital camera...just hand held up to the eyepiece...so dont laugh......I thought I should post it as it is my first picture.....even though It's not that impressive...I can atleast see some improvement when I start using my LPI or Toucam....I hope

Please dont laugh too much otherwise I will have to jump of the gateway Bridge....lol..joking.

[iceman (Mike)]

That's a great first shot, you got Tycho and Clavius area nicely!

What post-processing did you do on it? It looks like you ran it through NeatImage, though in my opinion you removed a tad too much "noise" and it makes your shot look a bit too "smooth".

That's an excellent first shot though, holding the 2mp digital camera up to the eyepiece taking moon shots is exactly how I started.

[Striker (Tony)]

I use Adobe Photo Deluxe version 4......its a very simple version with a lot less features.....buts its great for quick editing.

I have all the other editing programs like Paintshop and photoshop this is the one I turn back to more often then not....but like I said....does not have the functions and options of the likes of Photoshop elements.

[DougAdams]

Nice shot! I've been reading "Exploring the Moon" and was astonished to see a very similar digital camera (Canon Powershot) to my own there as an example of what can be done to image the moon.
Basically... hold it up to the eyepiece and press click.

I've been waiting for the moon to return to try it myself. Seeing your shot, I'm really keen now!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Nothing wrong with that first shot Tony. Very similar to my first shots, and yes Doug using a Canon Powershot A10. Doesn't do too bad an image.

[silvinator]

Striker you sensitive thing you, that's a lovely picture, especially for a handheld one. Believe me, my handheld pics of the moon with a 3 megapixel camera looks horrid! What were your exposure settings?

[ving (David)]

afocal rox!
well done

now go shoot some galaxies

[rumples riot]

Pretty good for hand held. Better than some of my first shots. Nice Stuff.

[blackpearl]

Awesome - you have captured what I imagined the photography to be and just what I want to do with my Fuji S5000 along with whichever telescope I choose - probably the 12''Dob from Andrews or Bintel!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Hey Tony,

Did you use a flash? lol

Seriously, I didn't think a small digital camera could do that. I gotta buy a camera! My 12" dobber will be perfect I hope.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Sorry to crash your party Tony, but guys here's an example of what you can do with a 4" refractor and a 1.2 meg pixel el cheapo. Afocal shot using a 20mm eyepiece. I don't think I used any zoom on this. I found zooming in actually made it easier.


No processing except image size adjustment

[iceman (Mike)]

All of my moon shots (bar the latest) were taken afocally with my digicam. It's possible to get some quite nice lunar images afocally..

Yuo can also take multiple shots and stack them to reduce the noise.

[Striker (Tony)]

Thanks Paul & Mike...you had to show off on my thread didn't you...take all my glory....*******......grrrrrrrrrrrr .....lol

And to answer the question asked by Ken about my picture...cough cough....NO you dont use a flash.....I took this about 2 weeks ago with GS 30mm 2".

But believe me you can do alot better then this picture....but give it a go and enjoy.....it was just fun trying....

[ving (David)]

show boaters...

2mp on a 60mm ebay refractor afocally
http://photobucket.com/albums/v46/ving68/60mm/?action=view&current=Dsc03127.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v46/ving68/60mm/moon_fixed.jpg
http://photobucket.com/albums/v46/ving68/60mm/?action=view&current=moonpic.jpg

sorry bout the image size

mwahahaha!