Marvellous pics everyone!
Last night I took the plunge and tried some smartphone astrophotography for the first time, as we had such a beautiful 2/3 phase moon
Here are two of my efforts, using my Samsung Galaxy S4 held up to the eyepiece of my 8 inch Dobsonian. First pic is 25mm, second pic is 10mm
Marvellous pics everyone!
Last night I took the plunge and tried some smartphone astrophotography for the first time, as we had such a beautiful 2/3 phase moon
Here are two of my efforts, using my Samsung Galaxy S4 held up to the eyepiece of my 8 inch Dobsonian. First pic is 25mm, second pic is 10mm
Good stuff Chelle! Isn't it great us Dob users aren't excluded from some sort of "Astrophotography"....!
Agreed!!! I was so glad to find out that we aren't excluded at all Terence Dickinson's Nightwatch book listed Dobs as "not recommended" for astrophotography. Well I beg to differ Mr. Dickinson - although I'm sure he is referring to deep sky objects rather than the moon! My interest as a beginner lies mainly in the moon for the current time, I'm trying to sketch it as I see it for fun
Thanks Brian and OzStarGazer, I must admit I was pleasantly shocked by the images I got, I would have been happy with just a "non-fuzzy one" as I don't have the steadiest of hands when holding a phone
I can't wait to see what my Canon G12 will do, will be heading out on Sunday night with my friend who is an avid photographer to see the super moon and find some nice reference structures to shoot it against so I'm really keen to see how he goes with his telephoto (or as I call them, "stalker") lenses
No, we aren't excluded! I have seen some stunning images taken through dobs, particularly on this site. I also bought a refractor mainly because I have a DSLR camera and wanted to experiment a bit with prime focus too. (The camera was too heavy for my dob.)
I took some nice images through the dob too though, and was happy particularly considering what we read sometimes about dobs and astrophotography.
For special events if they are not right in front of my balcony I always use my dob because it is collapsible and portable (it's a Skywatcher Heritage 5"). I thought it would be more difficult to carry because some people had told me it would be heavy for me... that's why for the Saturn occultation I initially planned to go to a site which is really close, but then I didn't like it and could carry the dob to a better site alright.
I make my minion (boyfriend) help me carry my Dob to the car if I'm going anywhere that isn't the balcony! I can do it in two trips though if need be . It's not so much the weight as the delicate nature, I'd hate to bump it out of alignment or anything!
I make my minion (boyfriend) help me carry my Dob to the car if I'm going anywhere that isn't the balcony! I can do it in two trips though if need be . It's not so much the weight as the delicate nature, I'd hate to bump it out of alignment or anything!
Here is my latest , taken the other night , still light with my 60mm ( 2.4inch) scope , yea Dob and small refractor owners rock . .
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chellaxy
Agreed!!! I was so glad to find out that we aren't excluded at all Terence Dickinson's Nightwatch book listed Dobs as "not recommended" for astrophotography. Well I beg to differ Mr. Dickinson - although I'm sure he is referring to deep sky objects rather than the moon! My interest as a beginner lies mainly in the moon for the current time, I'm trying to sketch it as I see it for fun
Thanks Brian and OzStarGazer, I must admit I was pleasantly shocked by the images I got, I would have been happy with just a "non-fuzzy one" as I don't have the steadiest of hands when holding a phone
I can't wait to see what my Canon G12 will do, will be heading out on Sunday night with my friend who is an avid photographer to see the super moon and find some nice reference structures to shoot it against so I'm really keen to see how he goes with his telephoto (or as I call them, "stalker") lenses
Shaun, there may be a multitude of the occultation about but the one you take yourself is always better. Congratulate her for the great photo for me.
Chelle, if you hadn't told me it was an phone camera shot I wouldn't have know. They are very good.
Then again it was a 13Meg Galaxy 4 phone which is even better than my 8Meg Note 2 phone :-) Superior technology that.
Trev
Way to go Sean's daughter- that moon pic is fabulous!!! And that occultation one is absolutely super!!!!
Sean *cough* *cough* I think you need to set her up with some cool $$$astro grear$$$ - she has talent .
From Trev:
Quote:
Shaun, there may be a multitude of the occultation about but the one you take yourself is always better.
Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Very precious memories.
Okay, well I'd love to offer my offering of the Moon taken thru my 10" dob using prime focus and join this little party .
Hubby took it using my dob- I just tell him what I want and how I want it and he does the rest, and I do the processing. Me, I concentrate on visual- no one has been strong enough to get me to the dark side yet .
Chelle, while you have the dob out- you might like to view this event on Saturn the same night.
The shadow of the rings on the planet will be on display Sunday 10th August. I've never seen it before myself, so I don't know what to expect, but my astro mentor tell me it's an easy grab in an 8".
I've taken quite a few moon pics that I'm pretty proud of using my iPhone 4S through the EP of my Heritage 130 but none as good as yours Chelle. I didn't bother with the occultation as I didn't want to miss it by fiddling about.
I've tried Saturn loads of times but normally end up with just an orange splodge, but did manage the one below. It's nothing special I know but as Suzy says it is my own and I'm quite chuffed with it.
no one has been strong enough to get me to the dark side yet . Attachment 167793
.... YET
And thank you for the tip about Saturn, I'm just about to open Stellarium to get planning for the best time!!! That's a beaut shot!
Brian that's a beauty, yeah small refs and Dob owners rock indeed!
Trevor - thank you! Phone cameras have come a long way indeed - I still remember my first phone with a camera - a whopping 2Mp and I thought I was so tech savvy with that thing. I was indeed impressed with those fuzzy/noisy photos haha.
Johnny - that Saturn image is fab, it never ceases to amaze me how much it looks like a cartoon version of itself through the scope! I find that Saturn moves tremendously fast to our eyes through the scope, so getting a static image of it is impressive!
Do any of the lunar/loony photographers here have any of their pics on the wall at home? These would all look impressive blown up a bit and popped in a frame and a great personal touch to our homes! Not to mention "oh-so-casually" being able to claim credit for the photo when asked about it!
Johnny that is a super photo of Saturn with your phone!
I've had several attempts at taking pics hand held with a point & zoom camera and fail everytime.
Chelle wrote-
Quote:
Do any of the lunar/loony photographers here have any of their pics on the wall at home? These would all look impressive blown up a bit and popped in a frame and a great personal touch to our homes! Not to mention "oh-so-casually" being able to claim credit for the photo when asked about it!
Now isn't that interesting ...
I've got some really cool pics we've taken including a nice one of the Venus transit, but the only pics on my wall are from other photographers. I must rectify that! Thank you Chelle .
Thanks Chelle and Suzy, you don't want to know how many before and after shots I've taken to get that.
What I found made a difference was putting the tube on a sturdy EQ mount. I think I was getting loads of vibration when the phone was touching the EP on the Dob base.
+1 on that Suzy , she has a natural talent for sure ( hope you are showing her these comments Sean ) yes a natural talent for sure ,, cough $$$ cough $$$ .
Hope she continues in this , look forward to seeing many more , and thank you.
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzy
Way to go Sean's daughter- that moon pic is fabulous!!! And that occultation one is absolutely super!!!!
Sean *cough* *cough* I think you need to set her up with some cool $$$astro grear$$$ - she has talent .
From Trev:
Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Very precious memories.
Okay, well I'd love to offer my offering of the Moon taken thru my 10" dob using prime focus and join this little party .
Hubby took it using my dob- I just tell him what I want and how I want it and he does the rest, and I do the processing. Me, I concentrate on visual- no one has been strong enough to get me to the dark side yet . Attachment 167793
Last edited by brian nordstrom; 10-08-2014 at 01:56 PM.
I've got some really cool pics we've taken including a nice one of the Venus transit, but the only pics on my wall are from other photographers. I must rectify that! Thank you Chelle .
I'm definitely going to put mine up, adding to the wall as I go! I bet personal astrophotography would make really beautiful gifts for friends/family who are interested in the skies too!
Here are four of the shots I took last night; sadly it was too cloudy to get a decent one of the low Perigree moon hanging over the city, the best I got was a peeking through the clouds one. But you can get an idea of how big it looks next to the city when it's low! There is also one of Saturn (grainy as quite windy and so much light pollution)
Well, here's a shot of Jupiter my daughter took in January...when you start taking shots of planets with an I-phone it gets less impressive (than the Moon) I guess, but not bad for a 15 year old...
By the way, has anyone ever tried to snap a shot of a DSO with a phone? Now that would be impressive!
That's a very fine Jupiter shot Shaun give her my congratulations , its not easy taking planetary photos with a hand held phone over the eyepiece .
Here is my Saturn shot taken a year or so ago using my (now sold) Takahashi M210 and HTC One phone hand held over a 3mm TV Radian giving 806x hard to do for sure .
Isn't it great us Dob users aren't excluded from some sort of "Astrophotography"....! 
Terence Dickinson's Nightwatch book listed Dobs as "not recommended" for astrophotography. Well I beg to differ Mr. Dickinson - although I'm sure he is referring to deep sky objects rather than the moon! My interest as a beginner lies mainly in the moon for the current time, I'm trying to sketch it as I see it for fun 
Minion ,, funny 
. great if it works .
.
. 
Thank you Chelle .
hard to do for sure .
