Problem with taking photos of Jupiter.

[Oedling (Fredrik)]

Hi everyone!

I finally bought myself a telescope a couple of weeks back, a Meade 8" Dobsonian. After my first night using it I got hooked and ordered some equipment so I could take some photos of these breathtaking views I saw.

Now to the problem.. I got very little experience with cameras, so I just started taking photos and changing settings around but I can't seem to find that "sweet spot".

If the exposure time is too long I can see the moons of Jupiter, but Jupiter itself is just a bright white blob, and if I set it lower Jupiter gets more clear but now I can't see any moons instead. (It still doesn't get as clear as when I look with my eye)

(Ill post a couple of pictures for clarification)

Anyone more experienced here that can help me out?

Equipment:
Meade 8" Lightbridge Dobsonian
x2 Barrow
Camera:Nikon D40

Cheers from Sweden.

http://fuskbugg.se/dl/SdcYbD/jupitermedman.JPG(Bright Jupiter with moons, aprox. 1/10 sec exposure)
http://fuskbugg.se/dl/fucQ11/okjupiter.JPG(More detailed Jupiter without moons)

[Chif (Andrew)]

I'm also fairly new to photography and have been playing around over the past week (mainly lunar pics at the moment though).

I would try having perhaps a lower iso with the longer shutter speed, or you may need to change the aperture, making the f stop (is that right?) a higher value (therefore smaller aperture).

Those are just guesses and what I would try doing. So you will most likely still need input from the pros here

P.s. I love the second pic of Jupiter you've got there. I need to get my lazy bum out of bed early so I can have a crack at it.

[Oedling (Fredrik)]

Originally Posted by Chif

I'm also fairly new to photography and have been playing around over the past week (mainly lunar pics at the moment though).

I would try having perhaps a lower iso with the longer shutter speed, or you may need to change the aperture, making the f stop (is that right?) a higher value (therefore smaller aperture).

Those are just guesses and what I would try doing. So you will most likely still need input from the pros here

P.s. I love the second pic of Jupiter you've got there. I need to get my lazy bum out of bed early so I can have a crack at it.

Yeah I had a hunch that the ISO should be set at a lower number.. But I had it set on the lowest number it allowed me, which was 200. Maybe there's a way to force it to go lower.

Thanks! I'm not satisfied on the result however, since it looks better when i look through the telescope with my eye :/ A lot clearer + 4 moons.

I guess it's more convenient to look at Jupiter where I live, it pops up above the tree-line at ~ 9pm or so

[pluto (Hugh)]

It depends on the camera, and the sky, but on my 5DmkII I would usually go an exposure of around 1/160 and an ISO of about 400 (that got me this:http://hughsblog.files.wordpress.com...upiter_03d.jpg)
You might better off taking an image (or video if you're going to stack) of Jupiter at the correct exposure and then one of the moons well exposed and then combine those 2 images in something like photoshop.

[Oedling (Fredrik)]

Originally Posted by pluto

It depends on the camera, and the sky, but on my 5DmkII I would usually go an exposure of around 1/160 and an ISO of about 400 (that got me this:http://hughsblog.files.wordpress.com...upiter_03d.jpg)
You might better off taking an image (or video if you're going to stack) of Jupiter at the correct exposure and then one of the moons well exposed and then combine those 2 images in something like photoshop.

I'll definitely give that a try! I'm actually thinking of getting a webcam and try out stacking, since long exposures doesn't work well with my current setup anyway cause I don't have any sort of tracking.

Thanks for the reply!

[DavidNg (David)]

I have to admire your skill. Having pictures of Jupiter after several weeks on owning a telescope. Took me many months before knowing how it worked.

I am sure not too long before you will post amazing pictures in IIS.

[Poita (Peter)]

Download autostakkert and capture an .avi of Jupiter. Don't warry about the tracking, Autostakkert can handle that.

Many people take one exposure for the moons and another exposure for the planet. It is difficult to expose both correctly in a single image.

http://www.autostakkert.com/wp/download/

[Oedling (Fredrik)]

Originally Posted by DavidNg

I have to admire your skill. Having pictures of Jupiter after several weeks on owning a telescope. Took me many months before knowing how it worked.

I am sure not too long before you will post amazing pictures in IIS.

Thank you David!

Originally Posted by Poita

Download autostakkert and capture an .avi of Jupiter. Don't warry about the tracking, Autostakkert can handle that.

Many people take one exposure for the moons and another exposure for the planet. It is difficult to expose both correctly in a single image.

Thanks for the tip, gonna try that out this weekend for sure when I get my hands on a camera that can record video.

Yeah, I put the two images i posted here together and got a pretty decent result.

Image of Jupiter with 4 moons: http://fuskbugg.se/dl/Yn5gnS/okjupitermedman.jpg

[LAW (Murphy)]

For lunar and planetary imaging I use the 'exposure bracketing' function on my canon. It takes three pictures which 'bracket' a certain exposure, for example -2, 0, +2. Then combine them in an HDR editing program (or manually in photoshop). The -2 will give you the surface detail of Jupiter, the +2 will give you the moons and the 0 is the base layer for the stack which gives the program something to measure signal against noise.

[niko]

you'll find that one exposure will work for the moons and another for the planet - try overlaying the planet exposure image in place of the planet on the moons exposure

[Oedling (Fredrik)]

Originally Posted by LAW

For lunar and planetary imaging I use the 'exposure bracketing' function on my canon. It takes three pictures which 'bracket' a certain exposure, for example -2, 0, +2. Then combine them in an HDR editing program (or manually in photoshop). The -2 will give you the surface detail of Jupiter, the +2 will give you the moons and the 0 is the base layer for the stack which gives the program something to measure signal against noise.

I do not know if my camera has a function similar to that.. I will investigate that further when my sister comes over this weekend, she got a lot more expertise when it comes to cameras than I do

Originally Posted by Niko

you'll find that one exposure will work for the moons and another for the planet - try overlaying the planet exposure image in place of the planet on the moons exposure

I tried that out in the picture I linked to in my last post, but I never took a photo explicitly for the moons. I found a picture of the moons later when I was going through all the pictures later that night, when I took it I only saw the over-exposed Jupiter I'm gonna take another photo tonight hopefully where I'll focus on getting the moons well exposed.

Also, I realized that I cannot change the shutter settings (the "F" parameter) without having a actual camera lens.. Is it like this on all dslr-cameras? Or is there camera lenses out there that can be attached directly to a adapter and then onto the telescope?
The equipment I'm using to fit the camera on the telescope are these:

T-2 Ring for Nikon
(pic: http://www.astrosweden.se/public/img/user/ASW_fo196.jpg )
1,25" camera adapter
(pic: http://www.astrosweden.se/public/img/user/ASW_fo194.jpg )

[LAW (Murphy)]

The F/ number (referred to as the F/Stop) is the aperture, which is a measure of how 'open' your lens is. Because you're using the telescope instead of a lens the camera can't control or measure it so it's displayed as F/00 or whatever Nikon decided to call it (yes, this is the same regardless of what camera you use). Basically your only options for controlling the exposure is the shutter timing and ISO.

[Oedling (Fredrik)]

Originally Posted by LAW

The F/ number (referred to as the F/Stop) is the aperture, which is a measure of how 'open' your lens is. Because you're using the telescope instead of a lens the camera can't control or measure it so it's displayed as F/00 or whatever Nikon decided to call it (yes, this is the same regardless of what camera you use). Basically your only options for controlling the exposure is the shutter timing and ISO.

Oh I see.. Would it be possible to maybe simulate a partly closed shutter by fitting some kind of solid piece that has a cut out hole into the barrel of the adapter?

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Hejsan Frederik välkommen till iceinspace!
Mycket fint foto!

Make sure you take your photos in a RAW file format. You may then be able to bring some more detail out with a image program like photoshop.
I would recommend taking a video for around two minutes (raw format) and then use a program like autostakkert or registax to stack the sharp frames into a single image. I would recommend checking the 'projects and articles' section for more details.

Lycka till med det!

Cheers

Rusty

[Oedling (Fredrik)]

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

Hejsan Frederik välkommen till iceinspace!
Mycket fint foto!

Make sure you take your photos in a RAW file format. You may then be able to bring some more detail out with a image program like photoshop.
I would recommend taking a video for around two minutes (raw format) and then use a program like autostakkert or registax to stack the sharp frames into a single image. I would recommend checking the 'projects and articles' section for more details.

Lycka till med det!

Cheers

Rusty

Tack så mycket!

I actually took some pictures in RAW this weekend, haven't had time to look at them on my computer yet though. I also planned on recording a video but for some reason the camera refused to let me record in manual mode.

I'll definitely check that out! Thanks for your reply!