Very amateur astrophotography....

[Grendels]

Well I promised a few over in the Sci Fi section that if I got any good photos, I would post them. I got a few, and I got quite a few bad ones. This is my first attempt at it, and I may not get back to it for a while. I just don't have time for this, model building, the Girl Friend, work and everything else I would like to do with my life. So I have to pick and choose.

This first photo, I left the camera on auto with no flash, not good:



I thought for a minute and set the camera so I could control the shutter speed:



As you can tell it is underexposed, so I decreased the shutter speed. I think it was at 1/8 of a second:



And then I took a few more:



Excited with this success, I turned my eyes to Jupiter and didn't do so well....



This was on the same shutter speed as the moon. This is the best photo of Jupiter I got tonight.

Keep in mind that there is no auto focus, and every camera setting has to be done by the operator. No auto settings. The planets are in motion, so keeping the telescope focused on them can be difficult.

I also have to focus the camera through the camera's view finder. I am using a Cannon Rebel Xti, one of the older consumer grade cameras. I might try the new one I got for Christmas with the next trip outside. It will let me focus using the LCD screen.

Also, the slightest disturbance of the telescope will cause the image to be out of focus. You will see an example of that in the next photo.

For the next photo, I upped the shutter time to 6 seconds:



This image looks that way because Jupiter moved in the six seconds the shutter was open. Tonight had almost no wind, and I am deep in a subdivision with zero traffic. No vibrations to the scope. This last photo was taken with a three second shutter speed:



My conclusion is that in order to get a good photo of Jupiter, the conditions have to be perfect. My vision has to be correct as well. I think that was part of my problem with the focus, I am not feeling the best and my vision was a bit blurry by the time I got to Jupiter.

 

[ShutterAce]

Hey G,

As you have found out astrophotography is a technical challenge. Planets, especially bright ones, are hard because they wash out. You need to stack frames to get good resolution. The attached images are on the order of 30 stacked images. Nowadays they are stacking hundreds of images to get better resolution and contrast.

You're off to a good start. Old Luna is good practice. Then onto the bright planets. After that you can do star fields but you need a good drive mechanism unless you want to shoot star trails.

All my equipment just sits in the garage anymore.



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[JohnSimmons]

I think they look great John, this is my attempt a few months ago just standing in the garden with my eos 350d

 

[spud]

when taking pics of the moon dial in some Exposure compinsation you want to under expose by 1-2 stops.

Aslo what lense did ya use to get that close???? ive got a Cannon 70-200 and no im getting in that close

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Yeah, any time I have taken pics of the moon, I get the glowing ball effect.

Have set it on manual to try and correct, and used the timer so I am not actually touching the camera when it takes the photo. Will have to play around with the shutter speed next.

 

[ShutterAce]

Hey Guys,

If you're really interested in this type of astrophotography please checkout my buddy Joe Orman's site. He and I used to roam the AZ desert together in the middle of the night. In my opinion he is perhaps the best tripod mounted astrophotographer out there.

http://joeorman.shutterace.com/Gallery.html

He gives you all the specs including exposure times and F stops and even time of day so you can match what he's doing. Granted most of it is from the film days but it's still a place to start.

Enjoy!

 

[spud]

scott fast shutter speed and drop tiy expoure compensation 1 to 2 stops this should get you a clear shot, also set the camera on self timer because when you press the button you will "shake" it. unless of course you have a remote switch i would liek to try and get a shot tonight but not gona happen wind and rain for us tonight ;(

shutterAce your friend has some great shots there

 

[Black Sheep 1]

Wow, this brings back memories from when I was a freshman in college in Puerto Rico.
They were doing some construction and were going to expand a classroom in the Physics Dept. and decided to tear down this big Periodic Table that was mounted on a wall.
As it turns out there was a door behind the chart and it was to a storage room full of all sorts of Physics equipment including some huge motorized telescopes. I got to play a bit with the photo gear and got some nice stuff. I have no idea what ever happened to those images. I do remember I used a lot of film (and I do mean a lot!).

Er..Grendels, you may wanna take some time and clean the sensor on your camera. Looks like you have some dust on the chip.

 

[Grendels]

BlackSheep 1: I saw that, and I am going to check into cleaning her up a bit.

I am going to take another try tonight. This time with the new camera and see if it makes a difference. I has a much better sensor than the old XTi has.

ShutterAce: I am using a non motorized mount, so it will be hard to track the object. I was having a lot of problems with Jupiter moving out of frame last night because of this. I am using a Celestron 4 and a half inch newtonian telescope. I have had this scope for years, and recently found a camera mount for a reasonable price. If anything I now have one hell of a zoom lens. In fact I might take it outside in a bit and see what I can do in the day light.

Your friend has some impressive images on site! Gives me ideas.

 

[spud]

ahh telescope. very nice i would love to get one with a mount for the camera.

 

[Igard]

Cool stuff! Thanks for posting the images. I just had a look for my lunar photos, but can't find them. Ah well, I'll take more when I finally buy a camera.

Really want to get into this. Don't know how far exactly. I'm more into star fields and deep space objects than planets, though I'd like to get a good shot of Saturn. I think it'll be a while before that shows up again.

I've got the telescope and the motorized mount, but I'm lacking a decent camera!

Man, this thread gives me all kinds of ideas. Forget modelling! I want to stand outside in the cold all night! ;D

 

[spud]

I want to stand outside in the cold all night! ;D

been there done that ;D altough the woman wasnt to happy with the cold

 

[Quaralane]

Definitely some cool stuff

 

[Grendels]

I took more photos tonight and a video!

Here is one without the telescope. I wanted to see what my camera could do without the scope:



Image is not cropped. In face I have not cropped any of them so far. Everything is full frame.

Here is the video I took, I got a new camera for my birthday and this one takes video:

Totally off topic: The moon through my telescope

Enough with the moon, now on to Jupiter. I tried last night and never got anywhere. Tonight I got a few photos to work!!

First thing, the new camera is not like the old Cannon XTi, this one is a 7D and it has quite a bit better light sensitivity. I tried long exposures and everything was just blurry. So on a whim I tried a few very short exposures and here is what I got. At 1/4of a second for the shutter speed:



Not great but you can see the moons!

On to better!

This one is at 1/50



Now you can see the strips on Jupiter!

This one is at 1/25



This next one is at 1/50



And another one at 1/50



This one is at 1/25



This last one is at 1/25



I am happy with this round of results!

 

[spud]

I was going to get the 7D but it didn't have a full frame sensor so I got the 5D Mk II with the 24-105mm lens outstanding camera.

As I said a few posts back you need to take quick exposures long ones just give a white ball.

Your first shot is really nice John the bit of cloud gives it a bit of interest.

 

[ShutterAce]

Great stuff! Always nice to have some success.

 

[JohnSimmons]

That is really interesting Grendels Thanks for the vid.

 

[Tanker52]

Grendals nice video of the moon. Don't give up on astrophotography. Moon is always a fantastic subject. I need to dust of my scope and get back out and take more pics. Here is one of my photo's of the moon from a few years ago...

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[spud]

i dont think we have had a clear night in about 3 weeks.. :

 

[Grendels]

i dont think we have had a clear night in about 3 weeks.. :

Pretty much our forecast for the next week, nothing clear..... But after the last year, the rain is more than welcome!