(Viewed 771 times)

[starbux]

My girlfriend recently got a Canon PowerShot A510 and wanted me to get familiar with it too. On July 12 I held the camera up to the eyepiece (Antares 25mm W70) of my 8" dob and took these pics some using a 3x barlow giving me 50x and 150x. I had a variable polarizing filter which was necessary in all cases since the full brightness would have had it overexposed and I haven't found out yet the best settings on the camera for this.

Some were seriously jiggled. But the very first one attempted (with barlow and all) came out surprisingly sharp. I will get the SteadyPix bracket from Orion (I live relatively nearby), and take a digital photo class and hopefully get even better results next time. Image resizing and unsharp mask was done in Photoshop.


First attempt! Barlow and all.


I may have had the filter set too dim. Plus the flash went off! No barlow.


The second photo above enhanced with a Linear Dodge blend mode Levels adjustment layer in Photoshop.


No flash and I think I set the filter a bit brighter here. Again no barlow.


crappy pic. just to show they weren't all so great. 3x barlow

---

Joe, you asked me about focus and quite frankly I'm not sure what I was doing. I'm not even sure if I had the zoom on or not. But the moon looked focused in the eyepiece and appeard ok in the viewscreen, and so I popped the pics. And I need to reemphasize that a filter is essential unless the gain can be turned down somehow.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Malcolm,

I like to say those pics are good for a first time out. It shows what the camera/scope combo can do. The last one looks like a motion shot, taken from an orbiting space craft.

On exposure...just about all digital cameras have an exposure set feature. This is accomplished by depressing the shutter only half way down, thereby setting the lighting exposure for the shot. Then you can depress the shutter fully to complete the shot. It will compensate, (hopefully), for the strong/weak light bouncing off the Moon.

I have found if I zoom in on the eyepiece a bit, just so it fills the view screen, and then focus, that I get a better quality shot. But don't take too long setting it up...as the target will drift out of view, and the process starts all over again. With your holder that you are planning to get, this will enable you to set up quicker.

On my reflector, I too use a variable polarizer set in a special holder, but I set it up between the focuser tube and the secondary mirror. This way I can adjust the orientation of the filter, and still use any eyepiece at the same time.

Send in more shots!...

[starbux]

Malcolm,

I like to say those pics are good for a first time out. It shows what the camera/scope combo can do. The last one looks like a motion shot, taken from an orbiting space craft.

Yeah kinda. Especially with the vignetting on the lower left suggests a viewport. I'll post more when I can shoot more. Schedule is busy with Stellafane coming up. Is this the best board for posting moon pics or would "Tranquility Base" get more attention?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Malcolm,

The Astrophoto board where this is would be best.

Thanks for your submissions and hope to see more...