moon photography

[Shadowman]

Still Trying!

[will_c]

This was handheld at the eyepiece of a telescope.

[Rhoads238]

This was handheld at the eyepiece of a telescope.

Really? that looks great. so you just put the lens of ur camera up to the eye piece? great definition and exposure to my eye.

[will_c]

Really? that looks great. so you just put the lens of ur camera up to the eye piece? great definition and exposure to my eye.

Yes, that's all. It's just a picture of the image formed by the eyepiece, taken with a macro lens. The telescope was a 1200mm Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, if anyone's interested. The main problem is that it's a bit awkward to hold everything in alignment while focusing. With a tripod mount and the right adapter for attaching the camera to the telecope instead of the eyepiece, one could quite easily get noticably better results (I don't have those - I only use my scope for visual observing, but I thought that I'd have a go at taking a photograph).

[Shadowman]

Yes, that's all. It's just a picture of the image formed by the eyepiece, taken with a macro lens. The telescope was a 1200mm Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, if anyone's interested. The main problem is that it's a bit awkward to hold everything in alignment while focusing. With a tripod mount and the right adapter for attaching the camera to the telecope instead of the eyepiece, one could quite easily get noticably better results (I don't have those - I only use my scope for visual observing, but I thought that I'd have a go at taking a photograph).

They have digital cameras that are mounted to microscopes, so I don't see why the same technique can't be applied to a telescope.

[Steaphany]

They have digital cameras that are mounted to microscopes, so I don't see why the same technique can't be applied to a telescope.

John,

The standard means for mounting a SLR to a telescope is with a T-Mount adapter. They are low cost, readily available for every lens mount, and every telescope designed to accept a camera has a T-Mount male thread. Here are examples available from Orion Telescope:



Orion Wide T-Rings for 35mm Cameras

But, many also use the "through the eye piece" method and there are many adapters available that will hold everything from webcams, point and shoot, through to SLR's in place to shoot through a 'scopes eye piece. Here are some examples:



Orion SteadyPix Universal Camera Mount



Orion SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount

[Shadowman]

John,

The standard means for mounting a SLR to a telescope is with a T-Mount adapter. They are low cost, readily available for every lens mount, and every telescope designed to accept a camera has a T-Mount male thread. Here are examples available from Orion Telescope:



Orion Wide T-Rings for 35mm Cameras

But, many also use the "through the eye piece" method and there are many adapters available that will hold everything from webcams, point and shoot, through to SLR's in place to shoot through a 'scopes eye piece. Here are some examples:



Orion SteadyPix Universal Camera Mount



Orion SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount

Steaphany,

Thank you for the information. I have a friend who would be very interested in trying out these devices. I hope he goes for the through the eyepiece device, that way I can borrow it.

[Steaphany]

An advantage of through the eyepiece astrophotography is the magnification can be varied by which focal length eyepiece is used.

When attaching a camera to a 'scope with a T mount, the focal length is fixed as with any prime telephoto lens.

By choosing a long or short eyepiece focal length, the field of view and the magnification can be chosen.

Magnification = Scope focal length / Eyepiece focal length

[Fleshpiston]

Well you all got me inspired to try and get a shot:
Tonights Australian Moon by Fleshpiston, on Flickr

Tripod mounted - Sony a350 stabilization off.
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed 100
6.18pm EST
Australia

So my main questions are would I get a better shot later at night when the Moon is higher in the sky?
Is my assumption correct in thinking that I will get better detail when it is not a full moon?

[Steaphany]

would I get a better shot later at night when the Moon is higher in the sky?

Yes, the light path when the Moon is low in the sky results in the light passing through more atmosphere.

When the Moon is high in the sky, the atmospheric turbulence is at a minimum. Also later at night allows the heat of the prior day to dissipate clearing the view even more.

Is my assumption correct in thinking that I will get better detail when it is not a full moon?

Yes, especially along the terminator, the transition between the Sun lit side and dark side, where the long shadows yield a 3D perspective.

Nice shot by the way.

[Fleshpiston]

Thank you. Hopefully as the weather is better here in Oz than the UK / Spain, I will be able to take advantage of it and get some more.

Good to know what I was thinking is going to yield better results for those moon shots.

[Shadowman]

Well you all got me inspired to try and get a shot:
Tonights Australian Moon by Fleshpiston, on Flickr

Tripod mounted - Sony a350 stabilization off.
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed 100
6.18pm EST
Australia

So my main questions are would I get a better shot later at night when the Moon is higher in the sky?
Is my assumption correct in thinking that I will get better detail when it is not a full moon?

Very nice shot.

[Fleshpiston]

Cheers! Still a lot of room for improvment though... might get another shot tonight.

[colorado1976]

i tried moon photography lately and this is the sharpest i can get,
this is cropped from 15mp shot. (don't know how many % of the image i got).
lens: 55-250mm (set at 250mm)
canon 50d
please advise me how to improve my moon photography...

sony alpha a55 with 75-300 lens

[MiniChris]

Sometimes, playing with every setting you have can have interesting results. In this shot, I'd just finished shooting a subject in rather "interesting lighting" to the point of pushing my ISO to 2500. I had not reset the ISO and on my way back to the car, as I came out of the woods, the moon managed to peek through the breaking up, overcast sky and I took one handheld shot at it.

f:/13 @ 1/1000 ISO 2500 I started to play with the noise a bit until I realized I liked how it affected the sky, clouds and even the moon. Shot about 10 minutes after the sun had set completely behind some quite overcast horizon skies.

Nikon D7000 w/ Nikkor 55-300mm lens