Astrophotography

I just got my 130EQ this week. Set it up this evening, it works....the moon happened to be ideal tonight. Now if only I had a camera for the built-in piggyback socket...... (that and I'm waiting for the motor drive for the EQ mount)
 
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Well unfortunately I never made it back outside with the camera for more photos, however I'm going to be doing it again soon in the Winter weather so the air is crisp. The max my camera can do is a 15sec exposure so unfortunately I'm not sure what results I'm going to get.
 
I went out tonight and froze my butt off but was able to capture a good image of Orion.

stars008.jpg
 
Jeff, you should be able to get a decent amount of detail with the lens you used. Try setting the camera on full manual and adjust the shutter speed until the moon isn't overexposed. I took this one with a 70-200 on a D2Xs (1.5 crop sensor) 1/125s at f8, 100ISO:.

original.jpg


I cropped it a lot, but it still shows plenty of detail. Yours should be even better since you have a longer lens.
 
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"PolynesianMedic" said:
Not the best I could have done, but I need a bigger lens to get more moon detail, I think.
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What do mean by more detail? In this shot the moon is overexposed, which is too easy to do, since you have to follow the sunny f/16 rule.
 
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Thanks for the info, I will definitely have to go out and try this again with these settings and see what I can get. Guess I should go see when the next full moon is.
 
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Easiest way I've found, Jeff, is to choose spot metering, and meter directly off the moon in P, A, or S mode. It's bright enough to get you normal, daylight-type shutter speeds and low ISO, so detail should be no problem at all. And don't necessarily wait for a full moon - the partially shadowed moon actually gives you better detail than the full moon!

I managed this with my 500mm lens:

98944331.jpg


This one was only at 230mm (plus 1.5x crop factor) - crescent moon, Venus, and Jupiter. Cool thing is you can even see Jupiter's moons (those tiny dots next to the right-most planet) at only 345mm equivalent:

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Looked at closer at 500mm (750 equiv), you can more clearly see 4 of the moons:

98944330.jpg


Here's a close crop of a 50% moon...you can still get pretty good detail in a partially shadowed moon even with alot of cropping:

63070304.jpg
 
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"Roger" said:
What do mean by more detail?  In this shot the moon is overexposed, which is too easy to do, since you have to follow the sunny f/16 rule.
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yes, while shooting the moon you should follow the "sunny-16" rule... 1/ISO at f/16.
this is appropriate because the moon is illuminated with reflected sunlight.
 
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"Stryker412" said:
BTW, Tim never knew you were in Jersey too. You should come out to the field with us.
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where are you in NJ? there are a few of us from my immediate area in south jersey.
 
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