Weasner's Astrophotography Tips Page

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY - TIPS
Last updated: 27 September 2011

This page documents astrophotography comments, tips, and photos. Contributions welcome. Be certain to see the other articles on the main Astrophotography page.

Subject:	Selling my photos
Sent:	Sunday, September 25, 2011 04:15:23
From:	GPLeask@aol.com (GPLeask@aol.com)
I now realise just how much better the photos on skyandtelescope are
than mine. Most of them are taken with a 10" and up telescopes, makes my
5" look rather pathetic. Never mind, as long as others can see my photos
on yours and my sites, that's all that matters.
All the best, George

Mike here: Agreed! They can aspire others to do astrophotography.

Subject:	Sun and moon photos
Sent:	Wednesday, September 21, 2011 06:33:33
From:	GPLeask@aol.com (GPLeask@aol.com)
Hi Mike, do you know of anywhere that would buy any of my photos?
I think some of them are worth something to the right person.
All the best, George

Mike here: Sky and Telescope magazine pays for submissions to the Gallery when they accept a photo for publishing. Other than that, don't know.

Subject:	ETX 90 handheld digital of moon compared to M. Weasner's iPhone + 8" LX200 ACF photo on the next day
Sent:	Sunday, September 18, 2011 13:14:33
From:	Bob Eisenman (bob_eisenman@yahoo.com)
I noticed your Twitter Pic post for 9-18-2011:
twitpic.com/6mnxxp
and was encouraged that my own hand held photo from the night before
(9-17-2011) with an ETX 90 resembled yours.

Being somewhat obstructed by trees, I composed my shot by photographing
through an opened window while the scope rested on a solid object. I
used a hand held FinePix F470 camera in Movie mode that was positioned
over the eyepiece for a few seconds. I'd read about Registax software on
your website and applied it to a few hundred frames of 'deshaken' video
made with VirtualDub plus the deshaker plugin. My deshaken, and stacked
result is compared to your iPhone photo.

Regards,
Bob Eisenman
Salem, Massachusetts

Click image for larger version

And:

After reading about a Klevtsov telescope design used in the TAL-250 I
found a moon panorama made by Dmitry Makolkin with a TAL-250. His moon
panorama result is really impressive:
http://www.makolkin.ru/Gallery/110509/Moon_110509_TAL-250K_IR_DMK31_dvmak_001.html

On a different note, I've heard about the iPhone and camera mount that
you have been using with such success on the evening news on local TV.

I wonder if anyone has ever attempted to 3D print a custom digital
camera mount (or component) from an original design by using the
services of a company like Shapeways?
http://www.shapeways.com/

Mike here: I have done a couple of lunar panoramas. Used DoubleTake software (Mac OS X) to stitch the images. Glad to hear that the MX-1 adapter made the local news!

Subject:	Imaging choices
Sent:	Friday, September 16, 2011 05:52:25
From:	Chad Jewell (cjewell.rvt@gmail.com)
If I may ask one more question and this on the Astrophotography portion.
Would it be better to purchase the Meade DSI I/II or go with purchasing
a good digital camera?  My current digital is a lower end point and
shoot.

Again thank you for your knowledge.

Mike here: First, I would suggest trying to use your current camera. You may be surprised at what it can do. See the Accessory Reviews: Astrophotography and the Helpful Information: Astrophotography pages for a lot of information on mounting and using various types of cameras. The next step will depend on how serious you want to get about astrophotography and how much money you want to spend. Use the DSI style imagers can get you excellent images if you have the PC to go along with it at the telescope. If you don't have the PC, you'll something more like a DSLR (with appropriate adapters and accessories). But at least, with a DSLR you also get a great general purpose camera. For info on DSLRs, see the Helpful Information: Astrophotography page.

Subject:	registax
Sent:	Saturday, August 6, 2011 09:43:44
From:	Badgr91@aol.com (Badgr91@aol.com)
i contiue to read users of a program called registrax. when i bring it
up it says i' may be back. is there anyway to download this .i'm new at
photos & the reports make it sound easy. i'm sure i need this type
program

thanks
art mullen

Mike here: I have no problem downloading from their web site (http://www.astronomie.be/registax/download.html).

And:

that address gives -page cannot be found ,error 404

Mike here; Check your DNS. Also, try the top level URL (http://www.astronomie.be/).

And:

success!!! you are not only a life saver but also very very swift with
your "correct" answers.
 
thanks (again!!)
 
art mullen

Subject:	Piggy Back
Sent:	Saturday, July 23, 2011 02:18:01
From:	Bob Gunnis (bobgunnis@ntlworld.com)
Sorry if this question has been asked before.  Is it possible to piggy
back say a ST (Sky Travel) 80 Telescope or an equivalent size on to a
Meade ETX 125 AT?  I want to be able to take some Deep Sky Images and
the focal length on the 125 is not really appropriate for this task.
Many Thanks in anticipation
Bob Gunnis (UK)

Mike here: Weight and balance will be the issue. If the piggybacked telescope and camera are not too heavy and if you use a good counterweight system, you may get away with it. However, if the telescope is too heavy or the system is not balanced, there will be slippage during GOTOs and tracking. You can also damage or shorten the life of the gears and motors if you overload the ETX.

And:

Many thank Mike

I will take into consideration your comments which I thank you for.  It
may well be that I have to look at a separate telescope just for deep
sky imaging

Have you any recommendations?

Bob Gunnis

Mike here: Aperture, focal length, and mount stability are important. Also, if you plan for long duration exposing you want a polar mounted telescope. Whether you need that will depend on the type of imager you will be using. If you plan on stacking many very short duration images, then you can use an Alt/Az mount and let the software handle the field rotation that will occur over the period of time that you are imaging an object.

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