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fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Taken last night, just past first quarter.


First Quarter Moon in my Flickr Photostream you can also find a nearly full-scale crop from the center of this image.

Captured with an Astro-Tech AT72ED telescope (2.8"/72mm aperture, 430mm prime focal length, f/6) coupled with a Nikon D5100 DSLR (ISO 160, 1/15 second, afocal projection, 10mm eyepiece, 24mm Nikon Ai lens).
 

fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Taken just a few hours ago with my Astro-Tech AT72ED telescope (2.8"/72mm aperture, 430mm prime focal length, f/6) coupled with a Nikon D5100 DSLR (ISO 160, 1/15 second, afocal projection, 10mm eyepiece, 24mm Nikon Ai lens). Post processing done in Aperture 3.


The Moon's Southern Highlands on Flickr you can view a larger version of this image and read additional details about the features captured in this photo.
 

mtbdudex

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 28, 2007
2,896
5,265
SE Michigan
Quickly set-up the EdgeHD 800 CGEM, took a few moon shots tonight.
Picked 2, merged them in CS5.
Seeing conditions were decent here in SE Michigan, a little breezy though.
Phase of the Moon on 11 August: waxing gibbous with 95% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.
Model: Canon EOS REBEL T1i, ISO: 100. Exposure: 1/125 sec, prime focus.
Moon8-10-2011%252520EdgeHD%252520800.jpg
 

fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
And now for something completely different, taken a few days ago while I waited for twilight so that I could photograph the first quarter moon with my telescope (see "First Quarter Moon" just above in this thread).


Moon and Old Glory on Flickr you can view a larger image.

Taken with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm zoom (70mm, ISO 200, 1/13s, f/32).
 

fitshaced

macrumors 68000
Jul 2, 2011
1,742
3,646
Taken last night, just past first quarter.

[url=http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6028/6019935812_812a2b2767_z.jpg]Image[/url]
First Quarter Moon in my Flickr Photostream you can also find a nearly full-scale crop from the center of this image.

Captured with an Astro-Tech AT72ED telescope (2.8"/72mm aperture, 430mm prime focal length, f/6) coupled with a Nikon D5100 DSLR (ISO 160, 1/15 second, afocal projection, 10mm eyepiece, 24mm Nikon Ai lens).

How did you attach it to your DSLR?
 

fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Yes, I used afocal projection using an adapter that both holds the eyepiece and attaches to the front filter threads of the camera lens. This unit (eyepiece holder with attached camera) then slides inside the 2" drawtube of the telescope.

One reason I use this combination fairly often is that it affords the highest photographic magnification that I can use with my 2.8" Astro-Tech refracting telescope. I could go higher, but then vibration starts to become a bigger problem and in any case with a higher magnification the exposure times would start to get a little too long (i.e. with longer exposures you'd start to see motion in the moon or planets since I'm using an unguided tripod mount).

Also, I purchased a manual-focus, 24mm Nikon Ai lens (used on eBay) specifically for this task since on my APS-C sized camera sensor the 24mm lens offers the same angle of view (coverage) as the apparent field of my eyepiece. It's best to match these two factors since that will give you the "fastest," full-frame, non-vignetting image. When the 24mm lens is mated with a 10mm eyepiece on my telescope I get an effective 1032mm, f/14 telephoto result (24mm/10mm x 430mm -- the latter the prime focal length of the Astro-Tech telescope).

The Astro-Tech AT72ED telescope also deserves a nod here, given my few months of experience with this scope I'd have to say that it is an absolute bargain at only $400 (U.S.). That's just the price of the optical tube (with case). Eyepieces, star diagonal, mount, etc. are extras (which I already had).

As for the camera lens, it was manufactured in the early 1980s, has an all-metal construction, and is completely manual focus. Those latter two factors make it ideal for astrophotography. Frankly, the auto-focus, plastic-constructed lenses of today just don't "cut it" for most astrophotography needs.
 
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fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Last quarter moon, photographed on Sunday morning Aug. 21, 2011. Compare to the "First Quarter Moon" at the top of this page (posted two weeks ago).


Last Quarter Moon on Flickr you can read additional details on this image and view a larger size.

Captured using a an Astro-Tech AT72ED telescope (2.8"/72mm aperture, 430mm prime focal length, f/6) and Nikon D5100 DSLR (ISO 3200, 1/320 second, afocal projection, 10mm eyepiece, 24mm Nikon Ai lens).
 

fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Very nice lunar shots.....I'm jealous!
I'm still trying to capture as much detail as I can see on the liveview image on my Nikon. The biggest problem (by far) is vibration from the mirror and focal plane shutter in the Nikon D5100. I just wish Nikon would put a real mirror lock-up on their pro-sumer DSLRs. The best you can do with the D5100 is a shutter delay (after the mirror is up) that doesn't even last for 2 seconds.

I just finished building a counter-weighted, heavy, 1.25" pipe mount stand for my Astro-Tech telescope and the images are worse than I was getting with a medium weight camera tripod. I think part of the problem is that the new mount is too well balanced, it moves and points wonderfully, and stays where you point it, but it also moves too easily when the camera fires (i.e. it is too finely balanced). I think I may have to experiment with unbalancing the mount so that it has additional tension against the locking mechanism (and I'm still trying to perfect the latter). I also plan on adding damping materials to the inside of the pipes (sand/gravel mix in the long pipes and some spray-foam insulation in other areas).

Of course, the ultimate solution would be a large sensor (APS-C or 4/3s), fully manual-control digital camera with a leaf shutter and no mirror (for afocal captures -- camera + lens + telescope). It also needs an articulated LCD so that you can focus via liveview in any camera position. However, as far as I know they don't make such a camera. The closest candidate might be a Canon G12 but the sensor in that camera is fairly small (in area) and in any case I suspect that Canon might be ready to introduce a new model to replace the G12. Thus, it may not be a good time to buy a G12.

Then there are the dedicated astrophotography cameras but I really don't want to spend money on one of those because they aren't very well suited for wide-field lunar photography (since they have such low pixel counts, generally not even one mega pixel). I guess I could consider stitching together a few tens of images from one of the dedicated cameras to produce a single large photo but that could prove to be a real PITA.

Maybe I need to do some experimentation with stitching astrophotography images to see if I could use a small sensor system (I'd like to end with a photo that had a few mega pixels of resolution). I could even use that technique with a camera like the Canon G12 (or G13, if and when that is introduced) to reduce the noise in the image (use a 2x2 matrix to produce a final multi-mega pixel image).
 

fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA

Tea (Colored) Moon of the August House on Flickr you can view a larger version of this image.

The golden-brown color ("tea" colored) is caused by the very low elevation of the moon when this picture was taken.

Captured at 8:16PM PDT on August 31, 2011 using an Astro-Tech AT72ED telescope (2.8"/72mm aperture, 430mm prime focal length, f/6) coupled to a Nikon D5100 DSLR (ISO6400, 1/4 second, stack of sixteen images).
 
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fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Well, if we're going to have something golden we might as well have something blue.

Blue Moon on Flickr you can read additional details on this picture and view a larger version of the image.
 

fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Taken last night through a hot, steamy, and unstable atmosphere -- but actually it came out fairly well.


Tycho and Clavius on Flickr you can find additional details on this photo.

Captured using an Astro-Tech AT72ED telescope (2.8"/72mm aperture, 430mm prime focal length, f/6) coupled to a Nikon D5100 DSLR (ISO 800, 1/40 second, afocal projection, 10mm eyepiece with 2X barlow, 24mm Nikon Ai lens).
 
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fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
fpnc, one of the most detailed moon images I've seen are taken by stefan lammel
http://www.pbase.com/slammel/image/128455304/original.jpg, click on the image and look at it full size.
More of his gallery here http://www.pbase.com/slammel/moon
Yes, those are amazing images, thanks for the links. However, it appears that Stefan is using some equally amazing equipment. One of the dedicated astro-cameras he notes costs over $2000 (U.S.) and he also lists a 10" reflector which is nearly four times the size of my Astro-Tech AT72ED (which I purchased for $380).

Here is a link to Stefan's earlier work which used more modest equipment (but still listing a Takahashi 5" reflector and home-built 7" and 10" reflectors):

http://www.slamm.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/moon/moon.htm

These images are still great and something that I'd definitely aspire to but they are nothing like his most recent work.

Of course, without proper technique and some very hard work even the best and most expensive equipment won't help and Stefan Lammel is obvious a very talented photographer.

Interestingly enough, last night I got out my old Nikon Coolpix 995 to try some imaging with a leaf-shutter (no vibration introducing mirror flop or focal plane shutter), consumer-grade, circa-2001 digital camera and the results were pretty good. In an afocal setup it was even able to autofocus on the moon which is something I've never been able to do with my Nikon D5100 since I don't have any prime lenses that will autofocus on that camera body. Besides that, up until this past week I was using a hard attachment point to the front of the D5100's lenses which wouldn't work too well with an autofocus lens (since under some situations the focus motor would have to support the entire weight of the camera).

In any case, I haven't had any good seeing conditions since I made the last adjustments to my mount and afocal setup and I'm hoping to have some better results in the coming weeks. If not, I may have to look into getting a different type of camera or upgrade to a better telescope mount (I'm currently using a home-built, pipe mount on a well-used, medium-weight tripod).
 

fpnc

macrumors 68010
Oct 30, 2002
2,002
162
San Diego, CA
Taken a few hours ago, a form of HDR since I needed two different exposures to render both the clouds and the moon (there was a six stop differences between the exposures, both captured within a few seconds of one another).


Full Moon and Clouds Take Two on Flickr you can view a larger image and read some additional details on the photo.
 

M87

macrumors 65816
Jul 18, 2009
1,259
290
I'm just a beginner, but here's one of mine.

6163712215_d9d5fc2206_o_d.jpg


I use a Canon 55-250 4-5.6 and I guess I have a bad habit because I always shoot wide open. I cropped this in Aperture 3 and converted it to black and white because there was some chromatic aberration on the craters. When I crop in aperture, is that what is referred to as a 100% crop? I'm a little confused about that.

I hope to get a 70-200 2.8 and an extender sometime.
 
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