moon and planet photos

[cosmic]

hello there every one, my name is cosmic i an new to this website and i live in the united kingdom, i need some help if any one can, i own a wo 110mm ed triplet apo focal ratio f7, i also have a nikon cp4500 digtial camera and i have a scopetronix 14mm screw in eyepiece for arfocal astrophotography, could any one tell me the best settings for moon and planetry photos, would they be better in black & white or color also if any one knows the best settings to use please could you let me know, i have only just started astro photos.

bset regards to all at astro classifieds.

john

[pizwiz]

Hello Cosmic,
Welcome aboard !
Your Nikon CP4500 camera has a few pluses and some minuses for Astro Imaging.
The fact that the lens is not centered in the camera body ( even more so than most point and shoot cameras ) can cause some balancing problems. I would mount it to the scope so that the body is straight below the lens when mounted to avoid any twisting torque on the lens and eyepiece. One of the great Pluses is the long 5 minute Bulb setting. This length of exposure will allow you to image just about everything out there.
Having said that, I suggest that you start with the Moon just as your question suggests.
Here is how to hook it all up:
( I forgot to check, but I am assuming that the camera has a viewing screen? )
Assemble your Camera, adapter and eyepiece combination and set your camera's focus to infinity.
Put an eyepiece in the scope and focus the scope on your target. ( this is just to get you in the ballpark.) Remove the eyepiece and slide the whole camera and eyepiece assembly into the focuser and make sure it's tight, so it can't slip. ( I have drilled and tapped all my eyepiece holders for 3 screws instead of the usual 1 or two.)
Turn your camera on and use the Telescope's focuser to get the image as sharp as possible in the viewing screen.
This is going to be the toughest part of the imaging process, getting the focus just right takes a little practice.
For the Moon, many cameras work just fine in Automatic, some have trouble setting exposures and focusing on images with relatively little info. So you are going to have to experiment a little.
I use my Kodak Point and shoot in the manual mode and set it to "Dark Landscape" this gives me a little more sensitivity and locks the camera at infinity focus.
Try a few auto exposures if they don't work out, go to manual and start with exposures around 1/30 second at 200ASA with less than a max F/stop.
If the camera has optical zoom, you can use it just enough to remove any vignetting, but stay away from Digital zoom, it degrades the image quality.

Give it a shot and good Luck. Let us know how you are getting on.

Adolph

[Jim Fusco]

Hi John,

The best thing I found is to get a program to remotely shooth the camera.
Cam2Com for the olympus http://www.sabsik.com/Cam2Com/.
I'm sure there is something out their for yours. I just got the Cannon S3 and plan to do the same. However this camera comes with remote shoothing software. My setup is often using a nagler T6 2.5. Most of the planets that I shoot are through the 2.5mm.
As you notice it's very hard to setup focuse a shoot. I then set the exposure to around 1 second so the image is bright to find and center. Another hard part is the exposures are rather long and that allows air currents to disturb the image, so you will need a lot of shots.

[Jim Fusco]

Here is a shot of the moon. I was playing around and though this not possible. This picture is my Oly c4040 using a 2.5 nagler and a 5X powermate. I had a few good pictures out of about 40. But taking remotely through a computer is really the best way.

[BT Technologies]

Welcome aboard John to astroclassifieds.com

I personally do not have experience with the camera you are trying to use but I am sure others that have done what you are trying to do will chime in here and give you their opinions and techniques.

Originally Posted by cosmic

hello there every one, my name is cosmic i an new to this website and i live in the united kingdom, i need some help if any one can, i own a wo 110mm ed triplet apo focal ratio f7, i also have a nikon cp4500 digtial camera and i have a scopetronix 14mm screw in eyepiece for arfocal astrophotography, could any one tell me the best settings for moon and planetry photos, would they be better in black & white or color also if any one knows the best settings to use please could you let me know, i have only just started astro photos.

bset regards to all at astro classifieds.

john