Amateur Astrophotography Questions

Hi. I'm hoping to get the answers to what seem like some really
fundamental questions before I dive completely into this hobby. I
have an Orion SkyView Pro 6 Reflector scope. Looking into trying some
photography. Most, if not all, of the information I've seen on
astrophotography refers to refractors. Can I get good results with a
reflector or am I wasting my time? The second question relates to
film processing. While I have an appropriate camera (I believe), I do
not have any means to develop the film myself. My first thought is to
have the pictures put on to a CD or the like, so that I can manipulate
them digitally. Is this possible or pointless?

Help is much appreciated. Thanks.

Greg

On 17 Nov 2004 12:49:17 -0800, (Greg) wrote:

Hi. I'm hoping to get the answers to what seem like some really
fundamental questions before I dive completely into this hobby. I
have an Orion SkyView Pro 6 Reflector scope. Looking into trying some
photography. Most, if not all, of the information I've seen on
astrophotography refers to refractors. Can I get good results with a
reflector or am I wasting my time?

Reflectors are every bit as good as refractors for photography. In many cases
they are better because of the possibility of a larger aperture. Your scope
should be fine, assuming you can get the focal plane of the camera to match the
focal plane of the scope. If not, you might need to get a lower profile focuser,
or to move the primary mirror up the tube a little. But good imaging requires a
good mount, and that is where your system is a little weak. At a minimum, you
will need an off-axis guider or a separate guidescope piggybacked on the main
tube, and you will need the dual-axis motor drive. Film is a little more
forgiving than CCD for guiding, but you do need longer exposures. Your scope
will not guide long enough on its own to give you good results.


The second question relates to
film processing. While I have an appropriate camera (I believe), I do
not have any means to develop the film myself. My first thought is to
have the pictures put on to a CD or the like, so that I can manipulate
them digitally. Is this possible or pointless?

Perfectly possible and reasonable. However, find a processor you can work with.
When the images are scanned, they may automatically have their brightness levels
set incorrectly, since the machines aren't really expecting images that are
mostly black. Try to find a processor that will give you 16-bit TIFF scans- the
usual 8-bit JPEGs are not very suitable for further processing.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Greg wrote:
Hi. I'm hoping to get the answers to what seem like some really
fundamental questions before I dive completely into this hobby. I
have an Orion SkyView Pro 6 Reflector scope. Looking into trying some
photography. Most, if not all, of the information I've seen on
astrophotography refers to refractors. Can I get good results with a
reflector or am I wasting my time?

Huh?? Where do you get that most information on astrophotography
refers to refractors?

I was a beginner not long ago (in a sense, I still am), looking for
information -- like you are now -- and I don't recall a single source
that made reference to any specific type of telescope.

That said, yes, with a reflector telescope you can get good results;
these are some of the images I've taken with my 8 inches f/5 Newtonian
reflector:

http://www.mochima.com/personal/moon_pictures2.html
http://www.mochima.com/personal/moon_2003_03
http://www.mochima.com/personal/luna...pse_2003_05_15
http://www.mochima.com/personal/luna...pse_2003_11_08

http://www.mochima.com/personal/ecli...ges/2238_2.jpg
http://www.mochima.com/personal/ecli...ges/2251_2.jpg
(or you could just type the URL up to ...10-27 and click on each
thumbnail for the full size image)

http://www.mochima.com/personal/Andr.../andromeda.jpg


I have also some images from Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, but they're
not online (plus, they're far inferior to *many* I've seen taken
with similar telescopes, or SCT telescopes below 12")

Also, you can do astrophotography with your camera and regular
camera lenses; with a good telephoto, you can do some interesting
stuff for the Moon, constellations, clusters, or large nebulae;
with a regular wide-angle, you can take nice shots of the sky
(e.g., the Milky Way), auroras, etc.:

http://www.mochima.com/personal/milky_way_2002_06
http://www.mochima.com/personal/aurora_2004-11-07
http://www.mochima.com/personal/aurora_2004-11-09


Try looking for online tutorials that get you started with the
basic techniques available -- prime focus, eyepiece projection.
Also, they would let you know the kind of equipment you'll need
(adaptors to be able to use your telescope as the lens of the
camera), tips and tricks for the exposure, etc.

I see no replies through my newsreader, but I'm sure you'll get
a few more messages from people with far more experience than
I have.

The main thing I must ask you is to make sure that you share
your results with us!! :-)

Hope you enjoy your new hobby!

Carlos
--

news:alt.binaries.pictures.astro

I like your m31 shot. A little longer exposures would have brought out
the disk more - you probably know that. But I like your photo in any
event. I like the colouration. I also note your scope is well collimated.
Nice and thanks for sharing!

Mark



Carlos Moreno wrote:

Greg wrote:
Hi. I'm hoping to get the answers to what seem like some really
fundamental questions before I dive completely into this hobby. I
have an Orion SkyView Pro 6 Reflector scope. Looking into trying some
photography. Most, if not all, of the information I've seen on
astrophotography refers to refractors. Can I get good results with a
reflector or am I wasting my time?

Huh?? Where do you get that most information on astrophotography
refers to refractors?

I was a beginner not long ago (in a sense, I still am), looking for
information -- like you are now -- and I don't recall a single source
that made reference to any specific type of telescope.

That said, yes, with a reflector telescope you can get good results;
these are some of the images I've taken with my 8 inches f/5 Newtonian
reflector:

http://www.mochima.com/personal/moon_pictures2.html
http://www.mochima.com/personal/moon_2003_03
http://www.mochima.com/personal/luna...pse_2003_05_15
http://www.mochima.com/personal/luna...pse_2003_11_08

http://www.mochima.com/personal/ecli...ges/2238_2.jpg
http://www.mochima.com/personal/ecli...ges/2251_2.jpg
(or you could just type the URL up to ...10-27 and click on each
thumbnail for the full size image)

http://www.mochima.com/personal/Andr.../andromeda.jpg

I have also some images from Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, but they're
not online (plus, they're far inferior to *many* I've seen taken
with similar telescopes, or SCT telescopes below 12")

Also, you can do astrophotography with your camera and regular
camera lenses; with a good telephoto, you can do some interesting
stuff for the Moon, constellations, clusters, or large nebulae;
with a regular wide-angle, you can take nice shots of the sky
(e.g., the Milky Way), auroras, etc.:

http://www.mochima.com/personal/milky_way_2002_06
http://www.mochima.com/personal/aurora_2004-11-07
http://www.mochima.com/personal/aurora_2004-11-09

Try looking for online tutorials that get you started with the
basic techniques available -- prime focus, eyepiece projection.
Also, they would let you know the kind of equipment you'll need
(adaptors to be able to use your telescope as the lens of the
camera), tips and tricks for the exposure, etc.

I see no replies through my newsreader, but I'm sure you'll get
a few more messages from people with far more experience than
I have.

The main thing I must ask you is to make sure that you share
your results with us!! :-)

Hope you enjoy your new hobby!

Carlos
--

Hi Greg

"Greg" a écrit dans le message de
om...
Hi. I'm hoping to get the answers to what seem like some really
fundamental questions before I dive completely into this hobby. I
have an Orion SkyView Pro 6 Reflector scope. Looking into trying some
photography.

6" will be great for Lunar and some planetary picture, to get some deep sky,
you'll need the Hat Trick because the mount is not good enough against
camera vibration. Hat trick consist in placing a black card (or black hat)
in
front of tube (but without touching it), in pose B on the camera, you open
the shutter, wait some second (5 @ 10 sec, to remove the camera shutter
vibration) you remove the hat or black card (be careful to not touch the
tube), and wait the time you need, and release the shutter (or replace the
black card, and release the shutter). Other option available if your camera
have this option, some SLR camera have a miror lock up, only lock up the
miror, and take the picture.

But something else to think, "focus"... not easy to do! you'll need a easy
to do hartman mask. (cheap and very good) make a search on google for
this... lot of web page relate to that. Knife Edge is good too.

Most, if not all, of the information I've seen on
astrophotography refers to refractors. Can I get good results with a
reflector or am I wasting my time?

Lot of people say you need a Maskutov-Cas/Schmidt-Cas/Cas etc or
Refractor... (Apo better than Achro for lot of reason, but work on both)
That's true for one reason (to my eyes), focal plan position... Newton is
usually make for visual observation, so, the focal plan is near of the
closest focuser position, and if the focal plan is to close, you can't be
able to focus on subject. But if your newton have a far focal plan, the
kind of scope is not important. The camera film plan should be at the same
place than you primary focal plan.

That's the theory for photography call "prime focus". But if your primary
focal plan is to close, some easy option is there to bypass this problem...
install a barlow between the focuser and the camera!

If you make photography by projection (focuser, eyepiece, camera), the
distance between the eyepiece and the film plan is the thing you have to
observe.

You can also put your camera with the camera lens behind the eyepieces, it's
call "afocal"

And the last easy way, is the camera piggy-back ont the scope.

Finally, any telescope act like a big camera lens. And any newton have
advantage on all other kind of scope... the F/ratio, the more fast scope you
have (small F/ number) the higher light you capture, so, the exposure is 2x
faster on F/5 thant F/10. Other advantage, the faster is your F/ratio, the
bigger field of view you take. The only Cassgrain type scope with this
F/ratio i know, is because a compression lens is use or it's an expensive
Astrograph... And refractor with small F/ratio is have usually small
apperture (60-90mm).

The second question relates to
film processing. While I have an appropriate camera (I believe), I do
not have any means to develop the film myself. My first thought is to
have the pictures put on to a CD or the like, so that I can manipulate
them digitally. Is this possible or pointless?

If you don't make your own film processing, try to buy a negative scanner.
commercial CD picture is usually very very poor... good only to make 3"x4"
or 4"x6" print out... forget any enlargment... Don't forget, any Film Camera
is even in quality than a 11 megapixel digital camera... usually, picture on
CD is compress at 1 or 2 megapixel quality. Only developpe your negative,
(it's easy and cheap to do your own negative development processing, or it's
fast and not expensive to ask a Photo Shop to do it) and scan it... you'll
get something better... any cheap 2400 dpi negative scanner give a 5.7 mp,
so it's not bad... you can get better for higher price.


Help is much appreciated. Thanks.

Greg

Clear Skies
Eric


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