Current Sun Spot Group

Canon 20D, 70mm SkyLux, 2xBarlow lens to give a 2240mm effective lens.

Comments appreciated. Especially I am slight worried that I needed ISO1600 and 1/80 sec to get the right exposure. Is the f/ratio just too big with the barlow?

Thanks!

eclipsedan,

Those are two decent shots you have there! Focus looks pretty good and the detail looks reasonably sharp.
As for the camera settings, you should be able to use a lower ISO setting, say a 200 or 400. This in turn will require a longer exposure. What setting on your camera did you use?

Clear skies,

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the comments. Focus was extremely difficult to achieve. The 20D doesn't have a split screen focus and the viewfinder isn't as good as the 1D(s) models

The settings for both shots were ISO1600 and 1/80th second. I can't tell you what the f/ratio was. I think the scope is an f/10 (since it's 70mm and 700mm). And then the 2x barlow presumably made it f/20. I'm really showing my ignorance here.

Anyway I didn't want to have a slower shutter speed because I thought that the telescope mount wouldn't really be stable enough for a lengthy exposure. I might try it out tomorrow and see how it fares. The camera really puts a lot of strain on the scope as it is!

Thanks again,

Daniel

Hi,
Have you tried taking multiple shot and stacking them in registax.
The second image is particularily nice BTW.

Thanks, Dave. Can't say I've ever used a stacking program. I always figured it was for those who were using webcams! I've just downloaded a version of Registax now.

I'll take a few images tomorrow and see if I can come up with something.

Thanks for the advice,

Daniel

Daniel,
nice images, I like them. Good work!