HELP!!!!

Hi all,
as you probably know ihave a canon eos 300d! At the CSP on saturday ireceived a t ring and t adapter from andy mccrea(36 euro!!!Thanks) and a release cable from dave lillis(20 euro!!! Thanks). We had a lovely clear sky so i had a go with the camera! WHAT A DISASTER! I attached the camera to my dads 4.5" Reflector. took a thirty second exposure of plaedes and all i could see were the 3 spokes at the top of the scope! Also tried with the skylux and also didnt work! Also took photos of sirius with the lens and could see sirius and about fifty other stars in the review but when i went into the play mode there was only sirius! HELP ME PLEASE!!!!
MAtthew Cahill

Matthew,
Dont loose hope, its does take quite abit of practice to get this nailed down.
Maybe the image isnt focused ???

Do not assume that when you have the image focused through the eyepiece and then replace the eyepiece with the camera that the camera is automatically focused. You need to focus again using a bright star looking through the camera.

Try the beehive and saturn with no eyepiece+skylux+300D, I have put up an image in another thread of that example, you might not be able to track but you should be well able to get a similar looking image..

Hi Matthew
I am only new at the astrophotography game myself so I actually went through similar problems only recently. In relation to only getting the three spokes of your scope, it sounds like you haven't focused on the object enough. Your best bet is to focus with a lens first and get the object centered, then take the lens out put in the camera and the focus for the camera is usually not to far from there. I have actaully had the problem that the focus won't go any further and I am way off with clarity, so to get around that by putting the adapter into a balow lens.

With looking at the image in play mode on your 300d, you may need to let the image alone for about five seconds as it increases the pixels definition on the lcd viewer. But just wait until you put the image on your pc before you panic. Get some photo editing software and you will see the other fifty then. It is like the blind leading the blind sometimes but thats half the fun. Best of luck.

Sean

Hi Matthew,

As the other guys suggested you are almost certainly nowhere near focus.

Heres some tips;

Focus: point the scope at a bright star near the object you wish to photograph. The star should be bright enough so you see it through the camera viewfinder. Focus the star through the viewfinder as sharply as you can. Normally you would need to use other technigues to acheive *really* critical focus, but for now visual focus will do. Once you are satisfied you are focussed as good as you can then carefully slew to your object. Be careful that you dont shift the focus while moving to the new object.

Never use star diagnols etc, you will never get good focus that way.

Use prime focus (i.e. no eyepiece involved in the imaging train)

I assume your scopes have no motorised tracking so expect that the stars in your shots will all be lines.

Most importantly, keep at it, you WILL get better. It does take time though so dont expect miracles overnight.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice guys,
I was going to try again tonight but there is THICK fog and you can only see about 10 metres in front of you! :shock:
Just one more question! My dad bought a 40mm eyepiece from andromeda optics on saturday, It focuses perfectly on the skylux with the diagonal but on the 4.5" I cant focus! The focusing barrel is in as far as it can go!is it to do with tehfocal ratio of the scope? Its an f8! 910mm focal length and114mm lens!
thanks
Matthew Cahill

Matthew, I sincerely hope it's only a focus issue

Maybe the image isnt focused ???

I heard in another forum only last week that if the wrong type of t-ring
(i.e a non canon EOS) is used, it will ruin all your electrical contacts inside the mount of the camera - I really hope the guys are right - see to it when skies are clear :arrow:

Let us know...
Keith..