Focusing Camera With Telescope

I finally got around to using my camera last night with the telescope. Admittedly it was the Skylux 70mm that i was using and managed to set everything up. The only thing is that when the photo was taken it looked fine on the lcd of the camera but when i loaded it onto the pc this morning the photo was a bit blurry. If the magnification of the photo is zoomed down (say to between 60-70% in paintshop 5) it looks better. I'm just wondering why or is it something that comes with practice.

Images will always look sharper the smaller they are.
The image on a (say canon 350D LCD) will be around 25 times smaller than the average PC monitor so it's going to be hard to make sure the focus is correct.

One thing you can do is set up, take the shot and then use the picture preview
function and zoom in to the max.
This should show if you are in focus or not.

Also other things can make the image blurred.

Wind, the mount if it is not sturdy, you walking around the set up but
Vibrations from the shutter and mirror have the biggest effect.

To iron those out you can use a cable release and maybe even the 'mirror lock' feature if your camera has it.
(I generally use the 'Bowler Hat' technique, e.g. Place something dark over the lens, release the shutter, wait a few seconds for the vibrations to dampen out, move it away for the required exposure time, place it back in front and then close the shutter.)

Star trailing can occur surprisingly fast also at high magnifications.
Make sure your shutter speed, app. and ISO settings are correct for the
object you are trying to capture.

Hope this helps.

I've often wondered is it possible to hook up a DSLR to a laptop and let the laptop act as the LCD?
Anyone ever heard of this?

Just found this:
www.breezesys.com/DSLRRemotePro/index.htm
SO the next question is...
how do you set this kind of thing up for free?

I use "dslr focus" frank...... seems to do the same as that software at a lower price....

It wont act as "Live" viewfinder, but you can put it in focus mode to take a series of medium sized jpegs, while you are fine tuning your focus (the jpegs should download within a few seconds after your shot),. Then when happy with the focus, you can swtch to Capture Mode, which allows you to shoot away in RAW at what ever settings you require..

One good feature, I found useful (only got to try it once so far due to the weather), was the ability to program it to take a series of shots at different ISO, shutter speeds etc..... for example:


5 shots at ISO 800 at 10 seconds
5 shots at ISO 1600 at 10 seconds
5 shots at ISO 800 at 20 seconds
5 shots at ISO 1600 at 20 seconds
5 shots at ISO 800 at 30 seconds
5 shots at ISO 1600 at 30 seconds

with a delay between shots to allow for the CMOS to cool in between exposures....

With the above example, thats 30 shots set up to run automatically.... you just have to walk away and let it do its stuff...

A good purchase in my opinion... now if only the weather would........ etc.

Simple. Log onto oemsoftware.in/index.php?target=search and it will only cost you $15 as opposed to $95. I've used this site before and they're very efficient. The only difference is that this is verson 1.10b5 instead of 1.50b2. Have a look and see what you think.

As regards your response to my post, I was using a shutter cable release and also tried it on a tripod. You did mention wind as a possible factor and there was a bit of a breeze last night when I was out.

Only one thing for it - if at first you don't suceed, try again (& again & again)

Joanna,

I don't know if you know this but what that site are doing is highly illegal. The software you buy from them is pirated and not supported by the manufacturer. You could be prosecuted just for having this software.

Now I'm not going to get in to the rights and wrongs of the whole thing just thought you should be aware of the facts.

But just ask yourself this question. If this company don't mind pirating software, what might they do with your credit card details??

[later edit]I forgot to mention. Quite often this type of hacked software is infected with all classes of nasty viruses which can take control of your pc and disseminate much of your personal information to criminals.