Problems with Astrophotography

Hi All,

Over the past few months I have been trying to get into astrophotography but I'm hitting wall after wall. I recently got a Nikon D80 to try on my Meade LXD 75 telescope. I also got a meade basic camera adapter to use with a coronado 12mm eyepiece. The result was disappointing as I could see nothing. I'm now totally at a loss. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Is my telescope suitable for eyepiece projection photography or should I try prime focus photography and if so what equipment should I be looking at? All advise welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Hi John,
The problem is the 12mm eyepiece not the scope.
You're best bet is prime focus, get a t-ring for your camera and a t-adapter to fit into the eyepiece barrel of your scope.
Doing it the way you are requires fairly specialised eyepieces to work well.

Thanks for the advise Dave,
I should probable stick to prime focus but doesn't it provide less magnification.

Is there any way that I can do some eyepiece projection?

Thanks

John as Dave L mentioned you shouldn't be using the eyepiece. The scope will provide plenty of magnification without it anyway. YOU DONT NEED EYEPIECE PROJECTION. If you are imaging planets and want more magnification, use a barlow lens to double or triple the magnifiaction of the scope.

You obviously have the T-Ring for the Nikon, but you might not have one of these;

www.iankingimaging.com/show_products.php?category=19

Look at the top item on this page. It just screws onto the t-ring and then the whole unit slides into the eyepiece holder.

Oh yeah, a barlow ,

Will a barlow lens fit into the top item on that page Dave?

Thanks again

John, the top item is a 1.25" nosepiece and fits into a barlow lens just like an eyepiece would so the arrangement would be

Camera->T-Ring->Nose Piece->Barlow->Scope.

John, What do you want to photograph, planets or deep sky stuff?