Really disappointing shots - help being looked for

Thanks for the replies guys, here are respsonses to your points:

Have you Collimated your scope, check your users manual.
it was collimated by the previous owner.

Connect your camera to a laptop and download the images as you take it using the canon software that comes with the cam & check the image on the computer screen. Then tweak the focus and retake. It can be that tedious sometimes.

Wait for a night with good seeing eg little star twinkling, maybe a bit of a haze out and a great big H pressure sitting over the country (watch for the weather forecasts).

I have good viewing by eye directly through the lens, so I would expect the same with the viewfinder. I understand that what you suggest may be necessary for something to be pin sharp, but my shots are so OOF, that it must be something more fundamental. Needless to say, I took many more photo's at slightly varying focus to see if it made a difference too...

You put the camera up to the eyepeice and look through the camera while focusing the scope, do you wear glasses??, if so you must wear them while focusing like this.
I wear glasses, and wear them while focusing.

How do you activate the camera...by hand with a delay or by remote? By hand even with a delay could introduce camera and scope shake and also possibly change focus position. The only other thought is that you do not have enough back focus with the set up and an extension may be required.

With the 10sec built in timer delay. If I shoot without an eyepiece lens, the camera cannot get close enough. With an eyepeice in, focus deteriorates either side of what you see in my photo's.

It looks like it's either collimation or camera shake to me.
If it is collimation, would that not effect what is seen by eye through the eyepiece?

Can I ask what exposures did you use ?
1/25, 1/40 and 1/80 respectively. ISO100. Kept bumping up shutter speed, but no real difference to the shot.

Thanks for this guidance - hopefully it will get me to a point where I can put a finger on the exact problem.

b318isp wrote:

It looks like it's either collimation or camera shake to me.
If it is collimation, would that not effect what is seen by eye through the eyepiece?

If you are happy it is not the collimation the it is either your focus or camera shake.



Can I ask what exposures did you use ?
1/25, 1/40 and 1/80 respectively. ISO100. Kept bumping up shutter speed, but no real difference to the shot.


What F stop setting did you use?
If the camera to telescope attachment set up is not rock solid then the speeds you used there
may cause tiny vibrations an so show up as a blurred shot.
I'm guessing this is the case as the first 2 shots are close ups and there is slight blurring around the
fringe of the moon (the brightest) and in the last shot it is more obvious ( a ghost fringe) which
would make sense if it were camera shake.

It might be helpful to take a picture of the set up you used.
If you are happy that the set up is solid then try increasing the ISO and shutter speed to
something over 1/250 (probably about ISO 400 @ f16 would work on the phase there)

Thanks for responding. F-Stop is irrelevant as no lens is used - just a t-adaptor.

I also thing the shutter speed is not a factor - if it is, God help me for longer exposure work on deep sky ojects. Addtionally, between the three pictures (and others) there seems to be no change in sharpness.

BTW, this shot was taken INSIDE the house with a window wide open to eliminate wind effects.

Good idea to post a picture of the set up. Must do that over the weekend.

Anyone near Ratoath that is prepared to meet up?

Can I ask when you focus the image while looking through the camera, do you ever get a sharp focus visible through the camera viewfinder?
You use a t-adapter so you're not using a camera lens and no eyepeice (just to be clear), if you cannot reach focus then maybe you're using an adapter that too long so you're loosing back focus. If so you need a narrower adapter.

b318isp wrote:

I guess I'm missing something obvious - can anyone advise or help???

I am fairly certain your focus is off.

For a small amount of money, you can pick up a right-angled finder that attaches at the back of the viewfinder and which will allow you to nail focus thanks to its 2x or 2.5x zoom (depending on the model) capability. You can find them on eBay for around $50.

The moon is a relatively very bright object and which makes focusing trivial. When focusing on the moon, start out by concentrating on the limb and which will get you your initial focus. Then proceed by finetuning your focus while looking at a small feature such as craterlets (Messier and Messier A are what I use).

Always take your time to focus properly since it is not as trivial or straightforward as it may seem. Aside from the atmosphere playing games with us, our eyes also adjust to a slightly misfocused view ... a camera, however, takes no prisoners.

Keep at it ... we all go through it.

Anthony.

Thanks Anthony - but I spent ages focusing, shooting, adjust focus a tiny amount and shooting again. I really can't believe that it was anything to do with racking the focus in and out. I even had my brother try it to eliminate me as a factor!