Help and guidance please. My moon shots are ok. But I would like to take other planets. i.e. Saturn etc. I have a Meade 125etx with a Canon 300d digital attached yet all I get is a white blob.
What do I need to get in closer and have clear shots like some of you have posted on here. Please help

Malo: I do not own a digital camera but I think that either your F/stop is opened to much and/or, your leaving the lens open way to long for the photo. Do you use your camera in auto mode? If so try taking manual photos. A 2x tele will help you get closer to the Planets. Later Paul.

Another technique is to video throught the telescope and stack the frames. Download registax, then take a video of saturn (if you camera has that function). Registax will then stack the frames giving you a good image. You don't have to worry about trailing so much then.

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Hi
Thanks both unfortunately the 300d Canon Rebel is attached directly to the telescope by removing the lens. In effect the scope is now the lens so I have no control over f/stops. It doesn't have video facility on it. Basically its a 35mm but in digital format. I have tried in automatic and manual.
Thanks for your advice.

Have you tried stopping the scope itself down? ie with some sort of of a full aperture mask?

That could help cut brightness.

Also are you focusing using DSLR focus or a Hartmann Mask? Focusing could be a issue with the Digital Rebel as it can be hard to focus

To achieve sufficient image scale you'll need to use the eyepiece projection technique. This involves inserting an eyepiece of the required focal length into a tele-extender tube that is then attached to the camera body.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab...html#Projection

http://www.stargazing.net/Astroman/Craters.html

http://www.eclipsechaser.com/eclink/astrot...smt.htm#equator

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ss&id=12

I suggest taking shorter exposures (i.e., fractions of a second) to avoid oversaturating your images.

Dave Mitsky

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All the above instructions will help, but you also need to elliminate mirror slap, as this will vibrate and blurr your planet image as well. Especially when in Eyepiece projection mode.

Use the Mirror lockup feature on the Digital rebel, its in the main menu, under custom functions (#12 I think). Make sure to enable it.

It will lock the Mirror up when you press the shutter button once, wait a few seconds and press it again to trigger the shutter.

You cannot touch the scope at all when taking shots, or you will get blurring, You definitely should use a remote switch/cable release to trigger the mirror & shutter.

Also try using the built in timer on the rebel, once you press the shutter button, this will lock the mirror up and give you a few seconds count down to let vibration die out before it releases the shutter to take the image.

Good Luck and post your results when you get some.

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