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01/13/2008 10:02:18 PM · #1
Post your comments, questions, and reviews for...

'An Astrophotography Primer'
by strangeghost

View this tutorial here.
01/13/2008 10:06:46 PM · #2
Lookin' Good!
01/13/2008 10:20:08 PM · #3
nice! this is what I was looking for! Thanks for sharing information! Sharing is good ;)
01/13/2008 11:02:40 PM · #4
Thanks for sharing, and for reinforcing my latent bent for shooting night shots of the sky and horizon. The tutorial is simple and clear.
01/13/2008 11:23:10 PM · #5
Awesome thanks this is great I am going to shoot some night photos from the tower
01/13/2008 11:48:40 PM · #6
Nice tutorial John. You mentioned how difficult it is to focus using eyepiece and prime focus. Is it similar to focusing for extreme macro or harder?
01/14/2008 12:01:54 AM · #7
Originally posted by yanko:

Nice tutorial John. You mentioned how difficult it is to focus using eyepiece and prime focus. Is it similar to focusing for extreme macro or harder?

Thanks Richard. I've never shot "extreme" macros but the main differences I'd see are the amount of control you have. In macro work you can often control the conditions, at least to a degree if you're indoors, especially in a setup situation (light, detail, etc.). In eyepiece projection, your subject is moving (never tracked completely accurately by your scope) and you're looking through a lot of atmosphere (which shimmers, waves, and dances) and a lot of glass. The atmospheric seeing gives you occasional glimpses of steadiness but they're very fleeting and unpredictable. It's one of the toughest struggles in photography - focusing - but especially in prime focus or eyepiece projection.
01/14/2008 07:56:35 PM · #8
Shameless Monday bump
01/14/2008 07:59:35 PM · #9
Originally posted by strangeghost:

Shameless Monday bump


Hmmm, yes shamelessness and Mondays, always a great combo ;-)

Wait, I'm shameless *all* the time!
01/14/2008 08:13:47 PM · #10
Shameless yes! But I'm happy with the tutorial and my ego needs some feedback!
01/14/2008 09:39:05 PM · #11
A very interesting read and fantastic explanation and examples - thanks, John!
01/14/2008 09:51:21 PM · #12
Great work. Like the advice on the 30 second sweet spot. Thanks
01/15/2008 01:40:59 AM · #13
Thanks for the great primer John! My wife received a telescope for Christmas and I'm sure this will help her a lot.
01/15/2008 03:09:01 AM · #14
Thanks for sharing. Great tutorial.
01/15/2008 06:47:40 AM · #15
I'm still working on the one you sent me, sorry for the delay.....

Originally posted by strangeghost:

Post your comments, questions, and reviews for...

'An Astrophotography Primer'
by strangeghost

View this tutorial here.
01/15/2008 09:48:59 AM · #16
Nice work! Makes me want to (finally) invest in an equatorial mount for my scope.
01/15/2008 11:23:05 AM · #17
This is great...thanks!
01/15/2008 09:06:32 PM · #18
This is great! Thanks for the tutorial.

Message edited by author 2008-01-15 21:07:35.
02/06/2008 04:06:33 PM · #19
WOW. John, if I could've rated this five times, it would've been five 3s. Just a fantastic tutorial.

One quick note for you: Langdon will host all the images on DPC's dime, so you don't have to keep anything in your workshop.
02/06/2008 04:21:06 PM · #20
Originally posted by levyj413:

WOW. John, if I could've rated this five times, it would've been five 3s. Just a fantastic tutorial.

One quick note for you: Langdon will host all the images on DPC's dime, so you don't have to keep anything in your workshop.

Thanks J. Yes, I'll probably have him switch them over eventually, but it was faster to write the thing up this way.
02/06/2008 04:49:08 PM · #21
The one thing I always screw up is setting the focus manually when I'm trying to do landscape/ star trail shots. Infinity isn't what it used to be (the zooms have a certain amount of overshoot on the focus dial), particularly on a wide angle zoom, but I always seem to go too far past the end of the line on my 17-40 Made slightly worse by shooting at or around f4/5.6 to let enough light in to make actual trails. Sure you can shine a light if the subject is close, but that doesn't seem to work for me for mountain ranges - any advice ? (other than prefocus in daylight or learn your lenses better ?)

On the flip side, something useful for establishing composition and exposure - shoot at ISO 3200 (or as high as your camera will go) at your widest aperture - you'll get a noisy, nasty image but you can check the composition on the LCD, to see if things you want in the shot are where you want them to be. You can then use reciprocity to calculate back to a sensible shutter speed, for a less noisy ISO, from the calculated exposure. Works quite well.

Message edited by author 2008-02-06 16:53:02.
02/06/2008 04:51:41 PM · #22
When I'm working on focus, I generally aim at the brightest star or stars, and shoot a test shot, then zoom in on the LCD and check the star; nudge the focus ring a smidge, reshoot, reexamine, etc. After about a dozen shots, I'm generally as close as I'm going to get. I've threatened to mark my lenses with a sharpie but have never gotten around to doing it.
02/06/2008 04:54:47 PM · #23
I would think that hyperfocal distance can help here! At f5.6 and 17mm, the hyperfocal distance is just about 7 feet. that means that everything from 3.5 ft to infinity is sufficiently focussed. I've printed out a hyperfocal chart and now keep it in my camera bag.

edited distance to account for APS-sized sensor instead of FF

Message edited by author 2008-02-06 16:57:47.
02/06/2008 05:07:03 PM · #24
Great tutorial!! I would also add digiscoping. Just placing lens up to an eye piece to telescope and shooting. If done right, can also be quite easy and very nice.

Examples: Coolpix 990 to a 80mm 20-60x Pentax Spotting scope at 20x zoomed to eliminate black eye piece circle. [thumb]47013[/thumb]
02/06/2008 05:10:45 PM · #25
You're right Van, another area to add for the 2.0.
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