|
|
| *SoulEyes Photography>>>Photography Equipment |
Telescope and photography? |
i have seen pictures on the internet of people photographing what they see through a telescope. How do you do this and where and how much can you get the equipment fo in the UK - interested. T.I.A Newcastle Astrophotography is expensive and not as easy as it looks. First, what type of telescope do you have? For astrophotography, it should be capable of tracking, as the best pictures use many pictures stacked on top of each other. Next you can buy cheap adapters for most cameras that hold it in place at the eye piece. There are special digital cameras available that slide right into the eye piece openings too. I have a dobsonion mount 10" orion and I love it. I have taken a few pictures with my regular digital camera looking down the eye piece, but they aren't going to win any awards. ;) Source(s): General overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/astrophotog... Photography accessories from Orion http://www.telescopes.com/specialty_v2/a... You need a telescope that has the capacity to take either a film SLR or a digital SLR that has a "mirror up" lock capacity. I would recommend an Olympus OM1, a rather old camera, but I have four of them. You need an adapter that fits on the viewing lens of your telescope which will take the camera that you have. I don't know if any canons have mirror up capacity, I would think that Nikon does. What does "mirror up" lock mean and why do you have to use it? You would focus the camera just as if you were taking any picture. Then, on the OM 1, there is a little knob to turn which locks the mirror up and when the mirror is locked up, you cannot see what the camera is taking a picture of. You lock the mirror to stop any sort of vibration. The telescope then becomes a very long telephoto lens and if you have used long telephotos, you have to remember that they need to be still when taking pictures or your picture will blur. There is software for each brand of telescope that can do this that can interface with your computer (if you are using digital), thus sending the picture right into the computer. If your camera has a mirror up lock, you can do it. Otherwise, search for one and if you get digital, I would check out the Canon D5, or 5D with has a full sized 35mm sensor. To do this you need a telescope and a camera. You can use any camera with which you have direct control over the shutter speed. You can use a 35mm camera or many use specially made CCD cameras such as the Meade Deep Sky Imager or a camera made by SBIG. Things such as planets are bright and you only need to do short exposures but things such as galaxies are dim, and you may need to leave the shutter open for half an hour. In the latter case you will need a telescope that has tracking capability. This allows the telescope to follow the object across the so it doesn't move in the field of view. You will need a very sturdy mount. A lot of people who do astrophotography use special software nowdays to get the best images. With the help of this software, they take many fairly short term digital exposures and then stack them, bringing out the best of the best images they get. Often times they may use thousands of individual images. This technique has yielded astrophotos that had only previously been achievable at large observatories. You can go to http://www.astromart.com and post in the forums there to get more help. Many people will be willing to help you. I just want to endorse singnwinds' endorsement of Orion telescopes. They are a great company to deal with, if they will ship to the UK. Go to their site (via her link) and click on the tutorial pages and look for astrophotography. |
| Tags |
| Photography Tips Photography Studio Photography School Photography Magazine Photography Jobs Photography Equipment Photography Courses Photo Gallery Photo Essays Art Gallery |
Photography Categories--Copyright/IP Policy--Contact Webmaster |