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Jit Ping Leong

question about astro photography..??????

If you want to picture the Moon (or the Sun) you need a quite strong tele, I would say at least 300mm are necessary. There are quite cheap foil-filters to make a sun-filter - but don't expect to see solar flares or such spectatcular things.
If you picture the moon, the full-moon usually gives the *worst* pictures, since there are no shadows visible therefore it looks more like a flat disk then a sphere. An ISO-100 film at around 1/25s and f/8 should give proper results with 300mm. If your camera has a Mirror-Lockup-function, you should use it (see my test: http://home.fotocommunity.de/mschopfer/ ... &d=1539951).

If you want to picture the Milkiway or star-trails, you can use a normal or even wide-angle lens. Avoid any type of light pollution (streetlights, nearby villages or even cities, the moon...).
In case you want to picture the milkyway you should use a faster film 400 or even 800, amd a fully opened aperture sice you want to collect as much light as possible in a relativeley short time (namely before the movement of the staes - resp. the rotation of the earth - becomes visible). So smaller the focal-lenght so longer exposure times are possible. Also keep in mind, that stars near the celestial equator moves faster then stars near the celestial poles - therefore you can use longer exposure times if your camera points to the north or south (near the horizon) as if it points to the east or west.

With a small focal length it's even possible to build a simple self-made mount which allows a manual tracking for longer exposure times. Or there are even Tracking systems for cameras on the market (http://www.scsastro.co.uk/library/skymemo.pdf).
07.02.06, 14:20
If you want to picture the Moon (or the Sun) you need a quite strong tele, I would say at least 300mm are necessary. There are quite cheap foil-filters to make a sun-filter - but don't expect to see solar flares or such spectatcular things.
If you picture the moon, the full-moon usually gives the *worst* pictures, since there are no shadows visible therefore it looks more like a flat disk then a sphere. An ISO-100 film at around 1/25s and f/8 should give proper results with 300mm. If your camera has a Mirror-Lockup-function, you should use it (see my test: http://home.fotocommunity.de/mschopfer/ ... &d=1539951).

If you want to picture the Milkiway or star-trails, you can use a normal or even wide-angle lens. Avoid any type of light pollution (streetlights, nearby villages or even cities, the moon...).
In case you want to picture the milkyway you should use a faster film 400 or even 800, amd a fully opened aperture sice you want to collect as much light as possible in a relativeley short time (namely before the movement of the staes - resp. the rotation of the earth - becomes visible). So smaller the focal-lenght so longer exposure times are possible. Also keep in mind, that stars near the celestial equator moves faster then stars near the celestial poles - therefore you can use longer exposure times if your camera points to the north or south (near the horizon) as if it points to the east or west.

With a small focal length it's even possible to build a simple self-made mount which allows a manual tracking for longer exposure times. Or there are even Tracking systems for cameras on the market (http://www.scsastro.co.uk/library/skymemo.pdf).
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Rob Bennett

No Subject

Nice Profilpic :-)
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