Skywatchcer 400mm for photography

[ArthurB]

I bought a Skywatcher 400mm, and I am using it on my Canon 350D, not for moon and planets only, but also for daytime photography.

Effectively it gives an 800mm capability for about R3000

I use GIMP or photoshop to compensate the pics a bit when using the 2x Barlow - but without the barlow, the pictures (at 400mm) is actually very good.

The attached pic of the moon was taken at 400mm - without 2x Barlow

I will add more pics - still playing :-)

[jaquesdp]

what shutter speed and quality you getting ?

[petermoffat]

Could you do a crop of the moon from the original picture? I'd love to know how much detail this is able to capture!

[ArthurB]

I use manual time exposures - around 500 msek, and I used only medium quality on 350D Canon - I will re-do at max quality soon and will maill you the pics.

There is some purple fringing if you zoom in a lot, but only notable if you are pedantic about it

Sorry for the late reply - I never got email notification of your posts?

[RooiPiet]

Hi Hiluxman

How did you connect the camera to the telescope? Does it simply click on?? Please post some more pics you captured using this setup.

Are the daytime pics any good?

[RichardMiddelmann]

If that scope is really steady you can drop your shutter speed way down and get more light in there for a great moon shot...

[Mintaka]

The moon is pretty bright and over-exposes easily, which will lead to a loss of detail.

You can also do some good pics at lower magnification of dimmer objects such as the Seven Sisters at this time of the year with your set-up. Try a 10 second exposure on the Pleides.

Unless you specifically want to snap star trails, it is best to keep power low and shutter speed faster than 15 seconds when photographing the night sky. Longer exposures will require an equatorial mount for your telescope, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.