My First Attempt at Astro Photography

I have had a fascination with Astro Photography since a trip to Arizona about six years ago. My company hired someone with a very powerful telescope for a company event. One look at Saturn and all of its rings, and I was hooked! However, I did not want to just see the galaxy, I wanted to capture it with my camera. So, I have been building up to buying a telescope of my own to give this a try.

At first, I purchased an expensive telescope and a t-mount for my Nikon camera, but I never took the telescope out of the box. It was really an impulse buy and I thought I needed to do more research. So, I took that one back and started to investigate more.

I finally talked to a guy at B&H Photo Video that actually started the telescope department there. He was very knowledgeable and very helpful. The research I did on my own was pretty good, but he finalized what I truly needed.

Here is a list of my purchases:

• T-Mount for Nikon (already owned this one)
• RS-N2 II Wired Remote Switch for Nikon D7000
• 1000mm Computerized Telescope 114LCM
• Night Vision Red LED Flashlight (came with telescope)
• AC to DC Power Adapter
• SLR Camera Adapter with Integral 2x Barlow Lens

So, the first thing I learned about, after setting it all up, is that the computer has to be aligned each time to find three major stars, planets, or the moon. The second thing that I learned is that the best laid plans go out the window with weather... it is slightly cloudy a lot of the time! The third thing that I learned is that the camera attached to the barlow is not as sharp and clear (or as magnified) as looking through the stronger eye piece. The fourth thing that I learned about is that the closer you get to objects in the sky, the quicker they move out of your view finder!
I did get to see Jupiter and its four moons! That was the only thing I was able to see with this particular telescope and strong eye piece, other than what I can see with my naked eye. It was fun seeing sooooo many stars at one time, too!

Here is the only successful picture, and it is of the moon, that I was able to take:

I did try to take a picture with my iPhone through the eye piece, which was much sharper and closer, too:

These two photos are actually from the same date/time... however, I did not purchase the inverter for looking through the eye piece. If there was an attachment for the iPhone with a telescope eye piece, then this might have turned out great.



Never the less, I decided that all of this equipment was too expensive for just taking photos of the moon. I returned the telescope and accessories. So, my one successful photo cost me a whopping $24... the return shipping cost!

Here is a photo that I took shortly there after with my Nikon D7000, 18-200 mm lens on a tripod:

Can you see Jupiter up in the upper right corner?



So, I have not given up... just decided to change my approach. I thought that it would be better to invest in a cheaper lens that has a far range and I can shoot other pictures with. I found a Tokina 80-400 mm lens on Craigs List and I have purchased that. Here is a photo that I took one morning with the new lens:

My intent is to purchase a 2x Tele Converter and try my hand at 800 mm! I have already taken this lens to a local park and gotten some great water fowl photos, too.

I guess I am going to have to just admire the photos from the really, really large telescopes around the world for other celestial objects like Saturn!

I might not have completed my mission, but I had an awful lot of fun trying... and, isn't that what it is all about?

Welcome!

Welcome to my first blog post!

I decided a while back ago that I should try out this blog phenomenon... but, I was not sure how to tackle it. Of course, I wanted to control the look-and-feel, but I am not a code person. Without taking a class on it, Wordpress is either so simple or so difficult, that I was not able to figure it out.

So, after I finished reading a friend's blog the other day, I clicked on "Create a Blog." This particular blog does allow for design control. I now will have to figure out how to re-direct the blog site on my website to this page... I am sure that bluehost.com will help me figure that out.

I am planning to use this as a forum to talk about photography. This may range in topics from equipment, subject matter, mobile photography, apps, locations, experiments (failed and successful), meetup groups, etc.

This image has no particular significance...
just wanted to use one of my B&W texture shots!



I will not be posting every day, so please check back occassionally. You may even be able to subscribe. Please leave comments, topic suggestions, or let me know if there are any issues with this blog site!