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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New to Astrophotography (1 Viewer)

Paul Corfield said:
Download something like irfanview which is a free photo editing program. Crop the photo with the software if you want to show something in closer detail. http://www.irfanview.com/

Paul.
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Thanks Paul.

Please see attached photos for your comment and advice. By the way, how do you guys avoid colour fringing as you can see its quite bad on the first photo? I was told APO lenses works wonder but I still get it. Putting on filters (May be one help, I think!) will bring down the light and slower shutter speed.

TBC
 

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Those photos were with the Televue 85? Was it alone or with TCs? There's lots of CA on that first photo.
Also the contrast seems to lack a bit.

Amazing birds in your part of the world, that first bird made me jealous, beautiful creature :)

For a good editing app I have to recommend the Gimp, it's free and very very capable...it's what I use for everything photo related, except noise reduction.
 
FernandoBatista said:
Those photos were with the Televue 85? Was it alone or with TCs? There's lots of CA on that first photo.
Also the contrast seems to lack a bit.

Amazing birds in your part of the world, that first bird made me jealous, beautiful creature :)

For a good editing app I have to recommend the Gimp, it's free and very very capable...it's what I use for everything photo related, except noise reduction.
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Thanks Fernando,

Yes it's the TV-85 and I am using with Kenko 1.4 TC. I am baffled by the CA as well and also can't seemed to get sharp pics as displayed by the others.
 
There’s indeed too much CA for such a scope, although I never used one, but that’s a highly regard scope, it should be at least on par with the ED80, and no way my ED80 would have that much CA, TC or no TC. That’s surprising to say the least.

About the sharpness, it’s hard to judge real sharpness by those sizes, still it’s clear than in some of them their focused in the wrong place (not the bird), the first two appears to be right, but the other three seems off to me (3 and 4 in front of the bird and the last behind the bird), still the parts that are focused seem sharp even at this size.

Also there’s the contrast bit, the contrast appears too low. Specially on the 2nd and 4th photos, that also hurts perceived sharpness. Why is it so low? Is it from the scope itself? Or the adapter you’re using?

Try id’ing why part is hurting the contrast and solve it, that will help with how your photos looks and will also help you focussing, as you’ll see better.
 
In the first image the brightness looks very blown out on the sky so I guess some CA was going to be present as the brightness is quite extreme. Like Fernando says I think it would be less on the ED80. The ED80 is one of those little gems, if the build quality was better it would be up there with some of the better scopes for sure. The CA isn't really present in the other images so I don't think it's a problem to worry about. Try and photograph with the sun behind you where possible and this will give the best image quality. Early morning and late afternoon sun are generally best.

With the second image it looks like the cameras white balance has gone off a bit and given the whole image a blue cast. In some instances, especially in sunny conditions it can be better to go for one of the manual settings for white balance and this can control the overall blue cast much better.

The fourth image has low contrast, maybe the sun was coming from the side or slightly into the lens and washing out the image?

The other two look like they are in darker conditions. I'd go for mirror lock up and cable release and maybe refocus every couple of shots just to be sure the focus was right. I pretty much refocus every shot anyway just out of habit and that way I get many more keepers.

Don't know if you shoot in RAW or not but that is a better way to get image quality out of the photo. The cameras built in jpeg mode will generally rob a lot of the detail in its compression.

Paul.
 
Thanks for all advice. I guess my eyesight, technique, knowledge is the problem trying to focus manually. Sometimes I try to focus on the glint on the bird's eye to get focus but somehow it might be too small or too dark to get a good look. Today I went back to the field again and discovered I have been trying to compensate brightness / darkness using the exposure compensation and forgotten all about adjusting the shutter speed since I set the mode to shutter priority.

Is it true that astrophotography with telescope in our case, we can't set the mode in Aperture priority since we are having fixed aperture? What mode are you guys on anyway?

TBC
 
Some of the practice shots I took yesterday. Comments welcomed.

Resized only, no PP done.
 

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Not bad as far as sharpness goes but they lack a lot of contrast. I've processed a few of them to how I would would do my own just to give an idea where you can improve.

Are you shooting in RAW or jpeg mode? RAW will let you get more from the image but even with a jpeg you can do some improvements to get better contrast. RAW will require more powerful software but there are some free ones around that are ok.

For your other post about camera settings, I always shoot in full manual mode. The only setting that changes is the shutter speed and I set that based on the light meter in the viewfinder. Use centre weighted or spot metering so that the camera gets a better idea on what the scope is seeing.

Paul.
 

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Paul,

I shoot in jpeg. As for the contrast you've mentioned, is there any adjustments to the whole / partial setup or camera internal settings that can be adjusted or only through post processing? Metering is set at centre weighted.
 
IMO you have an issue with internal reflection somewhere in your setup, I don’t know if it’s on the OTA itself or the camera adapter.
It could be just a processing issue, but some images appear to suffer more from it than others so I suspect the problem is the equipment itself, as the ones that show less contrast appears to be those with some kind of side lightning.

I’d look at inside the scope with a strong flash light and look for reflections (don’t use the sun though ;) ) and fix them. It may well be the tube itself as the TV85 has a single baffle and is not flocked inside, only the dew shield AFAIK.

I actually flocked my ED80 from end to end with protostar paper to prevent this, the difference after flocking was amazing, I can shoot with very strong backlight and the contrast is really good still.
 
I thought the same and it certainly looks like reflections are getting in somewhere as all the photos are washed out to varying degrees.

Had a look around the web and this site says the TV85 internally has a flat black textured covering. http://www.televue.co.uk/tv85.htm

If it's not the scope then it's possible that either the extension tube or the camera adapter is shiny black inside or maybe if the extension tube has some bare chrome that is catching the light. It doesn't take much of a reflection to cause what you are suffering from.

Paul.
 
Thanks Fernando & Paul,

Now that you have mentioned the reflective internals, I went to take a look and the likelihood seems to be the anodized black surface of the extension tube internal although there are threaded. I will masked them up and try again. Does the reflective lights have an impact on contrast?

tbc
 
Yes, any stray light or internal reflections will have a big impact on contrast. It's something I've played around with a lot and sounds as though Fernando has too by flocking the whole scope internally. I sent off for some flat black sticky back flock paper this morning to have a go at lining my scope internally. I'll also line my scope adapter and macro tubes with it too.

Paul.
 
I think i'll do the same !

Where on earth do you get black flocked adhesive paper ? I've never heard of the stuff
 
I got mine on ebay at £1.99 for 5 sheets A4 size which I though was good value. Postage was £1.25 but I ordered two packs and saved on postage. The paper arrived within 2 days and it's a nice dark flat black. I found it's not all that sticky though and it would need a stronger adhesive applied first, especially on say the inside of the scope where you wouldn't want it peeling off.

Ebay auction for black flock here.

Paul.
 
Paul Corfield said:
I got mine on ebay at £1.99 for 5 sheets A4 size which I though was good value. Postage was £1.25 but I ordered two packs and saved on postage. The paper arrived within 2 days and it's a nice dark flat black. I found it's not all that sticky though and it would need a stronger adhesive applied first, especially on say the inside of the scope where you wouldn't want it peeling off.

Ebay auction for black flock here.

Paul.
Click to expand...

I found the same seller before you posted Paul, and got the same paper. Arrived today.

I have a few reels of thin double sided adhesive tape, so this might be the answer for that flock paper lacking any stickyness.

I wont be able to attach mine for a few days, as i'm having to move house today and tomorrow and will be tied up with all the trauma of moving lock stock and barrel
 
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