My first moon photo

alvinsclee · Post by **alvinsclee** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:57 pm

Hi,
This waxing crescent moon photo was taken at about 10:30pm on Thursday 1 June 2006, through the West-facing window of my home (picture re-sized to fit attachment limits in this post).

It was taken though my 80mm refractor scope using afocal method. The image magnification was fixed at about 18.75 times. Camera was handheld directly over a 32mm eyepiece (hence you can see motion blur in the picture). Again, I was using an ordinary point-and-shoot digital camera (Olympus Camedia C-750) set at manual exposure of ISO 50, f/3.2, 1/20 seconds.

I am glad it turned out not too bad in this handheld afocal photography for a beginner like me. Will try a proper camera mount next time (it was too late for me to set up camera mount because the moon was fast setting below line of sight behind some tall buildings).

simei-sky · Post by **simei-sky** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:29 pm

I just came back from seeing the cresent moon, beautiful isn't it?

Post by **weixing** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:38 pm

Hi,
If you are using hand held next time, may be you can try to use a high ISO, so that you can use a very short exposure... this will minimize the hand shake moment.

Anyway, a proper mounting of the camera, like the "SteadyPix Universal Camera Mount" will help a lots.

Have a nice day.

alvinsclee · Post by **alvinsclee** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:39 pm

Hi Ivan,
Yes it was a beautiful sight.... so I took out my scope to have a closer look. I also thought that it would be the right time to take a photo of the moon because this is the time where the details will show well (full moon is not quite a good time to see the surface details clearly).

alvinsclee · Post by **alvinsclee** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:45 pm

Hi Weixing,
Ya, I should have tried higher ISO values. But I was taking the photo in a rush without checking my camera ISO setting... until after the shot was taken, then did I read the setting info from the camera.

By the time I prepare to try higher ISO, part of the visual path had been cut off by the buildings. I did not want to take that pic... I reckoned that I can always try again next time.

Yes, I have that Orion SteadyPix mount... yet to try it out.

boothee · Post by **boothee** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 2:12 pm

Dear Alvin,

We all have to start start from somewhere. I'm sure you will get better picture if you use your Orion mount.

Very good first photo!

I attached my first photo captured though my scope with Sony Ericsson phone camera. Don't laugh.

Cheers!!!

;O)
boothee

Post by **weixing** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 2:16 pm

Hi,

I attached my first photo captured though my scope with Sony Ericsson phone camera. Don't laugh.

Not bad... not bad... that's quite a nice image for a phone camera...

Have a nice day.

boothee · Post by **boothee** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 2:38 pm

Oh! Thank you for your comment !!!

Should I continue my Phone Cam Astrophotography ?

Actually it took almost over an hour to get that image!

Cheers !!!

boothee

alvinsclee · Post by **alvinsclee** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 11:08 pm

Haha boothee... you just started a new trend... Phonecam Astrophotography (PCA).

Who knows, PCA may one day be as popular as Webcam Astrophotography now.

Cheers to boothee, 'inventor' of PCA.

jermng · Post by **jermng** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 12:26 am

Nice phone pic Boothee ...

Alvin, there have been lots of people who have used/tried to use camera phones to take astro photos ... some have even gone beyond experimental.

I've even seen pics of Nokia phones stuck to EPs with custom adapters ... hee hee ...