· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Astrophotography and Sketching >> Beginning and Intermediate Imaging Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 cphk96 member Reged: 11/01/07 Loc: North Hollywood, CA Newbie has many questions to ask.       #5528064 - 11/19/12 02:14 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hello All I purchased a Canon t3 about a year ago, and I took a couple of general photography classes. Now I would like to use my camera for astronomy, but don't have a clue. I would like to do star trails, also planets and bright stars without a telescope. I want to photograph the moon. Later, I would like to start using a telescope. What would be some good books that would address shooting the night sky without a telescope, then progress to utilizing a telescope? Also, what adapter would I use for a Meade LXD55 6" refractor and a Celestron Nexstar 4"? TIA Chris Post Extras:       Mike Wiles scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 02/04/09 Loc: Goodyear, AZ Re: Newbie has many questions to ask. [Re: cphk96]       #5528086 - 11/19/12 02:29 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   http://astropix.com/BGDA/INTRO.HTM Post Extras:       gavinm Pooh-Bah Reged: 08/26/05 Loc: Auckland New Zealand Re: Newbie has many questions to ask. [Re: Mike Wiles]       #5528718 - 11/19/12 08:15 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Star Trails are easy and only need a tripod, some way of triggering the shutter and some software, eg http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html Post Extras:       Phil Sherman Pooh-Bah Reged: 12/07/10 Loc: Cleveland, Ohio Re: Newbie has many questions to ask. [Re: gavinm]       #5529262 - 11/20/12 01:12 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Planets will not be possible with just a camera. They're small objects and usually require something longer than 3000mm for a decent sized image. A 400mm lens should give you a full moon image that's a bit less than half the size of the short dimension of the frame. The simplest way to get star images is to use a short focal length lens and a "barn door" mount. You can build the mount with simple hand tools for a bit less than $10. It should easily allow you to take 30-60 second exposures. You'll want to get a copy of Registax to allow you to stack images. Do some research on the web and learn about lights, darks, flats, flat darks and bias frames. Photoshop is a great program for applying finishing touches to astro images but isn't the best tool to use for initial processing. Registax is an astro tailored program which easily does all of the things that Photoshop was never designed to do. Other software, much cheaper than Photoshop is available that will do just about everything. Pixinsight is one, ImagesPlus another. IRIS, a freebee from government research is also available but it has a user interface that's alien to anyone who hasn't spent lots of time doing scientific image analysis. Phil Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 8 registered and 18 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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