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I have just experienced one of the more
frustrating lunar photography sessions of my short life and have a couple of
questions about the whole experience.
I have been using an 8" Meade
LX-200 and a Canon ELAN II (35mm SLR) doing prime focus (camera mounted directly
to the telescope with out an eye peice) and am finaly starting to get some good
results (for your viewing pleasure some of the more recent shots can be found at
http://www.manetheren.net/night). Focusing was a little off at first, and then I had some
issues with camera shake (the mirror wasn't tripping up prior to shooting) but
finaly worked those out.
So I figure I'm ready to try some eyepeice
projection. I throw in a 26mm super plossl (f/28.4), and right off the bat
I notice I can't find that "sweet spot" in the focus where everything is crystal
clear. As my camera's meter is fairly sensitive, I bracket some of these
shots on focus instead of shutter speed.
Then I decide to go for the gusto and throw in a
teleview 4.8mm Nagler (f/198.5). I couldn't even come close to getting
things in focus. Same results with my 9.7mm Super Plossl (f/94.3).
Everything is just a fuzzy gray and brown blur. I tried extending my
tele-extender all the way out and all the way back in. Didn't make a
diffrence.
I guess what I'm realy wondering is if those
focal ratios (and attendant maginifcations) are simply beyond the ability of my
scope and camera to handle.
Thanks,
Scott
"God does not play dice with the universe; He
plays an ineffible game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the
perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and
complex version of poker in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite
stakes, with a dealer who will not tell you the rules, and smiles all the time."
-- Gaiman and Pratchett
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