photo through a spotting scope ......

[Rich K]

had a spotting scope for christmas and as with all things, options need to be investigated.
Has anyone tried taking a photo through a spotting scope. I've tried this evening with the moon, the scope on a tripod and a dslr on another tripod. Focused the moon with the camera and the scope via the camera eyepiece. Managed a clear picture in the viewfinder............. the results are really poor (see below). I used various settings with shutterspeed ranging from 1/20th sec to 1/4 sec.

is out of focus or blurred due to the amount of inferiour glass in the scope (less than £100)

what are your thoughts?

[JohnS]

Could be down to movement of the moon as well. Most of my sharper ones are around 1/100th or faster. Make sure you use mirror lock up as well on the camera to eliminate any vibrations and use a remote shutter release cable or the timer to ensure everything is stable when the picture is taken.

[mmertens]

1/20, and surely 1/4 is (quite a bit) too long for moon exposures. However, imho the picture looks out of focus more than blurred by movement of the moon. I'd say either your focus is off and/or indeed you're witnessing the quality of your scope. What camera and f-stop did you use?
Maarten

[Rich K]

mmertens said:

What camera and f-stop did you use?

this pic was taken at 1/20 @ f5.6 iso100

mmertens said:

I'd say either your focus is off and/or indeed you're witnessing the quality of your scope.

the viewfinder image was very sharp and clear

JohnS said:

Most of my sharper ones are around 1/100th or faster.

I couldn't get it any faster I was using the largest aperture, the moon is quite small at the moment

JohnS said:

Make sure you use mirror lock up as well on the camera to eliminate any vibrations and use a remote shutter release cable or the timer to ensure everything is stable when the picture is taken.

I dont have a mirror lock on the olympus E500....... I did use the self timer

JohnS said:

Could be down to movement of the moon as well.

yes, I though that as the scope magnification was around 40x its going to move much quicker than with a less powerful lens.

Edited by Rich K on Sunday 9th January 18:30

[DIW35]

Don't think it's the scope unless you got saddled with a duff 'un. I've taken shots of the moon through a scope that only cost £30 that have come out better than that. From what you've posted, I'd say you've got a problem with focusing.

[Rich K]

DIW35 said:

I've taken shots of the moon through a scope that only cost £30 that have come out better than that.

how did you align the camera and scope? I've seen adapters but have no experience of them.

I set my camera focal legnth to around 50mm, focussed the camera as best I could then fine tuned the focus on the scope, via the camera viewfinder.

should I seek an adapter that connects the camera body directly to the scope eliminating the camera lens.

all advice / experiences are welcome

[jr502]

Im new to photography, but have used spotting scopes for other stuff. Depending on the scope you can get camera specific mounts for the camera which should allow a much easier/clearer setup.

[DIW35]

Rich I used an adapter to connect the camera directly to the scope. The scope then effectively becomes your camera lens.

[central]

http://www.digiscopediary.co.uk/

[01101001]

I took this using my Sigma 600mm on the Nikon D300



Large HERE

[Kermit power]

Rich K said:

this pic was taken at 1/20 @ f5.6 iso100

mmertens said:

I'd say either your focus is off and/or indeed you're witnessing the quality of your scope.

the viewfinder image was very sharp and clear

What looks good in the viewfinder frequently doesn't look good on screen, simply because you're seeing it larger, so the problems are more visible.

Rich K said:

JohnS said:

Most of my sharper ones are around 1/100th or faster.

I couldn't get it any faster I was using the largest aperture, the moon is quite small at the moment

Increase the ISO. Under the same conditions, ISO 800 would give you a shutter speed of 1/160th of a second. OK, you might get a fair bit of noise, but it would at least eliminate the movement of the moon from the equation.

JohnS said:

Make sure you use mirror lock up as well on the camera to eliminate any vibrations and use a remote shutter release cable or the timer to ensure everything is stable when the picture is taken.

I dont have a mirror lock on the olympus E500....... I did use the self timer

Yes you do. I believe it's called "Anti-shock" on the E500. You can set a variable length of time between when the mirror moves and when the shutter activates.

Rich K said:

JohnS said:

Could be down to movement of the moon as well.

yes, I though that as the scope magnification was around 40x its going to move much quicker than with a less powerful lens.

It is unlikely that your scope, at that price point, will include "make moon move faster" functionality.

[gary71]

Well, it's better than last nights attempt at a picture of Jupiter and it's moons! My wife's little old Ixus hand held against the eyepiece and hope!

I'm probably going to purchasing a proper adapter to mount onto my SLR for a better attempt! It looked great in the scope...