I’m supposed to be saving up for a Canon 300D and I’m only about 20% of the way there …. but I saw one on Ebay that was a good buy (included the lens, waterproof bag, manual, battery, charger, 4GB card etc.) so I went for it! Also ordered the t-adapter and t-ring to match. Feel slightly sick at the thought of spending all that money, but I think it’ll be a good investment both for astrophotography and for the digital photography course I start next month! Will keep telling myself that anyway 
After last night’s plantary imaging failure, I decided to look for some tips & tricks for NexImage and came across Quick Guide to Capturing Images with the Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager by Mike Swanson.
After reading it, this is my plan of action for the next clear night when I attempt to capture anything other than the moon:
- Change the frame rate to 5fps
- Set white balance to auto
- Set gain to minimum
- Set gamma to minimum
- Set brightness and saturation to middle
- Set shutter speed to slightly darker than I’d like (I usually do this bit anyway)
- Change output size to 320 x 240 (currently set to 640 x 480 so this will hopefully make a difference)
- Change the frame rate to 20-30fps for focus, then back to 5fps for capture
Those are the instructions in the PDF linked to above, so we’ll see how it goes. Now all I need is another clear night…
I sent off my enrolment forms the other day for two short courses with the Open University: Digital Photography & Introducing Astronomy. The photography course starts next month and the Astronomy course starts in November, so they’ll overlap (both 10 weeks). I’m really excited about it and think the two courses will complement each other nicely!
The skies stayed fairly clear, so I managed to get this picture tonight:
And here’s the video:
We think we also saw Jupiter last night but struggled to get a good clear view of it (and couldn’t get anything more than a fuzzy blob in NexImage). Not sure why that was, as I believe the NexImage is quite capable of capturing Jupiter. Maybe the “seeing” wasn’t good enough last night?
The skies are partly clear at the moment so I’m crossing my fingers that I might be able to get the telescope out tonight, after so many nights of constant rain!
…. it turns out it hasn’t even been POSTED yet!
I ordered it by phone last Friday (28th) and was told they had one in stock and it would go out same day. Still no sign of it on Wednesday, so I gave them a call and they assured me it HAD been posted by Recorded Delivery and to give it a few more days. They said they’d send me the tracking number by email which they didn’t do. So I called them again today after the post had been delivered and it turns out it WASN’T in stock when I ordered it and is only expected to arrive back in stock this afternoon. They’ve said that, if it does indeed arrive today with them, they’ll get it in the post to me today. I’ve asked them to email me when it’s been posted, so HOPEFULLY I’ll get my solar filter soon!
The reducer lens for NexImage that I ordered on Monday arrived safely today, which is great. Unfortunately the solar filter ordered on Friday (from the same company) hasn’t arrived yet, but it’s coming by Royal Mail which explains it! There have been a lot of mail strikes lately (as well as a bank holiday), so that’ll be what’s holding it up. Hopefully it’ll get here soon!
Am saving up for the drive motor (around £125 + postage), currently by doing reviews at DooYoo.com. I’m at £5.50 so far … am estimating it’ll take about 7 weeks at my current earning rate!
Also treated myself to Atlas of the Constellations today, which cost £2 in a bargain bookshop!
I managed to get a quick video of the moon tonight, before it disappeared behind clouds again:
Here’s the whole video recording:
For Edinburgh, UK
31 Aug 2009 – Rise: 18:45, Set 01:05
1 Sep 2009 - Rise: 19:01, Set: 02:20
2 Sep 2009 - Rise: 19:12, Set: 03:37
3 Sep 2009 - Rise: 19:22, Set: 04:54
4 Sep 2009 - Rise: 19:30, Set: 06:11
5 Sep 2009 - Rise: 19:38, Set: 07:27
6 Sep 2009 - Rise: 19:47, Set: 08:45
I’ve just ordered a reducer lens for NexImage, which will double my field of vision – meaning I’ll be able to record more of the moon (or whatever my subject is!) in one shot. Ordered from Telescope Planet again, so fingers crossed they’re quick off the mark! Hopefully should get it in the next few days.
For my readers in the US, the reducer lens is available through Amazon.com: Celestron NexImage Reducer Lens
