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cameron


aCameron

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Hi, I am new astrophotography. I have caught a few good ones of the moon. However, I want to learn how to capture the night sky i.e the stars. I have a Canon sx540, any advice on settings etc. I am new to using this kind of device as well as it was a gift. I'm used to using my phone camera so have no idea on how to use a proper camera lol. I would appreciate any advice, tips, settings.. anything. T.I.A

20220117182052_IMG_0366.JPG

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5 minutes ago, aCameron said:

Hi, I am new astrophotography. I have caught a few good ones of the moon. However, I want to learn how to capture the night sky i.e the stars. I have a Canon sx540, any advice on settings etc. I am new to using this kind of device as well as it was a gift. I'm used to using my phone camera so have no idea on how to use a proper camera lol. I would appreciate any advice, tips, settings.. anything. T.I.A

20220117182052_IMG_0366.JPG

You are already on the way, I know that does not help, but I do not think I am the one to help as I am also on the same path albeit a different way.

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Hi and welcome to The Yard. I can not help with your questions as I am not a photographer, but I am sure someone will be along with more advice for you soon.

Nice moon pic🙂

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22 hours ago, aCameron said:

Hi, I am new astrophotography. I have caught a few good ones of the moon. However, I want to learn how to capture the night sky i.e the stars. I have a Canon sx540, any advice on settings etc. I am new to using this kind of device as well as it was a gift. I'm used to using my phone camera so have no idea on how to use a proper camera lol. I would appreciate any advice, tips, settings.. anything. T.I.A

20220117182052_IMG_0366.JPG

I started this hard journey of astrophotography less than one year ago. You will be able to find my old post here.. (and even some decent pictures ) some of them are very long to read but there are all the info you need and what equipment to use/buy. I am not into astrophotography with phone I tried but you can’t take long exposure which is what you really need to get decent images.

 

a couple of things you need is an equatorial mount to avoid star trails during long exposures( every exposure more than 20 sec may have to effected by star trail), a telescope with short focus and a guiding scope. In addition to the above lots of patience and clear sky.

 

I won’t be able to do astrophotography for next month due to personal circumstances but I will be able to assist and help if need. 
 

regards

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Hi, welcome to the forum, free / cheap advice ! take the same picture of the Moon when it's half way through it's phase.

As the sunlight is hitting it at an angle it will show far more detail 🙂

 

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I don't have experience of your particular camera but try using the Superfine image mode. If you are manually pressing the shutter button always use a countdown timer of 5 seconds or more to allow the tripod to stop vibrating - that will get you sharper images. Keep practicing on the moon but you will see more features when its not a full moon👍.

 

You will have to experiment a bit to see if your camera is ok taking pictures of stars. (Some cameras assume stars are just noise and try to tidy the picture up by applying a noise reduction filter). When shooting stars, if the camera has manual control try setting it to the maximum number of seconds it supports, zoom out for the widest shot and take lots of them.

Then you will need some image stacking software (Deepskystacker is good ). This combines all the shots together to make the stars brighter. Then you need image editing software (GIMP) to stretch the image and bring out the fainter stars.

 

If your camera supports remote control from your phone or a PC then it will be easier to take lots of images of the same part of the sky. If you are using remote control you wont need to use the count down timer.

 

Good luck and have fun!

 

 

 

 

 

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