My first moon pics.

Here a a few of my first moon photos using my new camera,with scope attached.
The camera is a Canon 550d,connected to my Meade 125pe ETX scope.

To connect scope and camera,I am using one half of the Meade #64 adaptor(bought 2nd hand,one half is cross threaded and unusable).

These pics were taken mid afternoon today,in bright sunlight,so they are a bit pasty to say the least.
It always seems to cloud over in the evenings at the moment,which is pretty frustrating,but that's Wales for you..
Natural colours:

Monochrome:

higher ISO:

Higher contrast:


I know I could do better with clear night skies,and a different adaptor to connect the scope and camera,but this is a start.

Thanks for looking,you can see big versions here:
s1167.photobucket.com...

Edit:Hmm,the pics have not displayed properly-you can only see a chunk of them here.Check the above link to see the whole pics.

Cool that you can get so close to it, wonder how it would look like if you would use that camera in that area where you can see the size of the moon as large as your eye view. How much does your camera cost?

Thanks for sharing. Those are very nice.

Those are amazing! You have made me even more excited to start saving for some equipment of my own

I heard the best time to photograph the moon is at a half-moon, because you get the best detail along the shadows? I don't know if that is correct or not though. Those pics look roughly half-moonish to me and the detail is quite nice. Good work!

Off-topic:
A helpful hint for those wanting to quickly view the full images (without the crop), just right click on an image and click 'open image in new tab'. Saw that tip posted a while back and wanted to pay it forward.

reply to post by ImaMuslim


The camera was just short of £400
Its cheaper than what I would have paid for the UK version,as I got the Japanese version.
Same camera,only difference is my version only has English and Japanese language options,as opposed to the euro version,which has lots more languages.

It does HD video as well,so soon I will try to make a short movie of the moon,weather permitting.

Thanks for looking!

Originally posted by dyllels
Those are amazing! You have made me even more excited to start saving for some equipment of my own

I heard the best time to photograph the moon is at a half-moon, because you get the best detail along the shadows? I don't know if that is correct or not though. Those pics look roughly half-moonish to me and the detail is quite nice. Good work!

Off-topic:
A helpful hint for those wanting to quickly view the full images (without the crop), just right click on an image and click 'open image in new tab'. Saw that tip posted a while back and wanted to pay it forward.

Yeah full moons can be a pain as they have a heck of a lot more sunlight reflecting from them,so its harder to get good crisp detail.
I am quite pleased with what I got today in bright daylight-I thought there would be a lot less detail.
Can't wait for a clear night though.

Thanks for the viewing cropped pictures tip-it works.Think its "view image" for firefox browsers.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


Silcone Synapse,
Wow! Thank you for sharing your first moon pictures! & wow are they beautiful! Oh how I love the moon and respect the fellow admirers. Thank you for posting these great pictures of our Lunar counterpart.
Post any more you snap! If you dont mind me asking what camera you use, I will re-read incase someone already asked!

pretty cool, thats a nice little setup you have to experiment

Thanks for the positive replies folks,I hope I will be able to repay your kindness with some better pics soon.
I am going to try my best to get a video uploaded to youtube by the end of today,using the camera's HD video mode.
But I have a dodgy PC,and my internet connection is awful,so it may take a day or two.

reply to post by Katharos62191

Thanks Katharos
Heres a pic of my rig:

Meade ETX125pe telescope.

Half a #64 meade T adaptor.

Canon eos T ring.

Canon eos 550d/Kiss X4



The #64 Meade adapter only allows two focal lengths-you can unscrew a third of it,which is the bit I am using.
With the other two thirds I could get a better zoom,but mine was 2nd hand and is badly cross threaded as I mentioned.
Soon,I will buy a Meade variable projection camera adapter,which will allow me to use the telescope's eye piece lens and filters as well,to achieve a much greater zoom range and better focus(I hope).

astronomy.customer.netspace.net.au...

OK folks-Update time.
Good and bad news.

Good news-Got the moon in good focus all ready to make a movie.
Bad news-Battery indicator flashing red.
Attempt movie anyway.
No worky.Battery auto off...

Extra good news-
Turn the camera back on in picture mode and tried a quick single shot and got the best pic I have yet taken I think.

Then battery failed.
So no movie until tomorrow I am sorry to say.

Any how here is my best effort yet,5pm North Wales-still daylight,but deeper blue sky:

Please use right click, "view image" or"open in new tab to view the whole photo,or you will see nothing.

Used monochrome with 1 less on the brightness setting.



Still not as good as it could be,but I am happy with this one.
Dang frustrated about my battery though,I wanted to try my first moon movie tonight.
Oh well another time..

Lastly,here is a photo my Brother took of my scope getting aligned with the Moon:



Here is the scope with the moon visible in the camera viewfinder.
My Bro is much better at digital photography than I am-I was trained on that old school stuff they call "film."
So its good to have my bro help me with digital advice.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


You can almost see my house

Thats a pretty mean lens, whats the focal lenght on that lol

reply to post by jesiaha


The focal length is 1900mm with an f15 ratio.


Last night I got a chance to film the moon using my cameras "super zoom" function-It crops the image to 640x480,@50fps,allowing a kind of digital zoom.

It really works well,with mountains and shadows in full view on the moons surface.
I am trying to get it on you tube,but need my bro's help to edit the footage first-I will try to get him to help me this evening.

Trouble is the files are big,upto approx 100mb...not sure if I am allowed to upload such big files to YT..will have to find out.

Until then,here are three screen shots of the film I took last night:

Right click,view image or open in new tab to see the full pics!







Weather permitting,I will be aiming for Mars tonight and the next few days,as its at its closest to Earth for the year.
Thanks for looking!

Great pics, I'd be proud if I took them. I especially like the close up moon with the blue sky surround. It's different from the same old, same old, jet black we're so used to.

Where'd you get the 550d for £400? I'm after the 60d but price is putting me off.

reply to post by wigit


Hey thanks Buddy!
I am sort of getting proud of the pics,but I need to do better-and tonight the target is Mars hopefully.

Its more the technology doing the job than my ability at this point,but in time I hope to get better.


Edit: Oh the camera,Its called the Kiss x4(Japanese version of the 550D,identical except it only has Japanese and English Language menus).

Ebay my friend..

www.ebay.co.uk... _DigitalCameras_JN&_pcategid=31388&_pcatid=802&_refkw=canon+kiss+x4&_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A6003&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Thank for the tip. I think I will go the ebay route. Argos is selling it for about £200 more than the likes of DigitalRev on ebay, even though DR have bumped their prices up about £60 since Christmas. Did you have to pay duty when your camera was delivered? I'm hoping I can dodge that.

Looking forward to your Mars pics. And did I read recently Mercury is bright this month?

reply to post by wigit


Oh,my mistake I posted a hong kong link.
I meant this Ebay seller,although this page is for the body of the camera without the standard lens.

www.ebay.co.uk... as_JN&hash=item43adc770e8

Sorry for the confusion,you would have to pay duty on the hong kong link,so disregard it.

Where've you been hiding these pics! They're jaw droppingly beautiful!



I love the moon. Just love it!

Ohhhhh weeeeeeeeeee! I have a new favorite thread!



Thank you Sil! Peace!

reply to post by silo13


Hehe,Thanks!

I've not been hiding the pics though-they were all taken in the last 4 days,as I have only just managed to get my scope connected to the camera.

More to follow-Tried for Mars last night,but the clouds would not let me..
Maybe I will have better luck this evening.

The Moon...It is good to us

We Like The Moon