HQ camera and a telescope noob question

[DarkElvenAngel]

Hello everyone,

I have a telescope that was given to me some time ago but I've used it only a handful of times. I was thinking it would be really cool if I could use the new HD camera to take photos of the sky.

The problem is I have zero experience in this and don't even know what I should look for or how to search it.

Is this even something the HD camera can do?

As I said I know next to nothing about this topic, but would like to know if I should give it a try.

[Roland31425]

Yes, the new HQ camera is very good for using on a telescope. First, the sensor is larger than the older models, so your pictures will see almost what you will see with your eyes. Then, with the C-mount, you can much easier attach the camera to the telescope. Guessing that the eye piece has a 1.25 inch size, you should be able to buy a 1.25 inch to C mount adapter for about 15 euro/dollar. I got mine at a local telescope shop, but there are very few of such shops, so if you don't have such a show near by, you should be able to find an adapter online.

On this forum are several telescope enthousiasts, but you'd better search on HQ than on HD

About the telescope, just make sure you get some experience with stargazing in general, without camera. Things like how to find interesting objects, how to follow, you'd like to buy a follower motor that follows the Earth rotation.

I built my PiCam HQ in a small box with a RPi Zero and a DC-DC adapter 12V to 5.25 V, so I can use wifi to connect to a laptop, and have little weight hanging on the telescope, but find it difficult to get streaming software to work. So perhaps you are better off with a long (70 cm) camera cable (flatcable) to a regular RPi with display attached. This is more trouble to attach to the telescope, but perhaps easier to use with simple raspistill commands and the preview display mode for focusing and for directing the scope before shooting images with long exposure times.

Good Luck!

[DarkElvenAngel]

Thanks for your reply and great information!

I fixed my subject line,. I took a closer look at my telescope brushed the dust off the box lol. It comes with two eye pieces one is a 50x the other is 100x they don't have threads they just fit in the end I also have a right angle piece. The OD looks about 3/4" I didn't measure so that's not accurate.

My question is will this still work or is the fact the magnification is in the eye pieces a deal breaker.

I know of a telescope shop in a nearby city it still closed due to COVID19. And I don't know what I'm looking for I tried searching the store for c mount and all manner of items come up none after 6 pages I gave up I think I need more information. Most of these items are more than the price on the box lol.

[DarkElvenAngel]

My daughter is asking to go to the moon since I don't have the hundreds of millions that would cost. I'm looking into the telescope option more.

I measured the I.D. of where the eye piece goes and it's 1inch. The only telescope to C mount adapters I can find are 1.25 inch.

I really don't know much about this topic and since she's a bit young to use the eye piece I thought the camera was a great option.

Any advice for my little astronomer?

Even if I need a better telescope that's okay.

[billgs]

It looks like you have 0.965 inch fitting eyepieces.

0.965 to 1.25 and 1.25 to C mount adapters at reasonable
cost appear on e-bay if you do a google search.

Good luck.

[DarkElvenAngel]

It looks like you have 0.965 inch fitting eyepieces.

0.965 to 1.25 and 1.25 to C mount adapters at reasonable
cost appear on e-bay if you do a google search.

Good luck.

Thank you so much! I couldn't find anything using 1 inch, amazing now I have found the adapter I need.

[DarkElvenAngel]

One question before I place the camera module order, should I buy a lens as well? Is that required to calibrate the focus?

[billgs]

With the camera plus adapters replacing the eyepiece, the telescope objective is the lens.
You will need a monitor to observe if your object is in focus.

[HermannSW]

If you only want to take photos/videos with telescope, no lens is needed.
But if you want to use the HQ camera alone, a lens is required.

[DarkElvenAngel]

Thank you for your insights.

I'm only planning to do astrophotography. So I can get away with just the camera. And then the focus is just done the same as with the eye piece? I read about a focus ring on the module itself I don't have to mess with that?

[HermannSW]

I'm only planning to do astrophotography. So I can get away with just the camera. And then the focus is just done the same as with the eye piece? I read about a focus ring on the module itself I don't have to mess with that?

I am no expert in astrophotography, but I read that you use a "Bahtinov mask" on your telescope to focus.
See thread "HQ Camera and Astrophotography" for details:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=275962

[DarkElvenAngel]

I just received my final adapter for my telescope and I am not sure how to get a good picture. I have it all together and a headless Pi Zero. I am using and app on my phone to view the camera but I'm getting nothing but noise.

Is there a command I can type in to get a good star field shot?

Sorry I have never used the camera module before just now and I think my software is the problem here.

[DarkElvenAngel]

I sorted it out I have a 90 degree adaptor and once I removed it I'm get clear images!

Is this typical? I'm very new with all of this. I learned that this is a refactor telescope, and my software on my phone is basically just a front end for raspistill.

Will this work for taking photos of the moon and stars? What are the best setting to use?

I downloaded the camera book and found it very interesting and helpful.

[DarkElvenAngel]

Though I would update this thread with a happy concussion. We finally got our first moon pictures.

Capture 2020-10-01_20-22-53.jpg (221.75 KiB) Viewed 1236 times

Capture 2020-10-01_20-17-29.jpg (166.82 KiB) Viewed 1236 times

We had to deal with less than ideal cloud conditions but I think they turned out well enough. Sadly our telescope doesn't seem to be powerful enough to get a picture of Mars.

Thanks everyone, for all the advice that made this possible!

[RichShumaker]

I did not use a telescope yet but am looking into it.
I wanted to mention that old 35mm lenses also make good moon gazers.
This is because the sensor crop is 5.5X(rounded down for ease of multuplier). So a 200mm becomes 1100mm add a 2X or 3X multiplier that will double or triple that number.
2 Huge Caveats
1. Make sure to support the lens(I used a rails system with Lens holder) or you will probably snap the Camera Module Mount
2. Get a good tripod mine is bunk and it is hard to use.
Oh and side note if you mount the lens to the tripod as some telephotos come with a mounting point, secure the Pi Camera Module or else it can move.

[Astrodan]

There was a good article in the August 2020 issue of 'Astronomy Now' magazine on just this subject. Geoffrey Lenox-Smith reviews the HQ camera, and does a step-by-step description of how to mount it on a camera, boot it up, test and focus it, and then obtain a very nice image of Copernicus on the moon. He took a ten-second video clip and processed it in Registax.
I scanned the three-page article , but this forum says the images are too big, even as a 408kb jpeg?
If you'd like, I can email them to you.

[Astrodan]

There was a good article in the August 2020 issue of 'Astronomy Now' magazine on just this subject. Geoffrey Lenox-Smith reviews the HQ camera, and does a step-by-step description of how to mount it on a camera, boot it up, test and focus it, and then obtain a very nice image of Copernicus on the moon. He took a ten-second video clip and processed it in Registax.
I scanned the three-page article , but this forum says the images are too big, even as a 408kb jpeg?
If you'd like, I can email them to you.

[BenjaminF]

There was a good article in the August 2020 issue of 'Astronomy Now' magazine on just this subject. Geoffrey Lenox-Smith reviews the HQ camera, and does a step-by-step description of how to mount it on a camera, boot it up, test and focus it, and then obtain a very nice image of Copernicus on the moon. He took a ten-second video clip and processed it in Registax.
I scanned the three-page article , but this forum says the images are too big, even as a 408kb jpeg?
If you'd like, I can email them to you.

Could you email the article to me? "benj aminf og el at yahoo.co.uk", without the spaces and with the at replaced.