Not The Dark Side of the Moon

Unlike yesterday's astrophoto which was shot through a telescope, this image was done with a 70-200 and a 2x multiplier. with a shutter speed of 1/500th. The ISO was moved up to 1600 - better a little noise than a little camera shake.

The lens combo is a pretty heft rig to hold steady but it seemed to work ok. What would make it better? A tripod with mirror lockup. This image is also cropped considerably to fill the frame. You are only seeing 1/25th of the original pixels. Good thing I had 10 million to start with, eh?

1/500 f/5.6 ISO 1600 EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x @ 385 mm Canon EOS 40D

Mauan Kea,Hawaii

Here Comes the Sun

I've always wanted to try telescope-based astrophotography. I have resisted because I know that to get the kinds of results I want will require a lot of practice, travel and money. Not that those things are a particular barrier it is just that I have too man things all competing for the same resources.
I did get my chance while we were at the Mauna Kea visitor centre. They had a large telescope set up and fitted with filters for solar viewing. I grabbed my point-and-shoot, went into macro mode and grabbed this solar portrait. Admittedly it is not a great picture. There is only so much I am willing to do with a line of people behind me. If it is your own gear you can get adapters that allow you to fit some point and shoot cameras to a telescope. You can do the same thing with a SLR camera using a T-adapter in place of your lens and the telescopes eyepiece.

P.S. Thanks for the post yesterday from my guest blogger, Ashok. I will have to add the NY botanical garden to my places to see in New York.

1/8 f/3.3 ISO 400 @ 4.9 mm DMC-TS1

Mauan Kea,Hawaii