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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RandyDSok" data-source="post: 180527" data-attributes="member: 201">Astrophotography is a fun rabbit hole to go down. You don't even need a telescope to get started, just a decent 200-300mm lens that you can switch into manual focus mode and sturdy tripod and a remote wireless trigger so you don't shake the camera/tripod when you click it to take a pic. Solar photos will also require a 16.5 f stop filter ( that is a ND 100000 ) and a box to put the camera in so most of it is shaded and only the lens is exposed.For the dimmer deep sky objects, you find out what the longest time the lens you use will allow you to take a shot without also producing star trails ( which are also fun in themselves )... and you take several hundred pictures after you get the camera and lens manually focused in... then you use software to stack them together. After the stacking is done, you do what is usually called stretching the exposure... basically just bringing up the exposure level only for the light areas up and not the black areas... and balance   the RGB signals since these wavelengths all focus differently. Cropping into the area of interest is another step in the process..With solar photography using a filter... light levels are never the issue. Just point, adjust your ISO and exposure... and go. During a solar or lunar eclipse, you have to change your exposure time as the event progresses because of the vastly different levels of light through each of the "phases"Some of what I've done can be seen here <a href="https://www.rdsok.net/sun-moon-stars/" target="_blank">Sun, Moon & Stars – Rdsok.net</a> ... and some of my favorites are on my front page here <a href="https://www.rdsok.net/" target="_blank">Rdsok.net – CAPTURING MOMENTS IN TIME</a>Manual focusing is tough and when doing fine work with stars, the Sun/Moon etc... fiddley at best. I will use my rear screen for this for the most part and change the focus back and forth "a million times" to get my lens to finally settle into the focus I want. My wireless monitoring of the focus is terrible on my camera, so I'll take some test shots when I think I've got it, turn off the camera and take out the memory card... then look at the results on my computer. If your camera has a focus assist mode where it magnifies the image, use it during focusing. Rinse and repeat as needed. Bumping the tripod and the wind will cause out of focus shots all of the time. If your camera uses a mirror to switch between the eye piece and the sensor, lock it up so it is sensor only to limit the vibrations that may cause.  The required post-processing is almost as tedious but when you get a shot you like, it's well worth the effort in the end of getting something you can be proud of... it just takes a lot of time and practice.Using an actual telescope with tracking and all of that... consists of all of that plus the telescope stand setup procedures needed for a proper polar alignment. Additionally you'd also need a T-ring adapter with a tube the right length to place your camera sensor at the focal point of the telescope lens. Adapter lens like focal reducers can also help by giving you a wider angle shot as well as making the telescope "faster" so your shots don't require as long of an exposure. I believe most newer scopes include or can have as an option, computer controls on them to help with star tracking etc.</blockquote>

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