Weasner's Olympus Astrophotography Page

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH THE MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAS

Last updated: 26 June 2002

This page documents Minolta digital camera models comments, tips, and photos. Search the site for "minolta" for other items about the Minolta digital cameras. Contributions welcome.

Subject:	Dimage 7
Sent:	Monday, February 11, 2002 16:41:47
From:	joek@callback.net (JoeK@callback.net)
Great website , hope to contribute to it soon. I am using the Minolta
Dimage 7 with the Digi-T and the MaxiView 40 adapter and am still
getting a lot of vinetting, would this have anything to do with the
picture size setting on the camera? I was set for the max size, I looked
at ScopeTronix's site and his examples are not close to what I am
getting. His center shot using the 26 MM is what I see with the MaxiView
40 . Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks for your time.

Joe Kazup
Callback Network
http://www.callback.net

Mike here: I'm not familiar with this camera but if it has a zoom or macro capability, you may be able to reduce the vignetting by zooming in or setting it to the macro mode.

And:

Afetr I sent you the last email I went and did a test with using a lower
size 1200 x 800 and also 640 x 480 made no difference at all. At this
time I am at a loss, the MaxiView can't get any closer than it is to the
Diamge 7 lens. Please see example photo of a light switch in my kitchen.
Any ideas you may have would be much appericated.

Mike here: Changing the resolution from 1200x800 to 640x480 won't have any affect on the image being projected on the camera's focal plane. The problem is that the focus of the eyepiece is too far from the camera lens. That's why zooming or using a macro mode can help.

And:

I have tried both zoom and macro settings but the usable image size
stays the same.

Subject:	Shot with the Dimage 7
Sent:	Wednesday, February 20, 2002 13:05:20
From:	joek@callback.net (JoeK@callback.net)
Here is my latest photo using the Dimage 7 from Minolta, it was shot
with the ETX125 and the D7 was set to F8 , ISO 100  , 1/45 , 2X digital
zoom , then I did a contrast adjust in Photoshop.

Joe Kazup
Callback Network
http://www.callback.net

Subject:	New Pic
Sent:	Saturday, March 2, 2002 22:37:22
From:	joek@callback.net (Joe Kazup)
Here is the new pic for you.



Click for full size image


Here is a sun shot , using the Dimage 7 , MaxiView 40 , ETX 125 , Solar
Filter , f3.5 1/500 ISO 100 . Notice the 2 nice sets of sunspots.





Joe

Subject:	sun gallery
Sent:	Sunday, April 14, 2002 4:29:53
From:	strider@fsmail.net
PLEASE FIND ATTACHED ONE OF MANY ATTEMPTS AT SOLAR PHOTOGRAPHY WITH MY
NEW DIGITAL CAMERA A MINOLTA S304 I SET THE CAMERA AT AUTOMATIC THIS
PICTURES WAS TAKEN IN THE BACKYARD OF MY HOUSE WITH MY MEADE ETX 125 AND
A 25 MM EYEPIECE I JUST HELD THE CAMERA TO THE EYEPIECE AND TOOK THE
PICTURE IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN NORTH YORKSHIRE AND THE PICTURES OF
THE SUN SPOTS MADE THE DAY I HOPE THIS WILL BE PLACED IN WITH THE
COLLECTION OF THE GUEST SOLAR PICTURES ON YOUR BRILLIANT WEBSITE.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH STEVEN JAMES

(ps thanks for the best etx website on the net, hope fully the
attachment is one thankyou)

Subject:	Vignetting problems.
Sent:	Sunday, June 23, 2002 2:26:47
From:	spacia@austarnet.com.au (David)
I have a new Minolta DiMage5 digital camera which I am using for
astrophotography, particularly the moon.

I purchased a Scopetronix Digi-T ring assembly which allows for rigid
coupling of the camera to an eyepiece.

The problem I have encountered is that vignetting is quite dominant. I
have experimented using different size eyepieces and found that either
my 17mm Celestron or Meade 26mm Series 4000 ep's give close to
acceptable results. The instructions that came with the Digi-T ring
suggest using macro mode on the camera. In fact, this turns out to be
the worst setting. I have to leave the lens set to wide angle (this
camera is like an SLR) and then set the camera to 2X electronic zoom to
get an image that will 'fit' in the small area left available by the
vignetting. This problem seems to be worst when I want to take shots of
the moon (I guess its angular size is the real problem).

Also, unless I very carefully balance the telescope's focus and the
camera's focus , a black spot appears in the middle of the image. The
spot is the secondary mirror on my 8" reflector intruding into the
image. (see attached image).

Is it normal for a digital camera to have a narrow field of view when
coupled to an eyepiece in this way?

I have tried coupling the camera to a 2x barlow lens (without an ep
attached), but this makes focusing impossible as the magnification is
too low. This problem occurs on both my ETX90EC or my 8"/F4 eq. mounted
telescope.

Any help much appreciated!!!!!

Cheers,

David Tindall
Buderim,Queensland, Australia.

Mike here: The problem is likely that the eyepiece and cameras lens distance is too great (the general cause of vignetting and potentially the central spot). I can't speak for the DiMage5 specifically but with digital cameras I have used I always focus the eyepiece to my eye, focus the camera lens to infinity, and zoom the camera lens to reduce the vignetting. Many times that is the full 3X zoom of my Nikon Coolpix 995. You mentioned trying a Barlow Lens without an eyepiece; that won't work unless you can remove your camera's lens and project the image directly onto the camera's imager. Using the Moon as your target, try just focusing the eyepiece to your eye and hold the camera lens over the eyepiece to see what you see on the camera. Play with the zoom. Once you see what works best THEN use the Digi-T.

And:

Thanks for your speedy reply Mike.
I'll try your suggestions next chance I get to do some observing.

Regards,
David.

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