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Last updated: 24 December 2003
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Last updated: 24 December 2003 |
This page documents Sony digital cameras comments, tips, and photos. Search the site for "Sony" for other items about the Sony digital cameras. Contributions welcome.
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Subject: sony Mavica cd-200 Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2001 7:57:04 From: ryord@att.net (Rick Yord) This is Rick Yord I have been an amature astronomer for many almost 25 years, I use your sight as a reference quite a bit. Thanks I have a question for you. I just bought the new sony cd-200 mavica with 37mm thread. I was wondering If there is anyway to do long bulb exposures with it. Also what would you recommend as the best adabptor for thru the occular photography thanks for a usfull and enjoyable site. Rick YordMike here: I don't know how the Sony does "B" exposures. As to mounting the camera to the telescope, see the Accessory Reviews - Astrophotography page. If there is a 37mm ring for the Sony then the Scopetronix Digi-T System could work for you.
Subject: From Another Newbie Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2001 9:18:48 From: twopipers@home.com (george lilley) Well as many others I received an ETX-70 for Christmas, and have almost become a true night owl over the holidays. After the expected pilot errors I was able to master the alignment and the telescope performed just as advertised. I viewed a post on your page about through lens photography and thought I'd share my novice results. First after aligning the ETX-70 my first victim was the Moon. There was no problem seeing that, it was almost blinding. I attached my Sony FD Mavica w/ 10X zoom digital camera to a second tripod and positioned the lens over the eyepiece. I then verified the focus on the camera's screen and adjusted the telephoto on the camera to get the shot I wanted. To eliminate wobble by touching the camera, I used the timer on the camera which allowed all the movement to stop. I know my results are probably not WebPages quality but I'm pretty happy with the results. I have attached two of the what I thought were the best shots. I have ordered the barlow 2X and 3X lenses to hopefully achieve a little more size to Jupiter and Saturn. I am also looking forward to getting a T-adapter to attach my SLR, and reading everything I can about exposure timing and film speed. All I can say is thanks so much for your page, it helped my choose my first Telescope and guess you can tell, I'm hooked. George L. Centerville GA See Our Band Web Page At: http://www.members.home.net/cfdpd/index.html
Subject: Addition to Guest Astrophotography Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 12:07:28 From: sturnmeyer@adelphia.net (Scott Turnmeyer) First of all, I want to thank you for such a great website. I have been researching a telescope purchase over the past few months, and your site has been invaluable in my information gathering. Attached is my first astrophotography trial of the sun, taken as soon as I got everything hooked up(I can't wait until tonight). This picture was taken January 17, 2002 at 1:00pm EST. I am using an ETX-105EC with a 40mm Super Plossl eyepiece and a Scopetronix Thread On Solar Filter. The image was taken with a Sony Cybershot DCS-50 digital camera using the Scopetronix EX-Pix Digital Camera Holder. Thanks again for the great site. Scott Turnmeyer
Subject: Moon pictures 1/3 Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2002 4:29:19 From: mikaelr@hotmail.com (Mikael R) Used my ETX-90EC w/Meade 26mm eyepice and a Sony Cybershot 3.3 Megapixel for these pictures. This is my first "real" pictures I've taken through my ETX.
Subject: my first astrophoto's
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 13:33:36
From: garyc183@comcast.net
I have always wanted to take photo's of the moon and sun etc.and already
had a digital camera.So I bought a digi-t from scopetronix (very easy to
use) and a solar filter from Orion and this afternoon I took my first
shot of the sun. The only trouble I had was focusing the telescope and
looking in the 1.8 in LCD on the camera. It's very hard to tell when the
picture is sharp. I had to unscrew the camera and look through the meade
25mm lens focus then put the camera back on. I think it will be easier
to see the LCD at night when I take photo's of the moon. I used the
sony cybershot 1.3 megapixel camera.
Gary Copestake
Subject: FULL MOON Picture 2/28/02 Audley Yung Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 21:03:05 From: goldeni245@hotmail.com (Audley Yung) Hey, I love your website. I just bought an ETX 70mm. Check out this picture, I used a Sony 3.3 mp camera with a 9mm lense.
Subject: Updates ETX70AT Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 20:28:40 From: ed.fides.carlos@comcast.net (Carlos Family) I figured out how to use my Sony P3 digital camera. My first photo of Jupiter was just a smudge of colors. The rest were unusable because my hand were really shaking and when I click on the camera as expected it would move. I tried on the new moon(+couple of days) but it was too bright. Recently, I read about some techniques from your site about using the self timer. I tried it the other night with the filters, it worked. I was finally able to get a good picture of the moon and pictures of Jupiter (see attached). It was windy and I think there was a lot of atmospheric turbulence because it still had glare even with the filters. Either that or it's the autofocus. I could not figure out how to do that with my camera (until today). I know it's very amatuerish but hey I'm not a photographer either. It is fun though. By the way my setup was my Sony P3 was mounted on a Vanguard tripod. The tripod was behind the scope tripod and adjusted to fit the camera lens right on top of the eyepiece. Regards Ed
Subject: picture of moon Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 2:07:54 From: CF57UK1@aol.com here is my first picture of the moon well good one any way. taken with a sony digital camera. dsc p50 i am having a bit of trouble have you any tips. thanks christopher uk
Subject: Astro Photos Sent: Monday, September 2, 2002 01:57:44 From: michael@bigtopmusicinc.com (Michael) I just bought a ScopeTronix Digi-T for my ETX-70 and Sony P50 digital camera, and I would like you to help me share my first attempts at astrophotography with the rest of the people who visit your site. Please publish the following website: http://www.bigtoprocks.com/AstroPix.htm Hope everyone enjoys my pictures, and takes a minute or two to check out the rest of my site. Thanks, Michael Harman ps: Love your website; I have learned soooooo much visiting your site!
Subject: Photos of Moon and Saturn Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 0:41:42 From: liquid@mediaone.gr (Dimitris Rakopoulos) Congradulations on your work on this excellent site. It is always fun to read and a great resource for information regarding the ETX. I have attached the first images I took using my ETX90EC with a Scopetronix Digi-T Adapter for a Sony DSC-S70. All images are taken using the Meade Super Plossl 40mm eyepiece. Best regards. Keep up the perfect work. Dimitris Rakopoulos liquid@mediaone.gr
Focal Length: 16mm, F-Number: F/2,4, Exposure Time 1/30sec., ISO Speed: ISO-282, Matering Mode: Spot, Exposure Program: Normal
Subject: moon pic Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 16:13:58 From: robbie_harris@hotmail.com (Robbie Harris) my first pics of the moon just holding the camera to the eyepiece.
Subject: Checking out Jupiter. Sent: Wednesday, December 25, 2002 16:31:20 From: willyh@cox-internet.com (William Hernandez) Today I was outside and I noticed a big bright star that was toward the east. I thought it was Saturn, but then I checked my astronomy software and found it to be Jupiter. I got my scope and checked it out, and it came out to be the big planet. I got my digital camera and tried to take a couple of pictures of it. Some of the shots were not to good, but I got one good picture that would seem decent for me to share with you and the rest of the people out there. I think you can tell that it is Jupiter, but the only thing that you could not see correctly or clearly is the moons of Jupiter. I was using my 9x lens and my 2x Barlow lens to see the planet. Let me know if you can tell what it could be. In my opinion, I could tell the red bands that go around the planet. Sincerely, William
Mike here: Yep, that is Jupiter. The moons may or may not have been visible. On the Astronomy Links page there is a link to a site that shows the positions of the moons.
And:
I used my ETX-70 Meade scope with the 9mm and 2x barlow lens. My camera is a Sony Mavica digital camera. It was kind of hard to get the camera focused and stable to take the shots even when I had to point it through the eye piece. I'll be grateful if you can recomend or suggest a good affordable camera that would be good to take pictures with. WilliamMike here: Most any digital camera can take good shots of brighter objects. But it does help to have one that has a manual mode vs fully automatic. Look through the eyepiece and focus the image to your eye. Set the camera lens to infinity. Take the shot. Keep in mind that an automatic exposure setting will see a lot of black and so likely overexpose the image (unless shooting the Moon at higher magnifications). Zooming the camera lens helps to get the camera lens closer to the eyepiece (to reduce vignetting). If the camera has a "macro mode" that can help as well. However, the downside of this is camera movement if you are handholding it. Check the Accessory Reviews - Astrophotography page for some adapter ideas.
Subject: Sony Moon Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 12:23:52 From: sellick@oregontrail.net (Allen) First of all I love your site a wealth of information thank you. Here is my first attempt at Astrophotography with my ETX-125 I got last week. I used a Sony DSC-F1 and held it up to the 26mm SP eyepiece. I hope to get better and send in some more. Allen Sellick
Subject: Moon Photo Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 12:43:27 From: jlramos@televisa.com.mx (Ramos Mateos Jose Leonardo) I found your page about astronomy and I believe it is great, specially because it has useful information about Meades ETX-125 telescopes and astrophotography. I believe your page is a kind of tutorial to me because I just bought a telescope (ETX-125) a few months ago and now I am starting to experiment astrophotography. Your comments and advices have been great!. Attached you will find one of my first digital photos of the moon. It was taken on January 20, 2003 in Mexico city. I used a SONY Cybet-shot 3.2 Megapixels and processed the picture (in size mainly) with a Corel-Photo Paint. The moon is a very attractive target and I would like to share this material with you and astronomers of the world. If you consider it interesting I would appreciate you to show it in your page. Best Regards and Gracias! Leonardo Ramos
Subject: Meade DS 2130 and Sony dsc-P51 Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 14:27:43 From: timothy.jacobs@fljack.ang.af.mil (Jacobs, Timothy, M., SSgt, SEADS/DOCE) Just to give you an example to show people that nothing is impossible. I made several calls and did a lot of research on interfacing my Meade DS 2130 to my Sony DSC-P51 digital camera. Sony said that since the P51 and later did not contain the 37mm thread that a telescope could not not interface. So I looked at some pictures of some adapters and came up with my own. It is a prototype but seems to work fine. Here are a couple of shots that I took. Thanks for the great site. Tim Jacobs
Subject: moon shot Sent: Sunday, February 9, 2003 20:57:45 From: kinglet@cet.com (Mike Forster) First time submitting to you. Excellent web site! This was taken with a ETX 90 RA, drive was on, inexpensive brand X 25mm Plossl , with a brand X 2x Barlow. A Sony MVD 100 1.2 meg Digital camera. Image was reduced in Photo Adobe and I used the unsharpen feature in Adobe.
Subject: moon shot Sent: Sunday, February 9, 2003 21:34:33 From: kinglet@cet.com (Mike Forster) Shot this Feb. 9 2003. Brand X 30mm plossl and a Sony Mavica 100 1.2 meg camera at about 1.5x zoom. Image went to Adobe and I used the unsharpen feature. I used a brand X digital camera holder/adaptor. ETX-90RA.
Subject: moon picture Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 11:18:37 From: williansouza@yahoo.com (Willian) you can see the same image at my website: http://www.geocities.com/williansouza/lua-etx.jpgregards, Willian Obs: I use home made adapter to get pictures with my sony dsc p-30 and etx90, I will send you some pictures of this adapter.... 
Subject: Jupiter & wooden tripod Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 07:05:14 From: williansouza@yahoo.com (Willian) See the attached pictures... Now, I use a home made wooden tripod... Regards, Willian Souza - Brasil ===== Willian Souza williansouza@yahoo.com http://www.geocities.com/williansouza
Subject: Moon Photo Sent: Friday, May 16, 2003 21:38:27 From: Andrew.Averna@delta.com (Averna, Andrew) Took my first steps in astro photos two nights ago. Been using my ETX for about a year now (it's a 125) and just got the Scopetronix Max View 40 to attach my SONY DSC-F717 to the scope. Came out pretty good for a first attempt and thought I'd shoot it your way. Andrew Averna AMT/250 LGA
Subject: My first shot of the moon! Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 23:29:43 From: dcklee@shaw.ca (Dez Lee) Thnks to your help and tips, I've purchased a Maxview40 for my Sony F505V and used my ETX 90RA for this shot. It was shot with macro mode and through a 2x Barlow as well. Phot was enhanced by taking the colour out and making B&W as well as tweaking the unsharp mask in PS. Image was also flipped horizontally for proper orientation. Looking forawrd to trying some deep sky and piggy back. Thank again! Wicked Site! Dez Lee Head Coach Jing Wo Martial Arts of Canada Phone: 560-9656 Web: www.jingwo.com
Subject: Moon Astrophoto Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 21:18:20 From: nickroy@mchsi.com I've been a fan of your site for a while, ever since I bought my ETX- 60. I now have an ETX-105, with which I took my very first shot of the moon. I am fairly sure this is Democritus. Camera was mounted to a Meade 26mm super plossl eyepiece with a Scopetronix Digi-T for the Sony DSC-P50, at 1/30 second. It's two shots stacked up in Registax. Mediocre seeing, at 10:15 p.m. on July 11th 2003. I have some issues with vignetting, so I think I need an eyepiece with either less eye relief or a shorter focal length or both. Let me know what your suggestions are. The camera was cranked down to full telephoto. I wish these cheap digicams had more manual settings. Anyway, I thought this might make a decent addition to your guest astrophotography section. Thanks! -Nick Roy
And:
I think I am going to invest in the Max View 40 from them. Looks like the answer to my eye relief problem.
Subject: LX-90 First Light Sent: Wednesday, August 6, 2003 12:54:30 From: "Michael" (michael@bigtopmusicinc.com) Want to share with you my first attempt at photography with my new LX-90, since you've been such a help to me in the past.Ý It's a single shot of Mars (the best out of about 2 dozen pix taken), but pretty impressive, if you ask me.Ý Your site seems appropriate, since the LX-90 and LXD-55 8" shareÝvirtually identical OTA's.Ý Please post my website address for your readers to see Mars through the LX-90, along with my past ETX-70 pictures: http://www.bigtoprocks.com/AstroPix.htm Thank you, Michael Harman
Subject: Sony F717 Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2003 20:13:12 From: david98498@earthlink.net (David Schinkel) I am about to receive a Sony F717 from a friend of mine who is upgrading to the new Sony camera. I would like to use it with my new ETX 125. My questions are as follows: Is the camera too large to use with this telescope? I am planning to purchase a Scopetronic Maxview 40 coupler. Will I connect it to the normal eyepiece coupler or is there a 2 inch diagonal that you can connect to the back where you would normally connect a 35mm camera? If so, I could then use the Maxview II? With the F717 being so large, will it affect shooting photos near the zenith? Will this camera be suitable to use piggyback with 30 second or less multiple exposures and then use software to process? With the telescope polar mounted will any of the above questions have additional issues to consider? Thank you very much for your assistance. DaveMike here: If this digital camera has a fixed lens and if it accepts screw-on filters, you should be able to get a T-Ring for it, possibly from Scopetronix, to match the Maxview. As to a 2" diagonal, probably not worth the expense; you'd get a lot of vignetting. If the camera is heavy you should probably consider a counterweight; see the Helpful Information - Astrophotograpy page.
Subject: ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY-SONY: F-717 with MEADE ETX-125EC Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 02:40:49 From: Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com To: david98498@earthlink.net Hi David, I do not own a SONY F-717 or F-828 but I know these cameras so I can NOT encourage you to use it with any screw-on filter / -adpater - they are too heavy! They are very large too so you would get problems with the base of the telescope at higher declinations. But it will be a good piggy-back device (high resolution, large, good quality zoom lens) and of course you can stack and process the pictures of this camera with appropriate software. Sorry to disencourage you - it's an excellent digital camera but not an easy ETX-attachable device. Dieter Wolf (Munich, Germany)
Subject: Saturn w/ETX125 and SONY DSC-F717 digital camera From: daspork@nyc.rr.com Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 11:44:00 -0500 Been focusing on tripod mounted sky photos lately but we had a nice clear and not too cold night in NYC last week and I decided to take a shot at planetary photos with the ETX. Used a Scopetronix MaxView 40 w/58mm T-ring to couple it to the camera (Sony DSC-F717) mounted on the ETX in place of the visual eyepiece. Following image isn't the largest I got but has the best clarity - it's raw from the camera and not modified in any way other than cropping down from it's original, much larger, size.Next project is to learn how to take and stack multiple images! Thanks for looking and listening - Andrew Averna Flushing, NY On a side note I find this camera easy to use with the ETX even though I read some comments that it wasn't that good for such use. If you couple it with the MaxView it keeps the camera out of the way for most elevations of the scope in AltAz alignment; never tried it in polar. Also the camera body swivels so when the telescope is at larger elevations you can rotate the body rather than have to stoop down and bend your neck to see the LCD (similar to what you can do with the Nikon Coolpix). As with most digital cameras it's not made for astrophotography so there are limitations and adjustments to be made, but altogether I find it pretty easy to use and I like the results so far. Happy Holidays! 
Subject: ETX and Digital Camera adaptors From: "Rob Loizzi" (rob_loizzi@hotmail.com) Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:16:03 +0000 I am researching telescopes for a purchase next year. I believe I'll buy the ETX-125. I own a Sony S85 digital camera. After reading info on your site regarding an adapter, I visited the ScopeTronix site looking for the item discussed which was a generic digital camera adaptor. However, I instead found a wizard which asked what camera I have and then showed me an adaptor specific to my camera for 2 or 3 hundred dollars. My questions are these: 1. Does the generic adampter, which I believe holds the camera against the eyepiece and I assume is much cheaper, still for sale? Could you provide a link to the actual page. 2. Is the adaptor they showed me a much better option (It screws into the eyepiece or scope) and if so why? 3. My digital camera is only capable of an 8 second exposure or less. Should I not buy the expensive adaptor because the camera won't be capable of taking good pictures anyway (because exposure times need to be longer) or are longer exposure times only needed for film cameras? Thanks, Rob Loizzi Bolingbrok, ILMike here: I don't know which adapter you found that costs that much. Check out their Digi-T System (reviewed on the Accessory Reviews - Astrophotography page on my ETX Site). All you would then need is a T-Ring that attaches to your Sony camera lens like a filter. You could also check out their MaxView System, which includes an eyepiece. Lastly, you could use bracket type adapters but personally I don't recommend them (see that review page for more info). You'll be able to take photos of brighter objects (Moon, Sun, planets, M42, etc.) and with "image stacking" might get some good shots of fainter objects.
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