Some recent (2006) 'Point and Shoot' digital cameras are capable of taking excellent photographs of the constellations. The picture of Orion, below, was taken with a Sony DSC-W100. The key characteristics are:
Ability to take a manual exposure of 10 to 30 seconds duration, preferably with dark frame subtraction.
Speed setting of ISO 800 or similar.
Ability to lock focus on Infinity (auto focus does not work on the stars!)
Orion with Sony DSC-W100 Point and Shoot digital camera (no post camera manipulation).
The star and nebula colors are not as prominent as with film.
Orion with some contrast and red
enhancement.
Exposure = 15 seconds with dark frame subtraction.
ISO = 800.
Focus = Infinity, Lens at wide angle setting (38 mm equivalent) and f2.8.
Location = 56th and Georgetown Rd, Indianapolis, IN.
Date = Sept 2006 in the early morning.
Taurus and the Pleiades with
Sony DSC-W100 Point and Shoot camera; 15 sec at wide angle zoom. The red color
of Aldebaran is nicely visible.
Zoom in on the Pleiades; 10 sec
exposure.
Cygnus and Lyra with class Canon A580 camera. 10 sec exposure at wide angle zoom setting, ISO 400. Note the bright sky background resulting from severe light pollution in my front yard near 56th and Georgetown Rd. Get further out of town when you take your shots. Labeled Cygnus shot showing the Northern Cross Pattern.
Cygnus: To better illustrate what is possible from a dark sky location, the above shot of Cygnus has been digitally enhanced to remove the light pollution and to enhance the colors.
Excellent afocal photos of the moon are possible with a our Orion 4 1/2" Dobsonian telescopes and a digital camera. The class camera is a Fuji FinePix S3100 4 megapixel camera.
fwk iupui 2009
