contrail spotting beginner - needs advice

[simon180399]

Hello all ny name is simon and i live in south Devon UK, ive had an interest in aviation since i was a child, i used to view contrail aircraft when i lived with my mum and dad and i used a tasco 50mm telescope in the back garden, that was about 25 years ago (happy times), any way sorry to bore you all, ive now gone up in the world of telescopes and recently bought a skywatcher 150mm dobsonion with a bag of eyepieces ranging from a 4mm to a 40mm and a cape instruments 2x barlow, been getting some great views from the garden .

Now the questions im asking are

1- is there a cheap (very) Dslr which can be recommended second hand? finances are very stretched!

2- is the eyepiece used between the scope and camera? how are large magnifications achieved if eyepieces are not used?

3 -my scope is quoted as being 1200mm so im presuming adding a 2x barlow will increase the focal length to 2400?, the reason i ask is that ive seen many photos where the aircraft appear small in the shot and others seem to be immensly close up shots.

4- finally how can i 'zero' my finderscope to work at 30,000 ft altitude?, as i read that the easyiest way to photograph was to watch through the finderscope whilst taking the photo at the sane time.

im sorry if these seem stupid questions apart from the first (i have 5 children and a wife so finances ARE a problem lol) but being a complete novice please forgive me, i do have a fuji finepix s5600 bridge type camera so if anyone knows if t adaptors etc can be purchased for this camera i would appreciate it.
finally if ive put this post in the wrong section i can only apologise as this is new to me, i look forward to recieving some great advice - thankyou simon

[DC10MD11]

Hi
Welcome to you.-----------------If you go to the link below this will help you------and we look forward to see some of your pictures in time.

http://www.skystef.be/contrail.htm

Its a great hobby but you need a lot of patience's as you have good and bad days depending on the weather/sky.sun.


All the best

DC10MD11

[simon180399]

hi dc,
thanks for the link buddy, ive read it many timesand im struggling to use my camera to its full potential.

i bought a canon 300d last week and have just managed my first picture.

what camera settings are best?

many thanks simon

[Squelsh]

V nice first pic

[contrailwatcherUK]

Hi

Nice pic, is there any chance you could post a pic of your telescope+camera set-up? are you taking the picture through an eyepiece or barlow, and if so what brand?

For your telescope I would suggest a set-up that goes like this:

Canon 300D > Canon T-Ring > 2" Canon T adapter > 2" Focus Draw Tube

This would allow 1200mm focal length, and a decent amount of light that is needed for a 150mm tube.

I just looked at the image data in PhotoShop and it says you took the photo with a shutter speed of 1/100 sec and iso 100. The shutter speed is too low, ideally you'll need to take photos at a shutter speed of at least 1/320 to reduce motion blur. You can increase the shutter speed value by increasing the iso. I would reccommend iso 200 or 400.

Regards,
James.

[simon180399]

hi james
thanks for the advice mate, after id taken the photo i realised that a) id forgot to focus it and b) i had it on the night time mode as i was so exited that id took the photo id forgotten to check lol.

im not using any eyepiece or barlow, just prime focus.

here are two pics of my set up.

[simon180399]

V nice first pic

many thanks, hopefully there will be many more to come when it stops raining
atb simon

[DC10MD11]

Hi to you,
Set you camera as per the link below-----35/45 degrees to the scope(your 1st picture has the aircraft going down the frame).


http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn19 ... 050769.jpg


iso=200/400-------------------------shutter speed 1/320 or above with BARLOW if you can get the light with a 6inch SCOPE.

If not using BARLOW set IS0 at 200 and let the CAMERA DO THE SHUTTER SPEED.

Hope this helps

All the best
DC10MD11

[contrailwatcherUK]

Your set up is spot on :thumbup:

I look forward to seeing some of your pics since we live not that far apart and should see the same aircraft

In case you didnt already know about it, http://www.flightradar24.com is a great website to find out what aircraft are coming your way.

James.

[simon180399]

thanks james, i use that one all the time but occasionally use this http://www.radarvirtuel.com/ but dont find it as accurate.

would you recommend a 2" barlow or could i get away with this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270762883442? ... 1201wt_784


im only asking as im on a budget.

many thanks simon

[simon180399]

Hi to you,
Set you camera as per the link below-----35/45 degrees to the scope(your 1st picture has the aircraft going down the frame).


http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn19 ... 050769.jpg


iso=200/400-------------------------shutter speed 1/320 or above with BARLOW if you can get the light with a 6inch SCOPE.

If not using BARLOW set IS0 at 200 and let the CAMERA DO THE SHUTTER SPEED.

Hope this helps

All the best
DC10MD11

hi are you saying my scope is not good enough for gathering light?

if so is there anything i can do other than purchase a larger one?

like i said im new to this so can only apologise for my inexperience.

atb simon

[contrailwatcherUK]

would you recommend a 2" barlow or could i get away with this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270762883442? ... 1201wt_784


im only asking as im on a budget.

If your going to go down the barlow lens route, it has to be good quality, that one wont be good enough unfortunately. The televue 2" 2x powermate is best, but retails at £219

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/ ... x_2__.html

You could go for the next best, televue big barlow for a bit less:

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/ ... w_2__.html

If your lucky you might find a decent one second hand on ebay.

Basically you need to have the 2" barlow, and good quality. With a 6" scope it would be hard to gather enough light for increased magnification, and adding glass inbetween the optics will only make things darker.

James.