Beginner help

Hey everyone, I am new here and to digital photography. I have borrowed my friends canon eos 50d for astrophotgraphy for use with my telescope. I have purchased my t ring and adapter to mate with the telescope. My question is without a lens all pictures are blurry. I have been searching over the internet trying to fix the issue but I don't think I am phrasing the words properly because I can not find an answer. I know it is more than likely something simple. Worst of all my buddy says I have used the camera more than him so that's no help. I have tried using the diopeter(?), I think that's what it is called but that does not help focus any. Looking for any help to clear this issue up. Thanks!

fknfstevo wrote in post #16846184
Hey everyone, I am new here and to digital photography. I have borrowed my friends canon eos 50d for astrophotgraphy for use with my telescope. I have purchased my t ring and adapter to mate with the telescope. My question is without a lens all pictures are blurry. I have been searching over the internet trying to fix the issue but I don't think I am phrasing the words properly because I can not find an answer. I know it is more than likely something simple. Worst of all my buddy says I have used the camera more than him so that's no help. I have tried using the diopeter(?), I think that's what it is called but that does not help focus any. Looking for any help to clear this issue up. Thanks!

You don't say what kind of scope you have, i.e. reflector, refractor, either way see this SITE for the answer. If it's a reflector then most likely you don't have enough travel to bring the focal point to the sensor.

Welcome to the forums

Thanks Jimmy but I am not really worried about the telescope at this point its something with the settings on the camera. Because all pictures are blurry when there is no lens attached. I was playing around with the camera learning some things about it and I noticed without the lens its always blurry. So I haven't even made it to the telescope yet until I clear this issue up.

fknfstevo wrote in post #16846396
Thanks Jimmy but I am not really worried about the telescope at this point its something with the settings on the camera. Because all pictures are blurry when there is no lens attached. I was playing around with the camera learning some things about it and I noticed without the lens its always blurry. So I haven't even made it to the telescope yet until I clear this issue up.

You are correct, without a lens attached the photo's will be blurry. The lens is what brings the light to a focus point on the sensor. Hope I have understood your dilemma.

Like I said I don't know much about cameras lol. so why is it that I was told all I would need is a t ring and adapter to use the camera with my telescope to take pictures? What else would I need? Its a celestron 130 slt. Thanks jimmy

Search for "unable to reach focus on newtonian telescope" or something similar. It's a very common problem as the telescope is designed for looking through, rather than photography. Essentially, you can't wind the focuser in far enough to get focus with a dslr. There are various solutions requiring different levels of expense or modification.

Steve.

fknfstevo wrote in post #16846500
Like I said I don't know much about cameras lol. so why is it that I was told all I would need is a t ring and adapter to use the camera with my telescope to take pictures? What else would I need? Its a celestron 130 slt. Thanks jimmy

SteveInNZ is correct, check out the link in my first reply on how to achieve focus with your scope, learning is a part of any new endeavor and enjoying the journey.

rgr that Thanks guys!

so pretty much I need a barlow, which I was planning on getting anyway. I guess now a bit sooner.

Fyi, I think your Celestron has an Alt/Az mount. To photograph dim subjects like nebula, galaxies, clusters, you'll need long exposures, but your mount is not really very well set up for that. Your best bet is going to be photographing very bright objects like the moon and possibly planets. I am afraid that you are going to be disappointed with the results that you get, but good luck to you.

There's also a lot of very good info at the link below on astrophotography. If you scroll down, they have a whole section for beginners and also for AP using dslrs.
http://www.cloudynight​s.com/ubbthreads/ubbth​reads.php

Have a look at this video ... Forrest explains it very well regarding the main telescopes, that can be used for Astrophotograpy ... including the 'how and why' with using cameras attached to the scopes ... check around the 20min mark for your interest ...

Astrophotography P1: Telescope OTAs

cheers,
Gem