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There are two main problems associated with digiscoping. The first is vignetting - the black border that appears around the edge of the image (as in photo, right), the second is camera shake. |  |
Vignetting cannot always be avoided, some cameras give less than others, for instance the Olympus range of digital still cameras suffer from considerable vignetting, often as much as 50% of the frame is lost at even the best setting, while the Nikon Coolpix range - even the cheaper ones like the 885 - seem to give very little. However, if the camera is not set up carefully to the eyepiece of the telescope, even the best camera can give vignetting.
This is where digiscoping adaptors are useful. They enable the camera lens to be set concentric to the scope eyepiece so that the optical axes are aligned and then as nearly in contact as possible.
To minimise camera shake, a cable release should ideally be used, but for some reason known only to the camera manufacturers, few digital cameras have any provision for remote shutter release. Lash-on gadgets are available from some independent accessory makers and are worth exploring.
By setting the camera to "aperture priority" exposure mode (if available) and selecting the widest aperture - lowest f number - both vignetting and camera shake can be further minimised.
The following digiscoping accessories will greatly assist you in your quest for better photographs.
If
possible,
the
focus
should
be
set
to
manual
and
to
infinity
-
many
cameras
have
this
facility,
often
labelled
as
"scene"
or
"landscape"
mode.
Focusing
is
then
carried
out
via
the
telescope
and
checked
on
the
camera's
LCD
screen. |
On
The
Computer
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The particular techniques here refer to processes in "Photoshop", but most image editing programs will have similar abilities. |
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Saving digital files.
Having downloaded your pics from the camera onto the PC, in most cases as JPEG files, it's important to then save them as TIFF files. The reason is that JPEGs are compressed files and each time you open and then save, more information is compressed and detail lost. TIFFs are "lossless" files, so you can open them, work on them and save them without losing detail. The downside is that TIFFs take up more space on
your hard drive than JPEGs.
If you want to send your pics via
the internet, then you can edit the
TIFF file and save as a JPEG of
the appropriate size to send. In
this way, you always have a "best
copy" of the original pic to work
on.
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