Scott asked,
The pictures seem to be decent, but I find it hard to not get glares from the light in the camera. For example, Venus for the last few weeks has been visible and I can see it clearly with my eyes through the telescope. But when I take a picture it just glares. <snip> http://uwdh.com/beyondtheeyes/
Scott, It's probably the Pentax Optio T10 that you are using that causes the glare seen in the lunar and planetary images on your website. Pentax Optio T10 http://uwdh.com/beyondtheeyes/?page_id=23 This type of camera has lots of fuzzy logic built into it to optimize terresterial photographs of people and outdoor street scenes. That fuzzy logic also prevents the camera from dealing low light high contrast astrophotographic targets. Additionally, there probably is hardwiring that prevents it from being used for the relatively ultra-low light of planetary imaging. For the type of lunar and planetary images that you want to take, use a relatively inexpensive ($100) lunar planetary camera like a Meade LPI or a Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager. http://www.meade.com/autostar/lpi.html http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=7769&m These astronomy cameras are built for lunar or planetary imaging only. They cannot be used on deep sky objects like galaxies. They are both USB-port devices that are plugged into a desktop or laptop computer. Their chip is similar to your Pentax Optio T10, but they do not have any hardwired blocks against low-light imaging. The software that comes with the camera also gives you better manual control over exposures. Correct exposure levels removes the glare. Adding a filter will not work. The fuzzy logic in the Optio T10 will just overcompensate for the filter. You are not seeing this glare problem in your excellent microscopy images, which I am guessing are also made using the T10. This is because you have enough control over the light to bathe the subject in high-intensity light giving medium contrast. Those light levels appear to be within the parameters of the Optio T10's fuzzy logic. - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net