Chuck said,

While there may be some substance to the software issue, I think you've overanalyzed the situation, Kurt. Most of the shots are just overexposed.

Chuck, that's my point - they are overexposed but the question is whether there is any manual control of the exposure setting. For many of these small consumer hand-held digital cameras, there is no shutter speed or ISO control. You just tell the camera what type of scene you are looking at: daytime, indoors, etc. and its internal computer chip does all the settings automatically. (Humorously, the T10 has scene modes labeled "Pet" and "Food". Makes me wonder what kinda guy programmed this camera.) The problem is "Jupiter" or "the Moon" are not on its menu list and the camera will not figure out a correct exposure for solar system objects. But looking at a website listing the T10 options, it appears that the T10 may have both emulated shutter and ISO speed settings that can be manually set by the user. Scott wrote:

A co-worker today suggested to change the exposure, which I didn't even think of. I don't know if that is an option, so I'll have to learn the camera a little better.

That's the first step, Scott - learn how to set your exposure settings manually. Try the Moon at 400 ISO, increasing the shutter time up beginning around 1/200th of a second. Also experiment with the contrast setting - the "White balance" manual setting mode. That will help on the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, all of which are currently above the horizon. It will not solve your problems with photographing a brush fire at night. See Chuck's prior comments on contrast limits. Scott asked:

As far as viewing different planets I've heard that different filters will help get better pictures.

The main filter to obtain first is an IR block filter. Digital cameras are oversensitive to near infra-red light. This overexposes dim objects with excessive red color. http://www.telescopes.com/products/celestron-uvir-cut-off-filter-1-25-inch-3... Consider expanding into color planetary filters after you have mastered the basics. Here's a table of what color planetary filters do: http://members.csolutions.net/fisherka/astronote/plan/pcfilt/PlanetaryColorF... Scott asked:

I'll I'm thinking of that, what do I need to do to view the sun.

I missed what type of telescope you are using. For white light solar viewing, you need a white light solar filter. Looking at the Sun or attaching your camera to a telescope and pointing it at the Sun will instantly blind you and literally fry the camera with smoke coming out the sides. A white light solar filter lets only about 1/100,000th of the Sun's light through, leaving a safe image to look at and to photograph. http://www.optcorp.com/ProductList.aspx?uid=471-307 For general tips on astrophotography, see Lodriguss's online guide: http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/TOC_AP.HTM For futher help, probably the best thing you can do is to join a local astronomy club and come to a star party: either SLAS ( http://www.slas.us ) or if you are in Utah Valley, the Utah Valley Astro Assoc. ( http://www.uvaa.org/ ). - Kurt ====================== Attachment Some Optio T10 specs from a website: Metering • TTL metering: Choice of Multi-segment metering • Center Weighted • Spot ISO sensitivity • Auto • ISO 80 • ISO 160 • ISO 320 • ISO 400 Exposure compensation • + /-2 EV • 1/3 steps Shuttter speed 1/2000 to 4 secs Modes Program Scene modes • Night Scene • Voice recording • Landscape • Flower • Portrait • Surf & Snow • Sport • Pet • Food • Frame composition White balance • Auto • Daylight • Shade • Tungsten light • Fluorescent light • Manual setting _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net