Yesterday, I posted some images I took of the Sun with just ordinary photographic equipment. I didn’t get a chance to take any more images today, but this evening, the Moon was full and I decided to see what other ordinary camera capabilities are available. Also, there was that lunar eclipse. I didn’t stay up for that because it was a school night and I had to get up in the morning. I hope some of you enjoyed it however.
So I broke out my birthday present. A Sony DSC-H400 compact camera with an amazing 63x optical zoom.
With a better tripod, I extended the lens to is max capacity and shot some images. The top image was bracketed by 1/3 ev and I think it looks better than the bottom one, which I did not bracket. However, the bottom one is truer to the actual color (if you can call dust a color) of the Moon. I think if I used the movie mode and then ran the frames through another free program, Registax. I think the results may have been even more spectacular. Not that I don’t think that the Sony didn’t take some very good images for single shots. It is just that post processing will always make your images look better than a single shot in almost every case. If only I had the time to do it all.
But it just shows that even an inexpensive camera, the Sony was around $300, can take some impressive images of the night sky. I only wish my birthday has been a little later, because Canon just announced the PowerShot SX60 HS. Although a little more expensive at $549.00, it has a lot more capabilities than the Sony. Plus all my other cameras are Canon, so the controls are more familiar to me. It took a few minutes to figure out the manual mode settings for the Sony. At least they had the manual mode. If you are looking for a camera to be creative with, you really need to get one with manual mode. The Canon has the added bonus of storing images in RAW format which allows for a greater range of processing options that I don’t have with the JPEG only Sony.
Oh, well. There’s always next years birthday to look forward to.
– Ex astris, scientia –
I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine. As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +
Norman
Astronomy and Law 