I bought a 1965 "Praktica Nova B" today for 10 bucks.  Found a manual online. It says it is a 35mm S.L.R. type, manual everything.  Will this work for astro-imaging? (assuming the camera works:)  Graham...

Graham wrote:

I bought a 1965 "Praktica Nova B" today for 10 bucks.  Found a manual online. It says it is a 35mm S.L.R. type, manual everything.  Will this work for astro-imaging? (assuming the camera works:)  Graham...

if it has a bulb setting to allow you to lock the shutter open as long as you wish then yes. However, There may be a small problem. For prime focus photography you will need a T-ring to install in place of the lens so that you can attach to the focuser or to a T-adapter to fit into the focuse.  The problem will be trying to find one for that camera.  T-rings are readily available for most SLR and DSLR cameras of the most popular brand names. Olympus, Pentax, Yashica, Minolta, Canon, and Nikon.
http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=57&itemType

If it has the standard 1/4 x 20 threaded camera mount then you should be able to use it for Afocal photography with the help of a mount that attaches around the EP. Something like Orions Steady Pix.
http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=65&itemType


Have A Nice __________

I have an old Praktica but I don't think it is as old I think its 1970 vintage, I had taken my camera to a, telescope store, and found out a Pentax T ring fit it, I want to say they were 49mm threads??

Yeah, this old Praktica works pretty good.  I took it out piggybacking one time.  It will fit directly on my Celestron's 1/4 eyepiece holder without a t-ring, but taking 24 exposures to a 1 hour photo place is $8 and the results are pretty crappy, so I put it away.  I'm thinking I should go the CCD route because in the long run it would pay for itself. 

Graham wrote:

Yeah, this old Praktica works pretty good.  I took it out piggybacking one time.  It will fit directly on my Celestron's 1/4 eyepiece holder without a t-ring, but taking 24 exposures to a 1 hour photo place is $8 and the results are pretty crappy, so I put it away.  I'm thinking I should go the CCD route because in the long run it would pay for itself.

It may not be the camera which is the cause for the results. The problem with film is that there is a lot of trial and error involved. That is why it is a very good idea to keep a log of everything you did for each exposure and what the conditions were like.  That is also the disadvantage of film. You are stuck with the end results whereas with digital you can see your result on the computer and delete them if you don't like them. The only thing waisted is time rather than both time and money.

My last roll of Fuji Provia 400F which was a 36 exposure roll gave me about 7 pictures I liked out of the whole roll.  And that was a pretty good average for me on that roll. When I first started astrophotography I would waist a complete roll of film and not even keep one.   Fortunately most place only charge you for the pictures you keep.

You will find that for many objects it takes much more time than you actually think it would. When I first started I thought I would be overexposing and ruining the film. Turns out I was underexposing and ruining the film/pictures.

This picture was a 22 minute exposure and as you can see it is still faint.  I could have gone at least double that to get better results and not ruin or overexpose it.



Have A Nice __________

Another problem with the 1 hour places is that they use an automated system and unless you say something and the operator knows how to adjust the machine, you get what you got, banta foder.  You might be better off taking your film to a camera shop and explain what you have and they can make the neccesary adjustments.

Like Tim said it's going to be hit and miss and several rolls of wasted film until you and your developer get on track.  Then the wonders of "out there"will be yours.

At least that's what I am hoping will happen in my case.  I have just about finished my "barndoor tracker) and as soon as that's done I'll be ready to take a shot at the night sky.

What ever you do don't give up too quick, it just takes time and practice, practice, practice.