I tried the IR UV cut off filter as suggested with my C11 and I still get the same washed out pictures. So at this point Im thinking as soon as golf season opens up around here, the CCD camera is going for a ride. I also have a nice DSLR that got me thinking. Try both piggyback and hooking it up with a T-Ring. The piggyback adapter that I got from B&H looked good till I tried to put it on. One of the screws they gave was the right thread, the other wasn't. So after fixing that I mounted my camera on and the screw bottomed out before the camera was tight to the mount. I went and found a nice washer to put under it and got the camera tight. When I looked in the eye peice of the camera it was WAY low of where the telescope was pointing. So after moving it around trying to use the arc of the back end of the scope to raise the aim point of the camera I gave in and used a couple thin peices of cardboard to raise it up to where its close.

 So I guess my question would be, is there any trick to get the camera aimed where the telescope is? And if not is there any place to get a piggyback mount that will line it up?

 Thanks for any help.

Rich

I'm not an expert by any means but all I can tell you is just keep trying. Sorry

Rich, I just joined this forum so  forgive me if you have already ahave answered these ????

How long are your exposures that are still getting "washed out"? You may just have to reduce your

time and stack more of the short exposures.

What type of skies are you trying to image from? City, rural etc.

As far as mounting the DSLR, what type of camera is it?

The mounting bolt should be a standard 1/4 x 20 , if you have a regular photo tripod around try the camera on there to make sure it fits.  And just going for the simple solution here, did you try to turn the adapter around and mount it the other way to see if it lines up better?

mike

Rich01370:

I tried the IR UV cut off filter as suggested with my C11 and I still get the same washed out pictures. So at this point Im thinking as soon as golf season opens up around here, the CCD camera is going for a ride. I also have a nice DSLR that got me thinking. Try both piggyback and hooking it up with a T-Ring. The piggyback adapter that I got from B&H looked good till I tried to put it on. One of the screws they gave was the right thread, the other wasn't. So after fixing that I mounted my camera on and the screw bottomed out before the camera was tight to the mount. I went and found a nice washer to put under it and got the camera tight. When I looked in the eye peice of the camera it was WAY low of where the telescope was pointing. So after moving it around trying to use the arc of the back end of the scope to raise the aim point of the camera I gave in and used a couple thin peices of cardboard to raise it up to where its close.

 So I guess my question would be, is there any trick to get the camera aimed where the telescope is? And if not is there any place to get a piggyback mount that will line it up?

 Thanks for any help.

Rich

What objects are you trying to take pictures of? (Lunar, Planets, or DSO's)
What are you sky conditions? (amount of light pollution)
What is the transparency of your skies like when you're trying to take images? 

Light pollution and/or light pollution with poor transparency equals easy wash out.

Sounds to me as though you're exceeding the sky glow limits for the area you're at taking the images. As already suggested try reducing your exposure times for each individual shot. Then take more short exposures rather than less longer exposures. 
Also, try reducing your ISO. An ISO setting too high will increase noise and reach the sky glow limit much sooner. High ISO's above 400 should, IMHO, be reserved for dark skies only.  With Light pollution of any amout a maximum ISO of 400 is all you really want, preferably 200. Again this is only my opinion, which is based on my own experimentation with my cameras. I live in an area were I have street lights with a couple at about 100 yards to my SouthEast and another to my NorthEast. I have an enclosure to block stray light from getting into the telescope, but I still have a significant amount of sky glow. At ISO 400 my images will start washing out with exposure longer than only a few minutes.

For the C11 SGT or similar telescope mounted on an EQ mount they make an undermount that attaches a DSLR on the dovetail mount bar which will keep the camera secure and inline with the telescope.  However, even if you mount it on top of the telescope, using the telescope as a guide scope there is an incredible amount of tolerance for error if you're using the standard short focal length lens that comes with the camera.  It doesn't have to be aligned with the telescope perfectly, but close does help.  Trying to compare the view through the camera to the view through the telescope is hard. That can be missleading because there is such a difference in the Field Of View and magnification.

Have A Nice ___________ 

I live in a rural area. You can see the normal M31, M42 and M13 naked eye on a normal or above see night.

As for what Im looking to take pictures of, I guess  little of everything maybe leaning more to the DSO the lunar and planets but the outer ones seem to draw my attention.

As for what I have here are links to them.

My scope http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/547172-REG/Kowa_TSPK_FT_T_Mount_SLR_Camera_Adapter.html

My CCD camera http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=astro-imaging_camera/~pcategory=astro-imaging/~product_id=52068

My DSLR http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1192

IR UR cut off http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/370566-REG/Celestron_94125_UV_Infrared_Cutoff_Filter_1_25_.html

Piggyback mount http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/202111-REG/Celestron_93598_Piggyback_Bracket_For.html

T adapter http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/202137-REG/Celestron_93633_A_SLR_35mm_OR_Digital_.html

T ring http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/547172-REG/Kowa_TSPK_FT_T_Mount_SLR_Camera_Adapter.html which is on back order.

I don't think Im forgeting anything.

Now here are some of the pictures that I have taken.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/deakane/20080331000556707.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/deakane/saturn_0018.jpg

This next one was a piggyback that was a 60 second exposure. Not sure of the ISO setting

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/deakane/Picture020a.jpg

Here is one were i tried to stack some together

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/deakane/stack.jpg

A normal one of Juipter

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/deakane/Image_0027.jpg

The what I think Is the best one I was able to get.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/deakane/juipter_0005.jpg

And lastly, the moon

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/deakane/moon_0005.jpg

Sorry for the very very long post.

Rich

Your CCD is a Lunar and Planetary imager. Essentially a modified web cam that has been purpose built for Lunar and Planetary only images through telescopes.  Try not using the UV/IR cut off filter with lunar and planetary images.  

Looking at your images I can see a few issues here. Your not washing out becase of light pollution. your problem isn't sky glow.  Sky Glow will be a concern for you when you start taking DSO images with your DSLR. That too is something you have to experiment with. Avoid the urge to set your ISO setting to high in order to capture the image quicker. That will only result in more noise and risk reaching the sky glow limit quicker. (aka reciprocity failure or limit in film photography)
 
The first image of Saturn looks like a combination of possibilities.  poor seeing conditions and or poor focus. Otherwise not to bad.

Some of the others look like you need to experiment more with the camera adjustments, and focus.  The exposure level set too high is one reason some of the planets look pure white(blown out), then there is one where that looks like you have the gain and saturation too high and maybe the FPS too low. Too low and your getting over exposed, yet you don't want the FPS too high. You need to adjust the gain, saturation, white balance and gamma to where it looks best with the FPS.   For that it helps to experiment until you get the best looking image on your laptop before you start the image capturing process.  
The moon Image just looks like it is a little out of focus.

Oh and BTW, You don't have a link showing your telescope. You have two that show the T-Ring for your camera.
I don't know how well the Olympus DSLR performs on DSO's, since I only have a Canon 350D. You might find that any DSLR will work with varying degrees of success. Usually you will read and hear that the prefered are the Canon and the Nikon. You'll have to show us some of your results with yours. Wish you luck!

Jupiter is in a low possition making observing and imaging difficult for most northern hemisphere observers.  It is preferable to observe and take images when the objects are higher in the sky looking through less of the Earths atmosphere.

Check this out then follow the links at the bottom of my post
http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/forums/t/19319.aspx

Have A Nice __________

Sorry about the first link. Here is the correct one http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=cassegrains/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=09759

As for the filter someone here said to try that and see if it helped. Sadly it didn't but was worth the try anyway. The seeing on the night I took the saturn picture was great. During moments of extra steady air I swear I could see the shadow of the rings on the planet itself. I understand that the CCD I have isn't ment for deep sky. I did however take a great picture the first night I had it of Mizar. I will look again for the controls that your talking about but I don't remember seeing them at all. Your post is great as are the prictures. Those are the kind of shots that I would like to take.

Rich

Rich you are getting some good advice so far. As for the filter, it would be more useful for deep sky where longer exposures are required ie. 2-5 minutes. This will reduce the effect of the local light pollution. I don't own a LPI or similar but I don't think that the filter would be needed for that. But if you decide to shoot with your DSLR then you will need it.

There are some Yahoo groups that you can join which may help you, Digital Astro is dedicated to the use of DSLR for shooting deep-sky. And I'm sure there is a group for your planetary imager or those that are similar.

My 2 cents worth...... use the planetary imager as a guider and image with your DSLR. It takes a lot of work and perseverance but don't give up.

Mike

The main thing that Im really looking for is taking pictures with the main scope. Taking them with the DSLR was kind of a last ditch try at something. I do like the look of the DSLR pictures but I just wish that I had a tad more zoom then 150. I have a 200 - 500 zoom lens, to bad its for my old minolta x700 35 mm slr.

A nice CCD for my 11 inch would be nice but after the luck I have had with this CCD that I have now it scares me.

Oh and the pictures of jupiter were without the filter and when it was almost right over head. I don't remember the date but I believe it was last year sometime.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 Rich

You can take pics with the main scope and the DSLR!  As long as you  have a t-ring and  a t adapter to attach it to the scope. This attaches the camera to the scope directly, no diagonal used.

Check this link out  www.astropix.com  this may help answer some of your questions.

mike

Ya thats one of the things that Im going to try. I have part of it now, the T-adapter, the part that goes between the telescope and the T-Ring which mounts to the camera. Problem is, the T-Ring is a special one and had to be orded and will be a couple more weeks before it gets here.

Maybe getting closer with a single image

But stacking them is a problem