Conventional film cameras

Bought a Flatbed Film Scanner

dmatusiakjr — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:28:43 GMT

I just got the Canon CanoScan 8400F Flatbed Scanner photo film / slide

image: http://www.biline.ca/Pictures/Reviews/Scanner/8400f_11.jpg

I was wondering if you guys have had any luck using this scanner to get 35mm film into the computer? I would have to imagine it being better than anything they have at the 1-hour places.

Since I'm not very good with film yet, it would be cheaper for me to go take a few rolls, drop them off to be developed and then scan them in. I might even be able to get them developed for free because the rolls will look blank.

how good is the quality on these types of scanners? I will post results, after I receive the scanner and run a few.

Some general Info please...

chaoticgeek — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:51:19 GMT

Ok so when I go back home for thanksgiving this upcoming Wednesday and Thursday I was thinking of seeing if my brother's camera he has would work for some simple photos. It is 35mm film camera and that is all I know. So are there any questions I could ask him to figure out if it could work. I know it is a decent camera and so I was thinking that I might be able to take some cool pictures to just mess around with.

I'm gonna go hit up the Ritz Camera store in the mall near me to see about some film.

Accessing older posts in this forum

Karri Ferron — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:00:40 GMT

As conventional film cameras give way to the digital world, there tends to be less discussion in this forum area. But for those who still occassionally break out the film, a wealth of knowledge can be uncovered in the older posts of this section.

But where are they?

In order to keep the Astronomy.com Forums running at optimum speed, our system autoarchives any threads that have been idle for more than 6 months. But you can still access them with a quick fix:

At the bottom of each section area, there is a button that says "More Options"

If you click on it, there will be multiple settings for that forum area you can change. Setting the date filter to "Show All" will allow you to see all threads in that forum area, including the ones that have been autoarchived. You can apply the change temporarily or permanentely.

Our forum policies, including no advertising (updated July 8, 2009)

Karri Ferron — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:59:20 GMT

If you are new to Astronomy magazine’s Reader Forums, welcome! Below is an outline of our general forum rules. If you ever see any of these being violated, please use the “Report Abuse” link that’s found in the lower right-hand corner of every single post in our forum. An automated message will be sent to our moderators and the infraction will be dealt with.

Thanks for participating in our forums. Your contributions make our forums a great resource for astronomy enthusiasts from around the world. Your assistance policing our forums helps keep the environment positive and enjoyable for people of all ages.

Now, to the rules:

Please keep discussions on topic (that is, astronomy-related).

Your forum signature should not be used as a place to express your personal beliefs (religion, politics, marital status, sexual orientation, etc.). Remember, this is a forum tied to our common bond of astronomy; don’t let your personal viewpoints on unrelated topics interfere with the common reason we’re all here.

No advertising. Our forums should not be used as an advertising medium for companies who want to promote their business or products, or by individuals who want to promote their items for sale or their eBay auctions. Our users are the drivers behind this policy. They don’t want the useful information in our forums watered down with posts that are nothing more than advertisements. If you’d like to advertise on our site, please visit our Advertise With Us page.

No swearing or foul language. And we don’t care if you use symbols to mask the words. The meaning is still conveyed, and we don’t want it in our forum. Please keep in mind that we have readers of all ages. This isn’t a tavern.

No personal attacks or name-calling. Please keep conversations cordial. We understand that there will be differences of opinion. Please don’t let those differences turn ugly. Accept that others might not have your same point of view, and don’t sink to personal attacks. Nothing is gained by doing so.

No political discussions or signature messages. We know politics sometimes affects astronomy. However, we’ve found that political discussions almost always turn into arguments. We have a common interest in astronomy. Don’t let political differences destroy that common bond.

No religious discussions or signature messages. This is for many of the same reasons as the political discussions and signatures. We all have our own personal views, and this isn’t the place to share them. Remember, this is an astronomy forum.

No inappropriate images or videos. If you choose to post photos or links to videos, please keep them astronomy-related and use your best judgment.- Don’t use our forums as a means of promoting your forum (or online group, sweepstakes, prize drawings, contests, etc.). Within your forum profile, you’re allowed to share your own Web site and Blog URL. Leave it at that. (To update your forum profile, log in to the forums, then click your username where it says “Welcome back so-and-so” near the top of the forum.)

Please respect copyright material. If you want to share copyright material with our users, please link to it. Don’t take a story from another Web site and post it in our forum. Don’t copy a photo if you don’t own the rights and use it in our forum.

For further guidelines, please visit Frequently Asked Questions or our Web Site Usage Policy.

Our forum policies, including no advertising (updated 12/18/2008)

Karri Ferron — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:52:51 GMT

Now, to the rules:

Please keep discussions on topic (that is, astronomy-related).

For further guidelines, please visit Frequently Asked Questions or our Web Site Usage Policy.

Technical question about exposure

Spacer — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 14:02:12 GMT

I 'm trying to understand the "light gain" of photography in astronomy. If you can see down to 13th magnitude with your naked eye, what can a 10 minute exposure on film register? I also want to try tripod photography: a 35 mm camera with a cable release on a tripod. I understand that exposures of 1 to 30 seconds should capture most constellations --- my problem is that this makes no sense!

Photographic film is properly exposed when the amount of light reaching it is 100/ISO times .008 to .8 lux-seconds. For example, a typical daylight scene bounces, say, 3000 lux to your camera. If you're using ISO 100 film and set the camera at f/16 and 1/125 seconds (following the sunny 16 rule), then you get an exposure of .094 lux-seconds on your film --- a perfect exposure.

I gather that the light from a 0 magnitude star is about 2.7E-6 lux. With my lens wide open that seems to mean exposure times of many hours, which is obviously wrong. Is there something about point sources of light that throws off this kind of calculation?

FWIW, I've spent weeks on this question and looked at literally hundreds of Web sites. Maybe I just don't know how to ask the right questions. Or maybe most informational Web sites assume that one is either totally ignorant of or totally at home with the material. This is one of the few sites where amateurs can be advised by better-informed amateurs.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any responses.

Current film suggestions?

magic612 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:05:35 GMT

Hi everyone. I'm fairly new to this forum, but not new to astronomy. That said, I haven't done much astrophotography in quite some time (I'm guessing 10 years or more), and even then, I used the film I could afford and find, which was usually Fuji 400 ISO film.

I perused the posts on this sub-section, and realized that film is certainly not where a lot of astrophotography is done anymore - clearly most things have gone digital. That's all fine and good, except that my consumer digital cameral will only take a maximum of a 60 second exposure at 100 ISO and approx F2.8. Here's an example:

It really is Cygnus and Lyra, but you wouldn't really know it from that picture. It's not much of an exposure given the digital cameras limitations, so I'm probably limited to eyepiece projection - or lots of layering - from that equipment anyway.

Since I do have a rather nice Ricoh XR-10M 35mm SLR camera with several lenses, I'd like to do some piggyback or "barn door" longer exposure photography. Nothing fancy, but I'd like to get better at the technique, since I've recently acquired a very good equatorial mount. I figure I can get some very nice constellation pictures, and that will help me if I every wind up doing any prime-focus photography - either digital or film.

Any suggestions on what film(s) are still out that that I could use, that are widely available? And do any online/mail-in film processors do a good job with astrophotos? If so, who?

Thanks!

need help

adams61 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:53:47 GMT

well i few months ago i had shoulder surgery for a torn cup. before that i had no problems holding a camera steady but now i do i get minor tremors with my right arm if i try holding a camera steady with out a tripod. lucky for me i have a minolta maxxum 3 that comes with as a extra acc infrared remote. but the problem is the remote only has 2 options instant snapshot or about a 2 sec delay and either one dont work to well with astrophotography. Now i came across at a garage sale a self locking cable release for 25 cents lol but my question is that non of the newer cameras has a place on the body for this at least non that i look at so far. Now i am looking to buy a used camera body either digital or 35mm slr and the sites i come across well some of the sales personal wasnt sure what i was talking about and their sites dont really give detail discriptions on their products. Does anyone have recommendations and if i have to i am willing to buy a much older camera body and learn the fine art of doing manual photography and learning the correct usage of the fstop :) And yes i still shake the camera even when i got it hook to my telescope when i hold the shutter release down :)

Looking for an intro camera

Cepheid — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:23:07 GMT

Hey,

I was just wondering whether anyone had any recommendations for a startup camera for doing some astrophotography. I own a pretty small refractor telescope and was looking to photograph some stars and constellations.

A loss, a gain & a question

aquadan005 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:05:12 GMT

The loss, my 90mm refractor. Had been safely (or so I thought) stored in my attic. Long story short it has become useless as storage conditions in the attic are uncontrolled (278 yr old house no attic fan or ventilation) and the heat has destroyed it.

The gain, it came with an EQ mount, with slow motion hand controls for it. The tripod was a wooden two piece per leg design that wasn't very stable at all but the EQ mount itself is a very solidly constructed unit. As I was taking the stuff out to the trash it dawned on me that I might be able to modify the mount and use it as a platform for astrophotography. I took the unit apart and cleaned an lubricated it. Then I took a scrap piece of oak and drilled a 1/4'' dia. hole in the center, I drove a 1/4''x20 dowel screw in it and mounted this in place of where the scope was mounted.

Here is a picture of the set up ( I just noticed thats my new 10'' dob in the backround)

I'm going to make a sturdy platform to mount this on and then use it as a "barn door'' or ''scotch'' mount if you will.

The question, the part I'm not sure of is when I'm using this to take pictures do I make the adjustments on the RA control the same as with the scotch mount i.e 1/4 turn per 15 sec. ?

"T" Mount help

Joe B — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:08:53 GMT

I have a old AE-1 Cannon camera that works very well. I have been trying to fined a T mount for it without any luck. I think it may be to old. Can anyone help me out.If you know a place I might get one please let me know.

Thanks Much

God Bless

Joe Bruggeman

I need clarification

aquadan005 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:44:26 GMT

I read about images captured and rendered with descriptions such as "400 images stacked" what does this mean? I thought when you took a picture a shutter opend and closed and captured an image and then you developed it.

What is stacking and how does it work ?

I'm going to be taking pictures with my Dob. using a t-adapter and t ring and an SLR. Does this stacking have anything to do with film photography or is it strickly a digital method?

Maybe a quick astrophotography 101 course is in order here?

Dark skies

Mr_Quasar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:38:17 GMT

Hello. I am currently enrolled in a black and white film photography class. Our current project has to do with light, and I would like to try to take some star trail/field pictures. I have done a little of this before on my DSLR, but to my great disappointment, the dark site I was at was still not dark enough to produce good trail pictures without severely brightening the image. It's the darkest site anywhere close to me, in a yellow region for light pollution (from cleardarksky) , and I was just wondering how dark the sky actually has to be to do this properly. Could I get away with a green or a blue region? Or will I have to go all the way to a black site? I have a couple of weekends for this project, and I'm thinking about taking a weekend trip to some dark site farther away, but I would like to try to avoid it if I can. Thanks!

Online Film Developers?

Tawhano — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:15:28 GMT

Is there an on-line service that develops film for astrophotography? I have been looking around the area and surprisingly can't find a decent camera shop that develops film.

Sharing Slides

Tawhano — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:26:48 GMT

I notice a lot of mentioning about color slides being better than prints when I surf the web for film astrophotography guides. I was wondering how you share your photographs in this media; say like if you wanted to post your picture here or on a web site.

lens filters

spacemanmm — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:40:32 GMT

hello everyone,

do any of you know if there is such a thing as an Halpha filter for just a pentax 50mm lens? do they only make them for telescopes? or the alternative i guess would be any good filters out there for light pollution that can be used on this lens size?

thank you for any ideas.

I have a question.

shstarlight — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:55:28 GMT

Hello!

I have just recieved a 35mm Canon EF and I would like to use it for astrophotography and I would like to know if this is a good camera to use and what sort of film should I use with this camera.

Much Thanks!

STI Stiletto Focuser

Spacedock7 — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:21:51 GMT

Does anybody have any experience with one of these? I can't seem to get mine to work properly. When I try to focus on a bright star seems if there is any atmospheric disturbance, which there always is, the bars are swimming so badly it's impossible to see them much less focus. I may not have set it up properly, the instructions are kind of vague. Anybody mastered one of these things?

Rick

Pleiades

GaryB — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:32:24 GMT

The Pleiades.

Fuji Provia 400F

Orion 80mm ED

Mount ASGT

Guided manually

45-minute exposure

Camera Cannon EOS Rebel TI

Post processing: Photoshop Elements 2 with Noel Carboni ATN filters.

Gamma Cygni nebulae

redvis — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:35:08 GMT

Hello everyone,

Here is one of my deep sky film images from late last year that I am getting around to posting on the Astronomy.com website (please click on it to get a larger version):

35 minutes: Borg 77ED, Pentax K1000, Kodak Elite Chrome 200 film. Autoguided by a DSI Pro.

Larger version is here: Gamma Cygni 1280x962

Cameran

Pentax K1000 work with my scope?

GeddyE — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:50:41 GMT

I got my hands on a Pentax K1000 35mm camera a while back & recently began thinking about using it for astrophotography.

Does anyone have any opinions or experience mounting a camera like this to a Meade DS2114? After reading the last thread asking a similar question(different camera), I'm wondering if the weight of this camera would be too much weight for the mount.

I don't really want to shell out the money for the camera setup for my scope if it will be for nothing.

Anyone?

would this cam be anygood?

Symphon — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:45:31 GMT

Minota Dynax 7000i and 5000i

they are slr cameras but not digital. they can take exposures up to 30 seconds.

are they ok, cus ive been given those 2 cameras.

Technical Pan for Astrophotography

Ohad Drucker — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 10:09:57 GMT

I wonder how many of us still hyper and use this legendary film nowadays. Those of you who do, maybe now is the time to post a few examples and to teach or remind the virtues of this film to the others who don't use it. How do the results compare to CCD astrophotography in your opinion ?

I wanted to share with you a comparison I've made between very old rolls of Tech Pan and new ones, which left me quite optimistic that this film is still alive and breathing.....

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/astro/techpan-drucker.pdf

Film Suggestions.

zjc26138 — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 03:28:48 GMT

I need some new film suggestions please for use with my Canon AE-1. I have already tried Fuji Extra 800 and had some success with it. The other film I tried over the weekend was Kodak 200 Elite Chrome slide film and well not one of the slides came out. So I need to find some new filmsto try out, any suggestions?

Alternative ?

Pavan Keshavamurthy — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:50:53 GMT

For Cr2 Lithium Batteries..My camera ( Canon EOS 300 ) devours them.. and I'm broke these days..

Any alternatives ? Rechargeable- types' option ?