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• If the camera is not directly coupled to the eyepiece, keep it as close to the
eyepiece as possible and center the image to be photographed to minimize
vignetting (darkening of the edges of the photo).
• Try to block ambient light (from street lights, house, etc.) from the eyepiece and
the camera with a piece of cardboard, a screen, etc.
• Keep extra (charged) batteries on hand for your camera as digital cameras often
drain batteries in a short period of time. Rechargeable Lithium batteries provide
power for a longer period than non-rechargeable batteries. If practical, use an AC
adapter.
• Avoid short-focus eyepieces. They present many difficulties for digital cameras.
• If using manual focus, set to infinity. Otherwise, using the camera's autofocus is
OK.
• Experiment with your camera's exposure, brightness and /or contrast settings.
Keep notes for future reference.
• Clean eyepieces and camera lens as needed.
• Many digital cameras have a manual ISO setting. Short exposures times work the
best.
• Use your camera's highest image quality and lowest compression settings.
Although this fills up your camera's memory more quickly, it produces the best
quality photos.
• Use the camera's timer or remote shutter release (if available for your camera) to
minimize vibration. Wireless shutter releases may be available for some model
digital cameras. If you do not have a shutter release, use the
camera’s timer (sometimes called “self-timer”), which is available with most
digital cameras. The timer may also minimize vibration.
Photography with Meade’s Autostar Suite
The Autostar Suite with Meade LPI (Lunar Planetary Imager) and Planetarium software
turns your Meade ETX telescope, Autostar and PC into even more powerful and easy-
to-use astronomical instrument.
LPI (Lunar Planetary Imager,
Fig. 32) combines the power of an electronic
astronomical imager with the simplicity of a web cam. Check out the following LPI
features:
• Achieve great results the first time out on the Moon, planets, brighter deep-sky
objects and terrestrial targets.
• Easy to use with real-time display of object on your PC screen. Just center, focus
and shoot.
• Magic Eye software-assisted focusing.
• Automatic and manual exposure control from .001 to 15 seconds (up to 450x longer
than web cams).
• Automatically takes multiple exposures.
The Autostar Suite Software includes powerful tools to help you get the most from
your Meade ETX telescope:
• Sophisticated planetarium program with over 19 million objects.
• Select objects from the planetarium display and the telescope slews to those
objects.
• Create your own Guided Tours.
• Advanced Image Processing Software including Unsharp Masking, Convolution
Filtering and many other features.
• Control all Autostar functions from your PC.
• Talking Telescope software translates Autostar text to synthesized speech through
PC speaker.
• Includes a cable to connect your ETX model to your PC.
• Point-and-click Autostar tour generation.
• Create observing lists and download to Autostar.
Fig. 32: The Lunar
Planetary Imager.