Hello all-
You'll probably recognize this thread immediately as a "newbie" (read: idiot!) question, but hey, I fear no loss of dignity. I've been involved in amateur astronomy for a little over a year now, having enjoyed the views from my 8" Meade, and have always had my eye on astro-imaging, either via traditional film or digital.
I'm just an impoverished college student, and the associated social atmosphere has got me saving up to get a digital camera, mostly for non-astronomy reasons. However, it would be nice if the camera I buy would also have a decent fare in astro-photography. So, I'm looking at buying a Panasonic DMC-FZ10 (or FZ3, if the money does not flow as I hope). This camera is 4MPs, accepts aftermarket threaded lenses (which means that I could possibly find some kind of an adapter to get it attached to my scope, correct?), but the max exposure time is only 8 seconds. Bummer!
Being perpetually broke, Canon Digital Rebels and Nikon D70s are absolutely out of the question. I'm familiar with stacking techniques and all that - I mean, I've never done any of it, but I know the process and why it's done. I guess, to make this incredibly long introduction come to the real point, will an 8 second max exposure time produce decent images of deep-sky objects, like nebulas and the like? How many images do you think that this will require?
Any imput is greatly appreciated!! I've been reading the forums on here for a long time, and it is my opinion that y'all are the cream of the amateur crop. Talk to you later, I'm sure.
-Russ
You'll probably recognize this thread immediately as a "newbie" (read: idiot!) question, but hey, I fear no loss of dignity. I've been involved in amateur astronomy for a little over a year now, having enjoyed the views from my 8" Meade, and have always had my eye on astro-imaging, either via traditional film or digital.
I'm just an impoverished college student, and the associated social atmosphere has got me saving up to get a digital camera, mostly for non-astronomy reasons. However, it would be nice if the camera I buy would also have a decent fare in astro-photography. So, I'm looking at buying a Panasonic DMC-FZ10 (or FZ3, if the money does not flow as I hope). This camera is 4MPs, accepts aftermarket threaded lenses (which means that I could possibly find some kind of an adapter to get it attached to my scope, correct?), but the max exposure time is only 8 seconds. Bummer!
Being perpetually broke, Canon Digital Rebels and Nikon D70s are absolutely out of the question. I'm familiar with stacking techniques and all that - I mean, I've never done any of it, but I know the process and why it's done. I guess, to make this incredibly long introduction come to the real point, will an 8 second max exposure time produce decent images of deep-sky objects, like nebulas and the like? How many images do you think that this will require?
Any imput is greatly appreciated!! I've been reading the forums on here for a long time, and it is my opinion that y'all are the cream of the amateur crop. Talk to you later, I'm sure.
-Russ
