Astropics with digital camera/ Olympus C-2020Z

TEST REPORT
		Astropics with Digital Camera Olympus C-2020Z---

  This section presents you some experimental astrophotographs taken with a 2-mega pixels digital camera of OLYMPUS C-2020Z. This camera has unique specs of 3-power zoom lens with F2.0, and manual exposure mode up to 16 seconds.
  Recent high-performance digital cameras can bring us good results in case of collimated shots of Moon & Planets. Besides, it's fascinating that those cameras need no running costs of films & DPE.
  You can check not only Moon images but also star field and celestial object pictures in this page. Although it's not practical comparing with cooled CCD and/or normal films, please look around the characteristics of the digital camera for astro-photographing.

All images except planet images in this section have been taken with 1600 x 1200 full-size format
and shrunk to 640 x 480 pixels without trimming process.
(Each image has a size of 15 to 50KB)

1. Example image of dawn sky

An image of dawn Moon in the eastern sky, the Moon is a bit blurred because of thin clouds. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yakanashi pref.

Apr 30 2000, 4:24 JST, 1/1.6 sec. exp.,
f=9.6mm F2.8
CCD sensitivity: ISO100
No image retouching

2. Example images of Moon (taken under bad seeing condition)

A whole Moon image taken by attaching camera to telescope with Meade's adaptor. Fairly fine topography around the terminator can be resolved by image-restoration process. Taken at Tokyo.

Apr 25 2000, 1:12 JST, 1/80 sec. exp., f=6.6mm F2.0
VIXEN 20cm(7.9") VISAC, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:475mm (equivalent 2550mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO100
Image restorated with Wiener filter

Magnified Moon image by zooming the lens of digital camera. Crators around the terminator and the Apenninus Montes have been clearly recorded. Taken at Tokyo.

Unretouched image

Apr 25 2000, 1:19 JST, 1/20 sec. exp.，f=19.1mm F2.8
VIXEN 20cm(7.9") VISAC, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:1375mm (equivalent 7400mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO100
Image restorated with Wiener filter

3. Example images of Planets (taken under bad seeing condition)

Shrinked to 640 x 480 pixels after trimmed to 1024 x 768 pixels from full size images.

A Jupiter image created by composing 14 shots. Two dimmed stripes of NEB and SEB can be detected clearly. And you can detect a very dimmed black spot on right-hand side of SEB (upper stripe of Jupiter), it's shadow of Io, one of Galileian satellites. Taken at Tokyo.

Unretouched image

Sep 18 2000, 25:04 to 25:07 JST, 1/10 sec. exp., f=38.2mm F2.8
VIXEN 20cm(7.9") VISAC, afocal method with LV12mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:5730mm (equivalent 30700mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO100
14 flames composed, tone level adjusted & unsharp masking processed

Saturn image taken with same method of Jupiter above. You can see Saturn's shadow on the ring and the Cassini's division etc. because small-sized CCD chip can detect the image only with shutter speed faster than 1 sec. Taken at Tokyo.

Unretouched image

Sep 18 2000, 25:10 to 25:14 JST, 1/4 sec. exp.，f=38.2mm F2.8
VIXEN 20cm(7.9") VISAC, afocal method with LV12mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:5730mm (equivalent 30700mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO100
20 flames composed, tone level adjusted & unsharp masking processed

4. Example images of Constellation

	An experimental shot of a constellation of Scorpius with 16 seconds exposure time. The image shows you the Milky Way, color of Antares and shape of constellation. A little bit noisy maybe because the CCD sensitivity gained up to ISO 400. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image Apr 29 2000, 0:35 JST, 16 sec. exp., f=6.6mm F2.0 CCD sensitivity: ISO400 2x2 binned 3 flames composed, tone level adjusted
	W-shaped Cassiopeia has been taken with a focal length of 70mm (converted into 35mm film format). Uncountable fine stars can be detected because of a constellation bathed in the autumnal Milky Way. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Jun 4 2000, 2:42 JST, 16 sec. exp., f=13.1mm F2.2 CCD sensitivity: ISO400 3 flames composed, tone level adjusted
	A shot of Lyra with a focal length of 105mm converted into 35mm film format. In spite of a bit slow F number of 2.8 compared with F2.0 in wide-angle side, this camera can record the finest stars of 9th magnitude or so. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Jun 4 2000, 2:26 JST, 16 sec. exp., f=19.1mm F2.8 CCD sensitivity: ISO400 3 flames composed, tone level adjusted

5. Example images of Nebula & Star Cluster

A collimated image of the Great Orion Nebula M42. Though any noise-reduction process didn't be performed, fairly dimmed part of M42 have been detected. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref.

Unretouched image

Nov 18 2000, 22:33 JST, 16 sec. exp., f=6.6mm F2.0
TAKAHASHI 12.5cm(4.9") fluorite refractor, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:264mm (equivalent 1420mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO400
2x2 binned 7 flames composed, tone level & curve adjusted

An image of a galaxy of M104 (Sombrero Nebula) in Virgo. The central dark lane of M104 has appeared by binned multi-flame composing process. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref.

Unretouched image

May 11 2001, 22:46 JST, 16 sec. exp., f=6.6mm F2.0
Meade 25cm(10") Schmidt-Cassegrain, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:660mm (equivalent 3544mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO400
2x2 binned 8 flames composed, tone level & curve adjusted

6. Example image of double star

Highly magnified image of beta Cygni, Albireo. A beautiful pair of blue and orange with an angular distance of 34.6". Orange color of principal star has been saturated and shows you a bit whitish color. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref.

Apr 29 2000, 0:26 JST, 5 sec. exp., f=19.1mm F2.8
TAKAHASHI 12.5cm(4.9") fluorite refractor, afocal method with LV5mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:3820mm (equivalent 20550mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO400
No image retouching

	Copyright(c) 2000 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved.
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