Astropics with digital camera/ Casio QV2800UX

TEST REPORT
		Astropics with Digital Camera CASIO QV2800UX---

  In here I have displayed some example astroimages taken with a 2-mega pixels digital still camera of CASIO QV-2800UX. Although the camera has a bit low-speed lens with F3.2, it has 8-powered zoom lens and manual exposure mode up to 60 seconds. Furthermore you can use a unique function of "Interval exposure mode" that allow you to capture plural shots perfectly automatically; the function can be used to get flames for multi-composed astrophotographs.
  The camera is unsuitable for star-field pictures because of a low-speed lens, but I have succeeded to capture fairly good images of small deep sky objects by using of afocal method method with telescopes and eyepieces.
  I'm planning to add new results gradually in here, and I'll add images taken with this camera in other sections of this site at the same time.

All 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

This is a trial shot of dawn Moon & Venus in morning eastern sky. Taken at Koumi town, Nagano pref.

May 19 2001, 3:55 JST(+0900), 3.2 sec. exp.,
f=6.2mm F3.2
CCD sensitivity: ISO80, White Balance: Daylight
No image retouching

2. Example image of Moon

The southern hemisphere of Moon. The camera is attached to telescope by using of VIXEN's adaptor. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref.

Unretouched image

May 12 2001, 2:04 JST(+0900), 1/183 sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2 (aperture priority)
Meade 25cm (10") Schmidt-Cassegrain, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece
Synthesized focal length:620mm (equivalent 4130mm in 35mm film format)
CCD sensitivity: ISO80, White Balance: Daylight
Image restorated with Wiener filter & unsharp masking processed

3. Example image of Planet

	A Venus image created by composing 5 shots taken in midday. The camera has a shutter speed up to 1/2000sec., so suitable for bright objects like Venus or Sun. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image May 18 2001, 10:05 to 10:09 JST(+0900), 1/640 sec. exp., f=12.4mm(with 2-power digital zoom) F3.2 Meade 25cm (10") Schmidt-Cassegrain, afocal method with LV5mm eyepiece Synthesized focal length:6200mm (equivalent 41300mm in 35mm film format) CCD sensitivity: ISO80, White Balance: Daylight 5 flames composed, tone level adjusted & unsharp masking processed
	A Jupiter image created by composing 7 shots. This image shows a indistinct red spot of Jupiter. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image Oct 27 2001, 24:15 to 24:16 JST(+0900), 1/13 sec. exp., f=46.8mm F3.5 Meade 25cm (10") Schmidt-Cassegrain, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece Synthesized focal length:4680mm (equivalent 31174mm in 35mm film format) CCD sensitivity: ISO160, White Balance: Daylight 7 flames composed, tone level adjusted & unsharp masking processed
	This is a Saturn image created by composing 7 shots. The Cassini's division in ring can be recognized somehow. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image Jan 12 2003, 22:31 JST(+0900), 1/4 sec. exp., f=48mm F3.5 Meade 25cm (10") Schmidt-Cassegrain, afocal method with LV12mm eyepiece Synthesized focal length:9776mm (equivalent 64521mm in 35mm film format) CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Daylight 7 flames composed, tone level adjusted & unsharp masking processed

4. Example images of star-field

	A whole image of the constellation of Leo taken with wide ranged side. This camera has a convenient function of noise reduction algorism in case of long time exposures. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image Apr 27 2001, 23:04 to 23:09 JST(+0900), 60 sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2 CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Daylight 2x2 binned 5 flames composed, tone level adjusted & star-sharp filter
	This is a wide field image around Scorpius & Sagittarius taken with the interval exposure mode. The image has been created by composing 8 shots captured automatically with an interval time of 1 minute. This unique function is very useful because I don't have to be near the camera during photography. But environmental temperature was high (about 8 degC), this result shows you considerably noisy. I'll retest in hard winter. Taken at Koumi town, Nagano pref. Unretouched image May 18 2001, 24:01 to 24:23 JST(+0900), 60 sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2 CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Fluorescence 2x2 binned 8 flames composed, tone level adjusted & star-sharp filter
	This image shows you a field of M8 & closing Mars taken with a focal length of 320mm converted into 35mm film format. I have taken 8 flames by using of interval exposure mode same as an upper picture. Taken at Koumi town, Nagano pref. Unretouched image May 18 2001, 25:07 to 25:28 JST(+0900), 60 sec. exp., f=48mm F3.5 CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Fluorescence 2x2 binned 8 flames composed, tone level adjusted & star-sharp filter
	A star field around Orion taken under very cold condition(about -8 degC). Low temperature permits me to get fairly good astro-images with low noise. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image Dec 14 2002, 24:27 to 24:39 JST(+0900), 50sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2 CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Daylight 2x2 binned 5 flames composed, tone level adjusted
	This image has been taken with a wide-conversion adaptor, equivalent f=28mm in film format. It was very cold winter night, you can detect a very dimmed winter's Milky Way in this image due to low noise in CCD chip. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image Dec 14 2002, 26:22 to 26:49 JST(+0900), 60sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2, with wide-conversion lens CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Daylight 2x2 binned 10 flames composed, tone level adjusted

5. Example images of Nebula & Star Cluster

	A noticeable globular cluster of M5 taken by afocal method method. The globular clusters are easy to capturing with compact digital still cameras. It might be needed more composing shots to get sufficient quality equivalent to normal film image. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image May 13 2001, 25:18 to 25:56 JST(+0900), 60 sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2 Meade 25cm (10") Schmidt-Cassegrain, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece Synthesized focal length:620mm (equivalent 4130mm in 35mm film format) CCD sensitivity: ISO160, White Balance: Daylight & Fluorescence 2x2 binned 6 flames composed, tone level adjusted & star-sharp filter
	This image shows you a compact planetary nebula of "Cat's eye Nebula" in Doraco. Digital cameras can take better shots of bright planetary nebulae than those taken with SLR camera & films. A telescope with an aperture of 25cm (10 inch) should resolve detailed structure of this nebula, but unfortunately this shot could not because of bad seeing condition. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image May 13 2001, 24:07 to 24:22 JST(+0900), 50 sec. exp., f=19.1mm F3.2 Meade 25cm (10") Schmidt-Cassegrain, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece Synthesized focal length:1910mm (equivalent 12720mm in 35mm film format) CCD sensitivity: ISO80, White Balance: Daylight 2x2 binned 5 flames composed, tone level adjusted & star-sharp filter
	This is a wide field image around the Orion Nebula (M42) taken by the afocal method with a telephoto lens for SLR camera and an eyepiece. And this image has been created by composing 5 individual shots. This facile star-field photographing system can be used for rather large objects. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. Unretouched image Nov 24 2001, 23:46 to 23:58 JST(+0900), 60sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2 Tokina AT-X828 zoom f=200mm F2.8, afocal method with LV25mm eyepiece Synthesized focal length:50mm (equivalent 330mm in 35mm film format) CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Daylight 2x2 binned 5 flames composed, tone level adjusted & star-sharp filter

6. GIF animations by using of interval functions

A GIF animation image of the diurnal motion of Canopus for about 100 minutes. A bright star moving near the mountain ridge is Canopus, alpha Carinae. It's rather greenish image because of light pollution. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. (Caution: file size is about 530KB)

Dec 23 2001, 22:56 to 24:41 JST(+0900), 50 sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2
GIF animation format from 29 individual shots
CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Daylight

This image shows you the Orion and winter constellations sinking in western sky, created from 33 shots taken for 4 hours. I used a wide-conversion lens and this image area is equivalent to about f=28mm in 35mm film format. Taken at Ooizumi vil., Yamanashi pref. (Caution: file size is about 1040KB)

Dec 23 2001, 25:47 to 28:53 JST(+0900), 50 sec. exp., f=6.2mm F3.2
With wide-conversion lens
GIF animation format from 33 individual shots
CCD sensitivity: ISO320, White Balance: Daylight

	Copyright(c) 2001 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved.
To top page