hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I am planning on using a Sony A6300 hooked up to a Celestron 6SE next Monday. I am having problems focussing accurately in the sunlight. I can take a shot and look at it in review enlarged and see how I did (the sunspots help). By trial and error, I can slowly get it focussed but it is tedious. Is there a way to blow up the live view, so I can see immediately which way to turn the telescope focusing knob? I am also noting this in the Astronomical section.

SS319

If you focus on the sunspots near the center of the sun, you will be disappointed with the eclipse. you should focus on the edge or even the prominences at the edge of the solar disc. On Monday, you should have plenty of time to focus before or during the early stages of the eclipse. I think I would focus manually rather than with the controller, and don't change the camera focus tube adjustments once you have started focusing.

Remember that Atmospheric conditions will move the focus slightly so you are looking for the best focus over a long period and not necessarily instant focus. Keep your ISO low enough that your atmospheric activity is averaged out (1/60 - 1 second).

During the time when the moon is greater than 1/4 coverage, your light will be changing - you need to watch your match needle to adjust your shutter (or your ISO) to keep your histogram happy.

Canon believes you should shoot several shots at totality from -3 to +7 or wider so you can stack the photos and capture significant prominence - of course, with a telescope with a near full image of the sun, you won't get the prominence that is more than the the size of your image.

gessman Loc: Colorado

The answer to your question is yes, there is a way to magnify the image. I have the a6000 and a6500 and haven't looked at the menu of the a6300 but am sure it's roughly the same or very similar. In the a6500 menu in the first menu section under "Focus Assist," you turn magnifier on and just below that you tell it how long you want it to stay on. Then you need to assign it to a custom function button so you can select it on demand, also a menu setting. It would be better if you would read about it in your manual than for someone to tell you how to do it, thereby getting used to using the manual so you will be self-sufficient with your camera in the future. If you don't have a manual, you can download a copy at sony.com at https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl mdl=ILCE6300&LOC=3#/manualsTab

You might also go to youtube.com and search for a video of how to set and use the magnifier in the a6300. If you cannot get it working come back here and ask for more assistance. You might find what you need in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-f3fexMKeM&t=126s

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

A responder in the Astronomical section pointed me in this direction. I got it working and assigned it to a custom button. I am also streaming the photos to my iPad for checking.

gessman Loc: Colorado

I'm glad you got your dilemma fixed. Sounds like you might want to jot down JimH123's name somewhere so you can communicate with him directly via private message (PM) given that you both seem to enjoy similar interests which not everyone shares. It might facilitate you getting your answers quicker, more directly, and without comments that aren't pertinent to your question. With 76787 members in this forum, YOU got lucky - you could have gotten several pages of wrong answers and gotten to watch a bunch of people argue about your question for a day or so but instead you posted the same question in two different sections and only got 3 replies, one of which didn't answer your question.

You didn't mention it so I will assume that you aren't tethering your camera to your iPad, or perhaps you aren't even aware of it. It would allow you to have a much bigger view than the lcd so you can focus even more finely and turn your body to block the sun from your iPad as you focus the telescope with one hand and hold the iPad in the other, with the image magnified, of course. Then you could go sit nearby in a shady spot or under an umbrella and use the iPad to trigger the camera. Here is a video that will give you some ideas about technique even though it isn't about the iPad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wxkbwz1RDA. Then there are other videos specific to iPhone and iPad that will step you through the process of getting it all set up between your camera and iPhone/iPad, like this one how to connect the phone and iPad using the QR code method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRdBD8EKXH0, and how to set up PlayMemories app for controlling the camera which will let you do everything with the camera but focus the telescope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p64v2S7LtnM.

In the sidebar you'll find other videos that can assist you although you may have to watch a couple of useless ones. Doing this will not only solve your current focus issues but will also let you sit inside later where it's nice and warm on those cold nights and shoot the stars, adding better quality to your shots since you never have touch the camera while shooting and it will also work good for having your camera on a tripod where skittish wildlife frequent like feeders and watering holes without you being too close and scaring them off, if you're interested, of course. If you already know all this then sorry I wasted your time, and mine.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Thank you for your response. I was in and out of cell phone coverage in eastern Wyoming, so I couldn't keep up with this thread.