Bananamojo

I have a Sony rx10 mk IV and hoped to try some pictures of Saturn last week. Best I could do was overexposed, semi focused blobs. I got great detailed pictures of the moon however. I was using a tripod with a remote trigger. I tried various combinations of ISO, aperture and shutter. Hard to achieve infinity focus. I'm embarrassed to show what I got but there was nothing useful from any combinations I tried. I would appreciate your suggestions.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Averaging metering will yield those results. It averages all the dark in the WHOLE frame and a tiny speck of light and sets the exposure for, basically, the dark, overexposing the little bit of light.

Will the camera do spot metering on the planet?

Bananamojo

It's a fixed 600mm lens so the planet isn't very large but can't get a good exposure, mostly overexposed and even if I try to adjust shutter for exposure it's either too dark and not focused or overexposed.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Does the camera have selectable metering modes?
Or are you doing manual exposure settings.

MarcusTitus Loc: Dallas

Here is my setup and I got acceptable pictures (IMO) of Saturn, Jupiter was always washed out (Too much distance and light for both in the same picture). Remember, you are still only focusing on dots in the sky @ 600mm, you have to crop the picture to see the rings.

Canon 5DS R
Canon EF 300mm f/4.0
Canon 2X Extender (600 mm effective focal length)
Manual Mode
ISO 3200
Shutter 1/320
f/11

Bananamojo

I tried with both manual and various modes. I see from another response I should have waited longer for tripod shake and I was also on a wood deck that might have microvibrations.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

What metering mode are you using? Spot metering would be best.

togajim

You shouldn't be embarrassed, you're just trying to accomplish a task with equipment that wasn't designed for the task. I have an RX10 MkIII, so very similar (if not identical) optics. What I've read about the focus on these cameras, is that they are poor at focusing on dimly lit night sky objects (stars), although great for the moon, either manual or auto. I purchased a bahtinov mask as an aid to get accurate focus, but found that I could do as well with just making the bright stars as small as possible. I also messed up when I took my photo by using the digital zoom, rather than just getting the best RAW pic and using software to enhance the image. I've just started developing astrophotography skills and am starting to realize getting good pictures of Saturn requires a lot more than using the proper settings and focusing.....things like stacking a thousand still frames in Deep Sky Stacker, or using video to collect your shots and processing with software, etc. I have lots of good links if you are interested in learning astrophotography. Here's my best shot, taken on 12/15. Saturn is oblong (the rings) and you can see 4 of Jupiter's moon. jpeg taken at full digital zoom, f/4, 1/2 sec, ISO 800, with a tripod of course. Happy shooting!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Spot metering would only work on a target large enough to be measured. The best would be to use the same 500 rule that photographers use to shoot stars without trails and forget about metering.

With a 600mm effective lens, the camera should be set to about 8/10 sec, at F4 and an ISO high enough to record something. Best to pick a wider angle lens and adjust exposure and ISO accordingly.

Or use this:

https://fstoppers.com/astrophotography/heres-what-it-takes-take-photo-saturn-496720

But a camera and even a long lens will not record any detail. If you are really serious, then follow Togajim's advice.

agillot

also may i add , if you are shooting straight up , the atmosphere layer is at it s thinnest , if you are shooting near the horizon it is at it s thickest .so , dont expect the best .

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Manual focus at infinity and experiment with the exposures. Digital film is cheap.

JBRIII

I have an automatic telescope designed for photography only. It says that it is poor for planets, too small, great for nebula, etc. That said, Saturn shoes rings and Jupiter bands, Venus, Uranus and Neptune O.K., but nothing I tried worked for Mars, always got the Orange out of focus blob others showed here and questioned. As stated, I have little control over the settings, but Mars, like your results made no sense to me. Venus is very bright, but looks OK, the moon looks great, the outer planets are dim, but look OK, so what's up. It is like there is some "sour spot" the system just can't handle. System takes many shots, is guide, stacks and derotated them so???? Tried several times over different nights and sky positions, but always an out of focused blob.

Canisdirus

The super zooms work for the Moon and the sun...and that's about it astro wise.

francwoods

I tried several nights and this is the best I could come up with:
Nikon D7200, Tamron 18-400 at 400, ISO 100, f/6.3, 2.5 sec, manual focus, cropped

(Download)

aginzu

It's very difficult to photograph the planets with any kind of lens, even a telescope, without using multiple exposures and digital stacking because of atmospheric turbulence. Occasionally, during a moment of still air you can get a semi-decent shot. This was taken on December 21 with a Sony a6300 through an 8", 2000mm focal length telescope further magnified with eyepiece projection and was one of a dozen or more shots where Saturn just looked like a blob in most of them. For comparison, the picture below was also taken through a similar telescope, but using a 640x480 webcam and stacking approximately 50 images selected from over 600.