bgrn Loc: Pleasant Grove UT

I have been starting to learn and practice focus stacking, mostly in house objects and will start this week with stars. I have a Canon 80D, 100-400 II, 1.4X converter. Would like to take Saturn and Jupiter and wondering if this combination would work. Yeah I know the 1.4X might be a killer for for this, but is it possible to crop and get Saturn's rings with this combination? Definitely not the best equipment for this but it is what I have to work with. I also have a 2X but not thinking it will work, poor for low light and IQ degrades. I also believe I have a nice dark place to set up the tripod. Any advice on settings to start with and I can go out, practice, and narrow it down from there.

Thanks in advance

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

560mm is a bit short for planets but you can try.

Remember that planets are quite bright so you don't need long exposures or a high ISO. ISO 100 and an exposure of about 1/100 sec is good place to start.

If you're going after astro targets, it is VERY important to get a good focus. With my setup I can autofocus on Jupiter or Saturn and lock in the focus. Not too sure about your setup for AF? You might consider doing an autofocus on the Moon as an alternative focus target.

As with all astro-imaging shoot lots of subs or video frames to overcome atmospheric instabilities then select the best subs for alignment and stacking. In the case of the Moon and planets you can probably just select the single best image for final processing.

Good luck and have fun!

bwa

scooter1 Loc: Yacolt, Wa.

I personally don't think you can get saturns rings with that setup.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

He can see the rings with that setup. The real question is whether he can see much detail, which I doubt.

scooter1 Loc: Yacolt, Wa.

I have an 8" telescope that I see them nicely with. Could I see the rings with a sigma 50-500 on a canon or would I need a converter with it and how big?