Focal length needed to photograph Saturn rings?

7 years 2 months ago #517837 by Fishtaco
Hey guys.  What size telescope would be needed to photograph the rings of Saturn?


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7 years 2 months ago #517859 by KCook
Depends :dry:

I can see the rings with my little 60mm refractor.  Thus, in theory, also photograph them.  But the quality of the image would hardly be worth the effort!!!

Search for amateur photos of Saturns rings.  Some of those should yield the telescope used.

Kelly Cook

Canon 50D, Olympus PL2
kellycook.zenfolio.com/

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7 years 1 month ago #523384 by Luca
You can see it with 300mm lens with crop sensor camera.  


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7 years 1 month ago #523453 by effron

Luca wrote: You can see it with 300mm lens with crop sensor camera.  


Misnomer...the sensor size has nothing to do with magnification, that's the lens' job.  Using a 300mm lens and all else being the same, Saturn will be the exact same size on a full frame or "crop" sensor. The edges of the latter are merely "cropped", giving one the illusion of being closer....

Why so serious?
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7 years 1 month ago #523674 by Stic
While this is 'sorta' true, it 'sorta' isn't as well...

With my 7DII, 100-400 +2x converter, I can get more pixels on the moon than I could with 5DIII, 100-400 and 2x converter...

It fills more of the image (and, as the full image has approximately the same number of pixels in it), it effectively gets me closer...


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7 years 1 month ago #523796 by effron

Why so serious?
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7 years 3 weeks ago #524481 by Stic
I'm sorry but, my crop just gets me closer!

I know this upsets the die hard photographic nerds, but, unfortunately, it IS TRUE.

When I take a photo on my 7D2, the resulting image at any given size, shows the 'subject' larger (read closer) than it would be in an image from a full frame camera at the same size...

I couldn't give a monkey's whether this is the 'crop' camera magnifying the subject,  a result of the smaller sensor cropping the image, voodoo or satan playing with reality, THE END RESULT IS THE SAME!

Crop's get you closer (in the resulting image); who CARES how this actually happens!


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7 years 3 weeks ago #524500 by effron
Its great if you believe your "crop" gets you closer. Have fun!

Why so serious?
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7 years 3 weeks ago - 7 years 3 weeks ago #524557 by Stic
Ok, 'closer' is the wrong word...

Enlarges the subject in my image...

...how's that?

However, this IS the SAME result as if I was using a FF and closer...


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6 years 11 months ago #530250 by garyrhook
Well, you're correct that "closer" is the wrong word.

The rendered image on the sensor is the same size, period, based on focal length. The difference is that the captured area is larger on a full frame. By definition the same size object would occupy more space on a crop frame because the captured area is smaller. It's just geometry.

If I capture an image of the moon my full frame in FX mode, and then again in DX mode, it will turn out that the dimensions of the moon will be identical in both, measured in pixels. A crop sensor buys you nothing. Fortunately, math doesn't lie.

What should matter is pixel density. More pixels in a smaller space is likely to result in finer detail.


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6 years 11 months ago #530632 by Stic

garyrhook wrote:

What should matter is pixel density. More pixels in a smaller space is likely to result in finer detail.


I think I mentioned that earlier...


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The following user(s) said Thank You: garyrhook
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3 years 8 months ago #694803 by [email protected]
Beg to differ Luca,  A crop sensor DOES change the focal length of your lens.  Multiple a lens focal  X 1.6 to get the crop equivalent.  


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