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How to take moon photos with a telescope and DSLR camera

How to take Moon Pictures with a DSLR and a telescope (How to connect your digital camera to a telescope)

This is a first tutorial – There is a whole lot more you can do with this but we will start by talking about how easy it is to take pictures of the moon using something called a T-ring adapter.

Here is a picture of the moon that I took using this technique.

(1/250 of a second and ISO 800)

My set up is:

  • Canon EOS Rebel T6 Camera
  • Svbony T-ring and adapter
  • Celestron 8 inch telescope

The links are to amazon so you can see the exact ones that I purchased. With the case of the telescope it isn’t the exact one I purchased.

I used a product called a t-ring adapter. This is something that easily connects your camera to a telescope. It’s an adapter. For this tutorial only the two smaller pieces are needed. If you purchase through the amazon link you get all three of these pieces.

Let’s set it up in less than a minute!

Here’s my camera. It’s a pretty standard Canon with a standard lens on it.

You remove the lens.

And put on the T-ring. It has a red dot and is exactly the same as any canon lens. You line up the red-dots then rotate until it clicks.

Then screw in the adapter.

Now all you have to do is insert that into the eyepiece holder of the telescope. Make sure there is no eyepiece in the telescope. This setup substitutes for the eyepiece. You achieve focus by using the focuser knob on the telescope.

Some tips on Camera settings

Camera settings can vary a lot. If you have experience with your camera and using the setting then you probably don’t need any tips or advice on this. If you are a beginner let me give you some tips on how to set your camera.

Put it on live view so you can get a look at the focus and the brightness of the moon.

Set your camera pixel density to large so you get the biggest and deepest pictures you can get.

I took pictures of the moon while it was just a sliver. This is the best time to take pictures of it because the long shadows really bring out the craters and the light is not overly bright. But when the moon is full or near full it is extremely bright so you will need to change the settings on your camera a lot to adjust for this.

What I do is take a shot, look at the picture in live view, adjust the camera, take another shot, and repeat this process. Digital pictures don’t cost anything so take lots of them. And experiment a lot!

For example. I set my camera on 1/200 of a second and then looked to see how the picture came out. If it is too bright I then move to 1/250 of a second. And, of course, if it is too dim I move to 1/160. You get the idea.

As far as ISO settings go you can typically follow rules of thumb for any picture. Keep the ISO at mid range and see how the picture turns out. I took the moon picture in this article at ISO 800.

White balance is another option you should tinker with. For my pictures I used the Tungsten setting. Start with that setting and move over a bit warmer to White Fluorescent to see how you like the pictures.

Post Processing – You can do a lot with the pictures with some software like Photoshop and if you are really intent on getting the most out of your pictures set your camera to RAW so you get the maximum amount of information in the picture.


Here is the exact camera kit I bought on amazon and use for this tutorial: I use what they call the Kit lens for my Milky Way photos. I didn’t buy any kind of a fancy lens. It’s the standard lens that comes with the kit.

Canon T6 EOS Rebel DSLR Camera Kit


Looking for another interesting subject to photograph?

New Tutorial: How to easily take Milky Way photos with a digital camera. I show you exactly what to do and what to set your camera at so you easily take perfect Milky Way photos.

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