How to focus/zoom through camera

[Fuzz]

I'm new to stargazing and astrophotography, so these questions might be very basic.

I have a Celestron NexStar 8SE. I attached my Nikon D50 using the T-adapter and T-ring to my scope right onto the back (after removing the "visual back" and star diagonal).

I tried photographing Saturn, but the problem is, I cannot tell if it is in focus or not (it wasn't). The view through my camera viewfinder is so small, there's no way to tell if it's sharp or not. Saturn was in focus through the eyepiece (25mm), but since I removed the eyepiece to attach the camera, the focus is off (right?).

My other question is regarding zooming. Since I have removed the lens from my camera and attached the T-ring and T-adapter directly to the camera body, I obviously have no way to zoom from the camera. Is there any way of attaching the camera to a particular eyepiece to get narrower or wider fields of view? Otherwise I'm stuck with the view obtained straight through the scope.

Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[trevorw]

[QUOTE=Fuzz;536863]I'm new to stargazing and astrophotography, so these questions might be very basic.

I have a Celestron NexStar 8SE. I attached my Nikon D50 using the T-adapter and T-ring to my scope right onto the back (after removing the "visual back" and star diagonal).

I tried photographing Saturn, but the problem is, I cannot tell if it is in focus or not (it wasn't). The view through my camera viewfinder is so small, there's no way to tell if it's sharp or not. Saturn was in focus through the eyepiece (25mm), but since I removed the eyepiece to attach the camera, the focus is off (right?).

For focusing focus on a star first using a Bahitov or Hartman mask

[Registered users can see links. ]

My other question is regarding zooming. Since I have removed the lens from my camera and attached the T-ring and T-adapter directly to the camera body, I obviously have no way to zoom from the camera. Is there any way of attaching the camera to a particular eyepiece to get narrower or wider fields of view? Otherwise I'm stuck with the view obtained straight through the scope.

Yes via EP projection or Barlow


Cheers