Attendee: $120 per person
Location: Perth Observatory
Date: 17th of December
Time: 7 pm – 10 pm (Doors open at: 6:30 pm)

Join us for an unforgettable evening of photographing Venus, and the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, at the Perth Observatory. With Summer being planet season, this year’s show promises to be fantastic, and we’ll help you capture some stunning shots using your camera.

We’ll rotate 12 participants between four telescopes, so you’ll have plenty of time to experiment with different settings, share techniques, and take advantage of our equipment. Our telescopes are equipped with camera adaptors to connect your camera and record raw footage, which you can take home to process and share with your friends and family.

To participate, you’ll need to have a good working knowledge of your camera and its settings, but don’t worry – we’ll teach you the exact settings to use on the night. Before we head to the telescopes, we’ll have a 30-45-minute theory session where you’ll learn about the equipment, software, and image processing.

When booking, please provide details of your camera brand and model so we can cater to your needs. If you have a T-ring adaptor or Barlow lenses, bring them along to familiarise yourself with your equipment.

If the weather is too cloudy to photograph the planets, we’ll replace the workshop with a two-hour beginner’s image processing workshop. However, moderate levels of cloud won’t stop us from proceeding with the workshop if at all possible.

These are the cameras we support:

  • Canon EF
  • Canon R
  • Nikon F
  • Nikon Z
  • Pentax K
  • Micro 4/3 (Olympus and Panasonic Lumix)
  • Fuji X
  • Sony E
  • Sony A
  • M42 thread-mount

To ensure we can cater to all our guests appropriately, please provide details of your camera brand and model at the time of booking. We are able to also mount most mobile phones on a telescope, however we recommend users have a main camera of the supported mount type in addition to their mobile phoneIn case of poor weather conditions, we’ll replace the practical part of the night with a telescope tour and software demonstration, including image processing.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to capture stunning shots of Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Saturn taken through the C14 Telescope. Image Credit: Geoff Scott
Jupiter and it's Galilean Moons. Image Credit: Geoff Scott
Venus through telescope. Image Credit: Will Kalif
Attendee using the Meade 14 Telescope to record Jupiter. Image Credit: Matt Woods
Attendee using the CPC1100 Telescope to record Jupiter. Image Credit: Matt Woods
Attendee using the 30 inch Telescope to record Saturn. Image Credit: Matt Woods

Book Now

To make a booking on the Planetfest Photography Workshop, simply enter the number of people attending and select the desired date from the booking calendar. Dates with green backgrounds indicate available spots, while red backgrounds denote fully booked tours and yellow highlights today’s date.

Once you have selected your desired tour date, click the “Book Now” button to proceed to the checkout section, where you can complete your payment. You will receive a confirmation email once your booking is complete, and on the night of the tour, our host will ask for the name under which the booking was made and mark you off on the booking sheet.

Please provide info on the make and model of your camera at the time of booking in the notes field in the checkout section.

Step 1: Choose the number of people that are coming