The spectrometer produces very clear, sharp spectra. To the eye, the absorption lines in the solar spectrum appear very crisp, but are not of high contrast. Emission lines in fluorescent sources are also crisp, and very contrasty. Nevertheless, it is very difficult for me to get good images with my equipment.

Equipment:
Camera: Kodak DC290 digital, 2.1 megapixel, 2X optical zoom.
Exposure: Don't know - the camera doesn't provide any manual shuttering control.

Camera spectral sensitivity:
You should notice that the solar spectrum (below) begins at about 650 nm and ends at about 420 nm. My eyes can detect from >700 nm to about 380 nm. You might also notice that there are really only three colors displayed: Red, green and blue. This is because the CCD chip can sense color in only three distinct bands, red, green and blue.  What happened to the yellow, orange, turquoise, violet, etc? The answer is that the camera cannot sense these colors, it does its best to synthesize them out of red+green+blue. Your display monitor may or may not be further complicating the problem (something to think about...)

I suspect that the color filters in the camera do not overlap very well either. Notice that between red and green there appears to be a dim zone from about 600 to 570. (there is also a sodium absorption band at 590 nm). The zone between green and blue is also slightly darker. It is impossible for this camera to uniformly expose the entire spectrum from 700 to 350, or even from 650 to 400. What is needed is a panchromatic, black&white detector, like plain silicon or even black and white film. Neither are nearly as convenient as a nice digital camera, they don't make pretty pictures, but they are great for real science.

Connecting the camera:
The camera and spectrometer were mounted on a plywood base. See image:

The camera mounts at the screw at right. (I had to use the camera to take this picture, so it's not shown, obviously.) The camera lens is butted right up against the viewing port of the spectrometer. This configuration holds everything steady, allowing longer exposures and preventing blurring. The entire assembly can be hand held or located on a tabletop or tripod.