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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am |
#2
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On Oct 20, 2017, Old Geezerr wrote
(in ): Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? Many here have. The foremost proponent here would be Davoud. He has his observatory installation, and his travelling kit, but his usage is mostly astrophotography. The most common telescope photography can be found in the birding community I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. A reflector scope is not going to make a particularly good spotting scope for range work. For that it would be best to look for a modern refractor scope. From my serious target shooting days I have two very good (no longer made) Bausch & Lomb, and a Kowa spotting scopes. All three are over 50 years old, and while they make good range and birding spotting scopes, the old lenses with old lens coatings do not make for great photographic lenses. That said there are some modern spotting scopes which do a very good to excellent job when used for photography, and the best of these are not inexpensive. The best can be as expensive as some of the best photographic lenses, many have prices which can excede $2000. Nikon has a broad range (in price and performance) of spotting scopes some of which do well in the photography role. http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/nikon-products/fieldscopes/index.page Celestron has some more affordable spotting scopes, including those mirror scopes. https://www.celestron.com/collections/spotting-scopes I had mentioned, and can recommend Kowa. http://www.kowaproducts.com Then there is Leitz/Leica and Zeiss. https://us.leica-camera.com/Sport-Op...ting/Spotting- Scopes/About-Leica-spotting-scopes https://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_de/nature/spotting-scopes.html Add to your list Redfield. https://www.redfield.com/spottingscopes/ All of these are available from B&H, and some from Amazon. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Scopes/ci/980/N/4294541818 I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? That depends on the kind of photography you intend to use the scope/lens for. There are reasons why cheap mirror lenses, while providing great magnification for relatively low cost, are not the best choice. I believe PeterN has a mirror lens he doesn’t use that much these days. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am -- Regards, Savageduck |
#3
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 15:08:34 -0700, Savageduck
wrote: On Oct 20, 2017, Old Geezerr wrote (in ): Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? Many here have. The foremost proponent here would be Davoud. He has his observatory installation, and his travelling kit, but his usage is mostly astrophotography. The most common telescope photography can be found in the birding community I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. A reflector scope is not going to make a particularly good spotting scope for range work. For that it would be best to look for a modern refractor scope. From my serious target shooting days I have two very good (no longer made) Bausch & Lomb, and a Kowa spotting scopes. All three are over 50 years old, and while they make good range and birding spotting scopes, the old lenses with old lens coatings do not make for great photographic lenses. That said there are some modern spotting scopes which do a very good to excellent job when used for photography, and the best of these are not inexpensive. The best can be as expensive as some of the best photographic lenses, many have prices which can excede $2000. Nikon has a broad range (in price and performance) of spotting scopes some of which do well in the photography role. http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/nikon-products/fieldscopes/index.page Celestron has some more affordable spotting scopes, including those mirror scopes. https://www.celestron.com/collections/spotting-scopes I had mentioned, and can recommend Kowa. http://www.kowaproducts.com Then there is Leitz/Leica and Zeiss. https://us.leica-camera.com/Sport-Op...ting/Spotting- Scopes/About-Leica-spotting-scopes https://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_de/nature/spotting-scopes.html Add to your list Redfield. https://www.redfield.com/spottingscopes/ All of these are available from B&H, and some from Amazon. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Scopes/ci/980/N/4294541818 I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? That depends on the kind of photography you intend to use the scope/lens for. There are reasons why cheap mirror lenses, while providing great magnification for relatively low cost, are not the best choice. I believe PeterN has a mirror lens he doesn’t use that much these days. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am Thanks Savageduck Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am |
#4
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On 10/20/2017 6:08 PM, Savageduck wrote:
On Oct 20, 2017, Old Geezerr wrote (in ): Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? Many here have. The foremost proponent here would be Davoud. He has his observatory installation, and his travelling kit, but his usage is mostly astrophotography. The most common telescope photography can be found in the birding community I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. A reflector scope is not going to make a particularly good spotting scope for range work. For that it would be best to look for a modern refractor scope. From my serious target shooting days I have two very good (no longer made) Bausch & Lomb, and a Kowa spotting scopes. All three are over 50 years old, and while they make good range and birding spotting scopes, the old lenses with old lens coatings do not make for great photographic lenses. That said there are some modern spotting scopes which do a very good to excellent job when used for photography, and the best of these are not inexpensive. The best can be as expensive as some of the best photographic lenses, many have prices which can excede $2000. Nikon has a broad range (in price and performance) of spotting scopes some of which do well in the photography role. http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/nikon-products/fieldscopes/index.page Celestron has some more affordable spotting scopes, including those mirror scopes. https://www.celestron.com/collections/spotting-scopes I had mentioned, and can recommend Kowa. http://www.kowaproducts.com Then there is Leitz/Leica and Zeiss. https://us.leica-camera.com/Sport-Op...ting/Spotting- Scopes/About-Leica-spotting-scopes https://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_de/nature/spotting-scopes.html Add to your list Redfield. https://www.redfield.com/spottingscopes/ All of these are available from B&H, and some from Amazon. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Scopes/ci/980/N/4294541818 I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? That depends on the kind of photography you intend to use the scope/lens for. There are reasons why cheap mirror lenses, while providing great magnification for relatively low cost, are not the best choice. I believe PeterN has a mirror lens he doesn’t use that much these days. Yep! Every so often I play with it But it is a 500mm, and I can put my 1.4 telconverter on my 80-400 and have better glass, with auto focusing. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am -- PeterN |
#5
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On 10/20/2017 8:23 PM, Old Geezerr wrote:
On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 15:08:34 -0700, Savageduck wrote: On Oct 20, 2017, Old Geezerr wrote (in ): Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? Many here have. The foremost proponent here would be Davoud. He has his observatory installation, and his travelling kit, but his usage is mostly astrophotography. The most common telescope photography can be found in the birding community I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. A reflector scope is not going to make a particularly good spotting scope for range work. For that it would be best to look for a modern refractor scope. From my serious target shooting days I have two very good (no longer made) Bausch & Lomb, and a Kowa spotting scopes. All three are over 50 years old, and while they make good range and birding spotting scopes, the old lenses with old lens coatings do not make for great photographic lenses. That said there are some modern spotting scopes which do a very good to excellent job when used for photography, and the best of these are not inexpensive. The best can be as expensive as some of the best photographic lenses, many have prices which can excede $2000. Nikon has a broad range (in price and performance) of spotting scopes some of which do well in the photography role. http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/nikon-products/fieldscopes/index.page Celestron has some more affordable spotting scopes, including those mirror scopes. https://www.celestron.com/collections/spotting-scopes I had mentioned, and can recommend Kowa. http://www.kowaproducts.com Then there is Leitz/Leica and Zeiss. https://us.leica-camera.com/Sport-Op...ting/Spotting- Scopes/About-Leica-spotting-scopes https://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_de/nature/spotting-scopes.html Add to your list Redfield. https://www.redfield.com/spottingscopes/ All of these are available from B&H, and some from Amazon. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Scopes/ci/980/N/4294541818 I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? That depends on the kind of photography you intend to use the scope/lens for. There are reasons why cheap mirror lenses, while providing great magnification for relatively low cost, are not the best choice. I believe PeterN has a mirror lens he doesn’t use that much these days. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am Thanks Savageduck Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am Here is a link to an interesting article on the subject: https://petapixel.com/2012/11/09/digiscoping-a-look-at-using-a-spotting-scope-as-a-telephoto-lens/ My opinion follows: If our interest is just recording images of birds, you will probably not get as much feather detail, but you can save significant money. These days you can get a halfway decent 600mm zoom lens for between 1 and 3 thousand. -- PeterN |
#6
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 21:46:47 -0400, PeterN
wrote: On 10/20/2017 8:23 PM, Old Geezerr wrote: On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 15:08:34 -0700, Savageduck wrote: On Oct 20, 2017, Old Geezerr wrote (in ): Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? Many here have. The foremost proponent here would be Davoud. He has his observatory installation, and his travelling kit, but his usage is mostly astrophotography. The most common telescope photography can be found in the birding community I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. A reflector scope is not going to make a particularly good spotting scope for range work. For that it would be best to look for a modern refractor scope. From my serious target shooting days I have two very good (no longer made) Bausch & Lomb, and a Kowa spotting scopes. All three are over 50 years old, and while they make good range and birding spotting scopes, the old lenses with old lens coatings do not make for great photographic lenses. That said there are some modern spotting scopes which do a very good to excellent job when used for photography, and the best of these are not inexpensive. The best can be as expensive as some of the best photographic lenses, many have prices which can excede $2000. Nikon has a broad range (in price and performance) of spotting scopes some of which do well in the photography role. http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/nikon-products/fieldscopes/index.page Celestron has some more affordable spotting scopes, including those mirror scopes. https://www.celestron.com/collections/spotting-scopes I had mentioned, and can recommend Kowa. http://www.kowaproducts.com Then there is Leitz/Leica and Zeiss. https://us.leica-camera.com/Sport-Op...ting/Spotting- Scopes/About-Leica-spotting-scopes https://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_de/nature/spotting-scopes.html Add to your list Redfield. https://www.redfield.com/spottingscopes/ All of these are available from B&H, and some from Amazon. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Scopes/ci/980/N/4294541818 I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? That depends on the kind of photography you intend to use the scope/lens for. There are reasons why cheap mirror lenses, while providing great magnification for relatively low cost, are not the best choice. I believe PeterN has a mirror lens he doesn’t use that much these days. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am Thanks Savageduck Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am Here is a link to an interesting article on the subject: https://petapixel.com/2012/11/09/digiscoping-a-look-at-using-a-spotting-scope-as-a-telephoto-lens/ My opinion follows: If our interest is just recording images of birds, you will probably not get as much feather detail, but you can save significant money. These days you can get a halfway decent 600mm zoom lens for between 1 and 3 thousand. Thanks for the link and the comments. However, those prices are way beyond my means, the reason for the Celestron Reflex idea. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am |
#7
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 17:42:18 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote: On Friday, 20 October 2017 16:35:23 UTC-4, Old Geezerr wrote: Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am You need a camera adapter, a T-mount (mounts the camera to the camera adapter. If you are using a Maksutov Cassegrain, you probably won't need an adapter that accepts eyepieces (for more power) as Maks have inherently long focal lengths as it is. Faster refractors can be used at "prime" focus (just using the scope's front lens as the camera lens) but can sometimes benefit from "eyepiece projection" to increase focal lengths. "Digiscoping" or cobbling cameras to terrestrial spotting scopes isn't recommended because intermediary optics used in these scopes results in unacceptably slow photographic speeds (slower than f/11) and focal lengths that can be too long. Below is a common t-ring (t-threaded ring and camera bayonet mounting) attached to a standard 1-1/4" slide-in (to the telescope focuser) telescope adapter. http://www.pbase.com/andersonrm/image/64464511 Thanks for the comment. The Reflex scope I am looking at has T-Adapter threads on it. All I need to do is to get the T-Ring for my Canon camera. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am |
#8
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
In article , Old Geezerr
wrote: Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? I have good results with a Nikon Fieldscope and Nikon's mount for my DSLR for birding, or a homemade mount that I use with other digital cameras for astrophotography or a GoPro. Here is an example with the DSLR attached: http://www.mhmyers.com/d80/DSC_1516w.jpg And one with a smaller digital camera through the eyepiece of the telescope: http://www.mhmyers.com/d80/DSCN3653w.jpg And a page explaining it all: http://www.mhmyers.com/camera.html -- m-m www.mhmyers.com |
#9
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On Oct 20, 2017, Old Geezerr wrote
(in ): On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 17:42:18 -0700 (PDT), wrote: On Friday, 20 October 2017 16:35:23 UTC-4, Old Geezerr wrote: Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am You need a camera adapter, a T-mount (mounts the camera to the camera adapter. If you are using a Maksutov Cassegrain, you probably won't need an adapter that accepts eyepieces (for more power) as Maks have inherently long focal lengths as it is. Faster refractors can be used at "prime" focus (just using the scope's front lens as the camera lens) but can sometimes benefit from "eyepiece projection" to increase focal lengths. "Digiscoping" or cobbling cameras to terrestrial spotting scopes isn't recommended because intermediary optics used in these scopes results in unacceptably slow photographic speeds (slower than f/11) and focal lengths that can be too long. Below is a common t-ring (t-threaded ring and camera bayonet mounting) attached to a standard 1-1/4" slide-in (to the telescope focuser) telescope adapter. http://www.pbase.com/andersonrm/image/64464511 Thanks for the comment. The Reflex scope I am looking at has T-Adapter threads on it. All I need to do is to get the T-Ring for my Canon camera. Which Canon camera do you use? What lenses do you currently own. ....and what sort of long distance subject(s) do you have in mind (birds, wildlife, motorsport, airshows, etc)? -- Regards, Savageduck |
#10
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Camera mounted to a Telescope/Spotting Scope
On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 21:33:49 -0700, Savageduck
wrote: On Oct 20, 2017, Old Geezerr wrote (in ): On Fri, 20 Oct 2017 17:42:18 -0700 (PDT), wrote: On Friday, 20 October 2017 16:35:23 UTC-4, Old Geezerr wrote: Has anyone used their digital camera mounted onto a telescope? I'm thinking about getting a Celestron reflector scope, primarily for shooting range spotting but also considering photographic use. I have read that reflector type camera lenses have a tendency to produce ghost rings under certain conditions. Any comments? Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am You need a camera adapter, a T-mount (mounts the camera to the camera adapter. If you are using a Maksutov Cassegrain, you probably won't need an adapter that accepts eyepieces (for more power) as Maks have inherently long focal lengths as it is. Faster refractors can be used at "prime" focus (just using the scope's front lens as the camera lens) but can sometimes benefit from "eyepiece projection" to increase focal lengths. "Digiscoping" or cobbling cameras to terrestrial spotting scopes isn't recommended because intermediary optics used in these scopes results in unacceptably slow photographic speeds (slower than f/11) and focal lengths that can be too long. Below is a common t-ring (t-threaded ring and camera bayonet mounting) attached to a standard 1-1/4" slide-in (to the telescope focuser) telescope adapter. http://www.pbase.com/andersonrm/image/64464511 Thanks for the comment. The Reflex scope I am looking at has T-Adapter threads on it. All I need to do is to get the T-Ring for my Canon camera. Which Canon camera do you use? What lenses do you currently own. ...and what sort of long distance subject(s) do you have in mind (birds, wildlife, motorsport, airshows, etc)? The Canon that I have is a Rebel T5, sold as an "entry level" DSLR. It does what I want for my skill level and was at a kit package price that I could afford. The lenses that i have a 1. 18-55mm EF S f: 3.5- 5.6 kit lens 2. 100mm MACRO EF f: 2.8 3. 75-300 EF f: 1.4- 5.6 III kit lens The Celestron would be a 1250mm lens as the camera mounts right to the telescope rear face via a T- ring. For usage I am looking at landscapes, heavenly bodies and even some astronomical shots. I know that the camera body is only an extention of the glass. At my usage and skill levels, however, a $1-3 thousand lens on the T5 would be like using a Kentucky Race Horse to pull a buckboard. Thanks though for asking. Dave: There goes the happy moron. He doesn't give a damn. Gee I wish I was a moron. My God, maybe I am |
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