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Astroscope + DSLR = Setups! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter cango
- Start date
goldenarrow
Well-known member
Portable Bird Walk setup
Been too busy to contribute lately but wanted to post a picture of my portable scope setup I use for bird walks with my local birding club. I bought a used Celestron Onyx80ED for $350. This was a great 500mm f/6.25 scope and was discontinued after only a few years of production. My guess was that they found the production cost too high and rumor was that it used FPL53 glass in one of the two elements.
First pic is the original 6 lb. telescope. Someone at cloudynights.com found the lens housing can easily be unscrewed.
Second pic is all the parts I bought to piece it together (Macro bellows for focusing, Chinese adapter rings, empty 6x7 lens, two 6x7 extension tubes, and Pentax K mount adapter + superglue at strategic places). Suitable for airline transport.
Third pic is put together. Bar at the bottom is important in that is holds it all together + gives a connection point for the neckstrap. Manual focus with the bellows is a pain, but it works and it lets me close-focus to 9 feet. Now only 3.5 lbs. and very easy to carry around. Not the most sturdy field lens but it does work and I don't feel tired out after 4 hours of birding. Use it with a Pentax K-5 II, good workhorse type of camera.
You can see some of the pics taken with it on my web site www.fuzzybokeh.com - BIRDS gallery on the left hand side link. Look for ones copyrighted 2014, like some of the Wood Warblers for instance or the green heron, willow flycatcher, whistling ducks, grasshopper sparrow, sleeping eastern screech owl, woodcock and chick. Let me know what you think! If I have time I will post a few.
B
Been too busy to contribute lately but wanted to post a picture of my portable scope setup I use for bird walks with my local birding club. I bought a used Celestron Onyx80ED for $350. This was a great 500mm f/6.25 scope and was discontinued after only a few years of production. My guess was that they found the production cost too high and rumor was that it used FPL53 glass in one of the two elements.
First pic is the original 6 lb. telescope. Someone at cloudynights.com found the lens housing can easily be unscrewed.
Second pic is all the parts I bought to piece it together (Macro bellows for focusing, Chinese adapter rings, empty 6x7 lens, two 6x7 extension tubes, and Pentax K mount adapter + superglue at strategic places). Suitable for airline transport.
Third pic is put together. Bar at the bottom is important in that is holds it all together + gives a connection point for the neckstrap. Manual focus with the bellows is a pain, but it works and it lets me close-focus to 9 feet. Now only 3.5 lbs. and very easy to carry around. Not the most sturdy field lens but it does work and I don't feel tired out after 4 hours of birding. Use it with a Pentax K-5 II, good workhorse type of camera.
You can see some of the pics taken with it on my web site www.fuzzybokeh.com - BIRDS gallery on the left hand side link. Look for ones copyrighted 2014, like some of the Wood Warblers for instance or the green heron, willow flycatcher, whistling ducks, grasshopper sparrow, sleeping eastern screech owl, woodcock and chick. Let me know what you think! If I have time I will post a few.
B
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Paul Corfield
Well-known member
That's an interesting array of components. I've thought about doing something similar with bellows but it's a project that's been on the back burners for a while now. Looks like you ended up with a nice lightweight system, good work.
Paul.
Paul.
goldenarrow
Well-known member
DIY portable scope
Thanks, Paul. The investigation started when I was unemployed for 6 months and had time to Google everything possible that could work. It is not the most structurally strong (why the need for the bar at the bottom). But it does work. Of course, it is not waterproof. And, what is not shown, I have a 48mm B+W circular polarizer mounted inside the 6x7-to-K adapter.
Would be happy to explain any part of it if someone had questions to build one of these. I needed something that was Bird Walk friendly to my club members. People are important too, you know!
As a side note regarding the whole system concept FWIW, the Pentax K-5II is a great birding camera. Needs no EVF, AF confirm chip, focus peaking, etc. The center-spot red focus light works in manual focus mode and I just fire away at 6 fps in RAW. I am planning (hoping) to buy the 60mm BORG flourite and pair it with this portable concept plus use the 1.7x AFA to allow me partial autofocus (it would have a narrow AF range but it is more than enough for BIF photos). And the red focus light will still work at f/7.65 inside the glass viewfinder. We'll see if I can scrape the money out of my couch cushions.....
Cheers,
B
That's an interesting array of components. I've thought about doing something similar with bellows but it's a project that's been on the back burners for a while now. Looks like you ended up with a nice lightweight system, good work.
Paul.
Thanks, Paul. The investigation started when I was unemployed for 6 months and had time to Google everything possible that could work. It is not the most structurally strong (why the need for the bar at the bottom). But it does work. Of course, it is not waterproof. And, what is not shown, I have a 48mm B+W circular polarizer mounted inside the 6x7-to-K adapter.
Would be happy to explain any part of it if someone had questions to build one of these. I needed something that was Bird Walk friendly to my club members. People are important too, you know!
As a side note regarding the whole system concept FWIW, the Pentax K-5II is a great birding camera. Needs no EVF, AF confirm chip, focus peaking, etc. The center-spot red focus light works in manual focus mode and I just fire away at 6 fps in RAW. I am planning (hoping) to buy the 60mm BORG flourite and pair it with this portable concept plus use the 1.7x AFA to allow me partial autofocus (it would have a narrow AF range but it is more than enough for BIF photos). And the red focus light will still work at f/7.65 inside the glass viewfinder. We'll see if I can scrape the money out of my couch cushions.....
Cheers,
B
Last edited:
JGobeil
Nature Photographer
Thanks, Paul. The investigation started when I was unemployed for 6 months and had time to Google everything possible that could work. It is not the most structurally strong (why the need for the bar at the bottom). But it does work. Of course, it is not waterproof. And, what is not shown, I have a 48mm B+W circular polarizer mounted inside the 6x7-to-K adapter.
Would be happy to explain any part of it if someone had questions to build one of these. I needed something that was Bird Walk friendly to my club members. People are important too, you know!
As a side note regarding the whole system concept FWIW, the Pentax K-5II is a great birding camera. Needs no EVF, AF confirm chip, focus peaking, etc. The center-spot red focus light works in manual focus mode and I just fire away at 6 fps in RAW. I am planning (hoping) to buy the 60mm BORG flourite and pair it with this portable concept plus use the 1.7x AFA to allow me partial autofocus (it would have a narrow AF range but it is more than enough for BIF photos). And the red focus light will still work at f/7.65 inside the glass viewfinder. We'll see if I can scrape the money out of my couch cushions.....
Cheers,
B
Interesting camera this K5II with its focus light that works in manual mode.
Paul Corfield
Well-known member
I think all Pentax models ever produced have had this feature. My first Pentax dslr was the oddly named *ist and it was the first dslr Pentax made back in 2004 and that had the focus confirm light in manual mode. I almost went for a K5II this year but went for the Nikon instead, purely for the extra pixels/cropping power.
Paul.
DanC.Licks
AKA Daniel Bradley
The K5IIs would be my choice of a Pentax. Very nice little camera! I have no use for an AA filter...
goldenarrow
Well-known member
AA filter
I think the K-3 lets you choose on the fly to have the AA filter on or not. But did not want to spend another $1200.
I think the K-3 lets you choose on the fly to have the AA filter on or not. But did not want to spend another $1200.
DanC.Licks
AKA Daniel Bradley
I think they are trying to do that electronically which makes more sense to me that putting a layer of "frosted" glass in front of the sensor.
jklaassen33
Member
I bought a pentax tring and Pentax k extension tubes. For some reason I can't get the setup to fit on the focuser on the barska 80ed. I'm wondering if I was supposed to buy t2 extension tubes instead of Pentax ones. Everything connects together except for attaching it to the telescope...
Paul Corfield
Well-known member
The Pentax extension tubes will attach to the camera and the T-ring will attach to the other end of the tubes. Into the T-ring you need to screw in a 2" diameter telescope T mount adapter (see image). This will allow you to mate it all to the scopes 2" focuser.
Paul.
Paul.
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jklaassen33
Member
Ooo. I see how this works now. Thank you for the quick help Paul. It is much appreciated.
