Canon 450D + Skywatcher 80ED (1 Viewer)

Musoman · Dec 18, 2009

Shock horror

Was rumaging around through some previous Pentax stuff ( i had K10D before the 450D ) for any likely bits and look what fell out..

K mount Panagor 2x. I can vouch that the Panagor is a fine TC, but how it stacks up in quality to a DOI is an unkown to me. I can say that i've had a Macro Panagor lens in the past, and it was razor sharp - the optics were amazing. If the TC is built anything like that lens, then its a winner - wont know till its tried i suppose

Paul Corfield · Dec 20, 2009

Good stuff. I had a Pentax before my 450D so I have a lot of lenses in Pentx mount that I still use on the 450D via an adapter ring.

Here's a photo I took on Saturday. This is from 65m with the 1.4X TC stacked with the 2X TC. Photo is uncropped just to show how much the bird fills the frame. Good feather detail too for the range.

Hopefully all your gear will be up and running soon. I'm away from 23rd till the 30th Dec for a holiday. I'll be staying in a cottage on a farm surrounded by countryside so my scope will be getting plenty of use. Wont be able to answer any questions till I get back though as I'll have no internet.

Paul.

Musoman · Dec 20, 2009

Those TC's certainly work for you - great shot there.

Well, since you told me that the TC elements are normally stripped out, i bought the cheapest DOI HQ7 i could ...£9.99 + postage, but it was an Oly mount, but i guess it really dont matter that much.

Mounting is going to be the tricky bit, and since they need to be as close to the camera body as possible, how do you mount the 2nd TC ? Does that need to go as close to the 1st TC ?

Although in a few days i'll have two TCx2 , I'm still looking for a 1.4x , but are your 1.4x and 2x as physically close to each other as possible, and then of course, both mounted right against the cam body in your EOS adapter ?

Talking of holidays - i'm also off on the 23rd or 24th ( dont know yet ) and will be gone for about 5 days, so i'd better pick those brains while I can :king:

Paul Corfield · Dec 20, 2009

My 1.4X TC is the Kenko 300 in the EOS mount so that just mounts to the camera as per normal. The 2X is in my T-ring which in your case is the Max DSLR. They are about as close to each other as they would be if it was two teleconverters stacked together.

There's other options I suppose like buying a cheap macro tube and using the front and back EOS bayonet to replace the bayonet on the Olympus DOI. It would involve some strong glue like araldite or something but I suppose it would work. That way you could leave all the glass and stuff inside the DOI body.

I'm popping out for a couple of hours but I'll look at my macro tube when I get back and see if it would work.

Paul.

Musoman · Dec 20, 2009

A macro tube in EOS mount - there's a thought. Bit of a headscratch getting the DOI inside it, but might be worth a try :-O

The other thought i had was getting my engineer pal to mill up an alloy holder - a sort of flat disc ( think polo mint ) , where the 2x glass ( the Panagor would be first as the guinea pig ) would be an interference fit the in the hole - permanent, like.
And the diameter of the disc to match the diameter of the MAX slr, but more of a push fit, with 2 or 3 threaded retaining bolts on the circumference of the MAX, to stabilise and center the flat disc inside, so it can be removed quickly.

Just a thought

Paul Corfield · Dec 22, 2009

Getting all my gear ready for my holiday but couldn't resist a couple of photos this morning.

These were getting on for 40m range with just the 2X DOI TC and I had to crop off about 50% of the photo. Not too bad considering and I'll take any photo of a LTT as they never sit still.

Got this woodpecker too but it was too busy fighting with another one to be able to get a good pose. This one is uncropped.

Long Tailed Tits were ISO800 1/500sec and Great Spotted Woodpecker was ISO800 1/100sec taken in the fog.

Have a good Christmas everyone and I'll post up my holiday pics in a weeks time.

Paul.

Musoman · Dec 22, 2009

Paul Corfield said:
I'm popping out for a couple of hours but I'll look at my macro tube when I get back and see if it would work.

Paul.

Any news on this Paul ?

Paul Corfield · Dec 22, 2009

Ah, thanks for reminding me.

It would work, certainly if you were thinking of getting something machined to house the lens cell of the TC. Both ends of the macro tube unscrew and both ends have a hole in that could be utilized. If you got something machined then these two bits could be pushed on in a tight interference fit quite easily. The only thing to remember is the end with the silver ring would have to have a small gap behind it to allow the mating bayonet to sit correctly.

Here's a top and bottom photo showing both ends.

Paul.

Musoman · Dec 22, 2009

Like your shots above - will be expecting some from your holiday

Well, thats good news - and here's something interesting..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AF-CONFIRM-Ma...ns_caps_hoods_adaptors_ET?hash=item19b514f8a2

Its getting to be a bit of logistical nightmare, but since i want AF confirm, these tubes on ebay will need to go on the camera first. I possibly dont need all of the tubes, ( or could the tubes double up as an extension ? ..although i've just bought that 50mm ext tube from Pulsar ) and then i'll need the MAX slr

The DOI 2x needs to be fitted in there some where too, and as you recommend near as the camera as possible, I guess it needs to be mounted inside the AF confirm tubes. I;d have to take the DOI lens out ( like with the Panagor 2x earlier ) and mount it somehow inside a machined disc, or i could leave the DOI in its housing, and try and get an EF mount glued on as discusssed, i'm not sure yet.

Its quite tricky, all this modding and stuff :king:

fivepints · Dec 28, 2009

Musoman said:
Well, thats good news - and here's something interesting..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AF-CONFIRM-Ma...ns_caps_hoods_adaptors_ET?hash=item19b514f8a2

( or could the tubes double up as an extension ? .. )

Hi Musoman,
I've been reading this thread with interest. Firstly i think you will find the item you link to is an extension tube - you just use as much as you need of it. However, i did buy one for my olympus off ebay but it didnt have the desired AF results shall we say.... just a heads up for you.

I bought the same basic kit earlier this year and although it seems a minefield at first, once you have sorted out whats needed and get taking some pictures - you will find it very much worth it.

I came online ready to make a list of my kit for sale on BF - due to my health i shouldnt be lugging too much kit around - but, now im re-thinking again having followed this thread it has reminded my just how much fun you can have once you got it together.

But keep an eye on the clasifieds though, as common sense may well prevail and i do sell it all - or swap/prtX

Hope to see some picture results from your efforts soon buddy

Regards
Pat

Musoman · Dec 29, 2009

fivepints said:
Hi Musoman,
I've been reading this thread with interest. Firstly i think you will find the item you link to is an extension tube - you just as much as you need of it. However, i did buy one for my olympus off ebay but it didnt have the desired AF results shall we say.... just a heads up for you.

I bought the same basic kit earlier this year and although it seems a minefield at first, once you have sorted out whats needed and get taking some pictures - you will find it very much worth it.

I came online ready to make a list of my kit for sale on BF - due to my health i shouldnt be lugging too much kit around - but, now im re-thinking again having followed this thread it has reminded my just how much fun you can have once you got it together.

But keep an eye on the clasifieds though, as common sense may well prevail and i do sell it all - or swap/prtX

Hope to see some picture results from your efforts soon buddy

Regards
Pat

Hi Pat - its a shame you didnt get the desired results from the Focus Confirm ext. tubes. Funnily, i have bought 2 Focus confirm M42 > EOS adapters and 1 Focus confirm Tamron Adaptall > EOS adapter at different times over the course of this year, and they all work brilliantly on my Tamron adaptall and M42 mount lenses using the 450D.

I'll get there in the end - its just not as easy as setting up a DSLR kit for regular photography.
AS you can see, i've had some great help already - so , nearly there

Di Stone · Dec 30, 2009

I have an old Kowa 511 scope which I wouldn't mind being able to attach my 40d to from time to time. I'm I right to believe that an attachment such as this www.scopesnskies.com/prod/ast...mera/DSLR.html would be sufficient for my needs or are there other items needed?

Camera - eye piece removed from scope - this attached fitted instead

Di

www.distone.webs.com

Musoman · Dec 30, 2009

Di - it might be much better for you start your own thread instead of posting in this one, as people search for thread titles, and you'll possibly miss a lot of answers simply because the title is nothing to do with a Skywatcher scope.

Your thread will then be visible on the forums, rather than your post being hidden in this thread, 3 pages down

Di Stone · Dec 30, 2009

I suppose I could but thought that as I was using a web link previously mentioned, that I'd either get confirmation on the attachment or advice on other possible connections that could be used.

Thanks anyway

Di

www.distone.webs.com

Paul Corfield · Dec 31, 2009

Methods for attaching dslr's to spotting scopes are different to how we attach to astronomy telescopes so you will need to post in one of the other digiscoping sections which all cover spotting scopes. To answer your question though, the part you link to is just for use on astro scopes and wont work on your Kowa.

Paul.

Paul Corfield · Jan 2, 2010

Got a few decent shots on holiday last week but with all the snow and fog we had there wasn't much wildlife about apart from the usual common garden birds. I wont complain too much as the snow was great and it made a very enjoyable white Christmas which the kids loved. I wont start a new thread for the photos and I'll just post a couple of this Crow eating some poor unfortunate animal.

These were taken with the Skywatcher, Canon 450D and 2X DOI teleconverter from about 30m range.

Paul.

Musoman · Jan 2, 2010

First shots with the SW 80ED. No tele-converter yet, so shot @ 600mm

Nothing special, but i'm still green at this game. :eat:

The Cats ear is a 100% crop of the previous Cat photo

Paul Corfield · Jan 2, 2010

Are you shooting in RAW or jpeg with the camera? What software do you edit with etc?

I guess you have all the kit now. What do you think of the MAX dslr as I could do with replacing my T-ring for something better.

Paul.

valy · Jan 2, 2010

Musoman, you stil have the Sigma 150-500? Can you compare the images from SW 80 vs. Sigma at 500mm, f7 on the same subject in similar conditions?

Musoman · Jan 2, 2010

Paul Corfield said:
Are you shooting in RAW or jpeg with the camera? What software do you edit with etc?

I guess you have all the kit now. What do you think of the MAX dslr as I could do with replacing my T-ring for something better.

Paul.

I normally shoot RAW all the time, but i changed to .jpg a few days ago to take pics of some lenses i was selling, and forgot to change back to RAW, so the above shots with the scope were all .jpgs

I use mainly Adobe CS4 extended + ACR 5.3 , and Photoscape , and sometimes Photophiltre for quick stuff.

I have jusy enough kit to take a photo - no AF confirm chips yet - still waiting for those to ship from HK.

That Max DSLR works ok, but there's a slight movement in the fitting. Its not 100% tight on the body mount. Bit disappointing, but it still works i guess.

Canon 450D + Skywatcher 80ED (1 Viewer)

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