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SD80+canon markII, additional equip (1 Viewer)

Snow-owl

Active member
Hallo to all Bird-lovers,

i've finally decided to make a leap in bird-watching from my old beroflex 500 mm. I plugged it to my canon eos 5d mark II mainly for filming white herons' colony i've been watching during the last year. As the pics and videos came rather dim with this one (canon 24-105 is ok but the birds are rather far) i decided to buy something with wider aperture and also to get a decent telescope.

After reading a lot on the subject it appeared that sky-watcher ed80 ota pro (as it is sold in my country) was the best buy in the price range of $600-800. I checked it before byuing with the vendor and connected my canon to the scope with canon t-mount. The results dissapointed me - 10-15% of vignetting on the edges. Some sellers recommended to buy reducer/flattener for another some $250 but no chance to find both in one shop to check. Some say that it's inevitable and both pics and videos should be cropped. Or it's just the problem that full-frame camera does not fit to this one? Another seller recommended astro-tech 65 (sold for some $700 in Ukraine) but i doubt i get good results with such an aperture. As I see so many owners of ed80 sky-watcher/orion on your forum i want to ask for your advice. Will extention tube eliminate this? Do i really need flattener for birds? What about 2x teleconverter for canon system with this scope? I postponed the purchase so far, looking froward your advice.
 
Using the T-mount to connect to the scope did you use a 1.25" or a 2" tube to connect to the scope? That's the only thing I can think of that might cause vignetting. Even then I don't know if the image circle from the SW80ED will cover a full frame camera. Maybe if Fernando reads this thread then he will be able to comment. There are astro scopes that will cover a full frame camera though, Borg make some refractors that I know of.

It may just boil down to the method you were using to connect the camera to the scope. There's other camera dapters that have a bigger hole than the T-mount to allow maximum sensor coverage, something like this one here.

You wouldn't need a field flattener unless you had a really short focal length scope.

Paul.
 
thank you, i looked the thread through, it's a useful point. I see now the flatteners are better for astronomic views. Will the extention tube be needed (and what size?)
 
Using the T-mount to connect to the scope did you use a 1.25" or a 2" tube to connect to the scope?
Paul.

thank you Paul for a hint with t-mount size. If i am not mistaken we used this one: http://www.astroscope.com.ua/t-kolco_celestron_dlya_canon_eos/176.htm. It fitted camera perfectly.

Of course we should have tried different mounts. The vendor recommended me to come back with some extention tube (saying we should try the various size) but i think it wont eliminate vignetting. I'll try to find Max DSLR 2 you recommended in our astroshops.
 
I think it would help if you could upload some foto examples. Let me get this right. Is the t-mount all you have between camera and telescope?
 
Exactly, just one t-mount was used directly to the scope. One of sample pictures (it was slightly raining, no tripod used, just window block).
By the way, i called today to the largest astro-suppliers, they seem to never have heard on max dslr 2, some even said the vignetting in full-frame with similar scopes can not be avoided.
 

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I guess you will need to look at scopes that definitely cover a full frame sensor.

There's the Borg 77ED, 101ED and 125SD but they are all expensive.

There's the TS 65mm f/6.5 Quadruplet Astrograph which is very affordable and covers a full frame sensor. 420mm focal length.

Don't know of any others at the moment.

Paul.
 
There's the TS 65mm f/6.5 Quadruplet Astrograph which is very affordable and covers a full frame sensor. 420mm focal length.

Thanks again, it seems to be exactly what i'm looking for. Visually it looks very much like astro-tech at65, which is supplied to our market. This one i have not found from our local vendors but if it's different from at65 i'll try to find the imported one. In any case as i understand i can manage good with 65 aperture by buying say 2x extener from canon.
Thank you for valuable comment.
 
The astro tech certainly looks like the same scope. Generally these scopes have something like a Chinese origin and the seller just sticks their brand name on it. I'd imagine that scope is very good for photography, slightly lacking the reach of the SW80ED but good optics nontheless. 2X extender should work fine.

Paul.
 
That's fine. The only problem the 2' t-mounts seem to be in shortage in our market, mainly 1,25' are sold as vendors today said. I'll definitely try to order it from somewhere before buying the scope. I think i'll need it even with AT65.
 
Thank you, the adaptor looks really advanced. Today i've ordered a simple 2'' scope adaptor, which has to arrive at the end of the next week with 2 scopes (i arranged to check both ed80 and at65 with my canon at the vendor's before choosing which one performs better).
Incredibly great birds' pics, Cango! So close and sharp. I cant believe you made it with a similar scope i am aiming.

I'm dreaming of getting the whole package a.s.a.p. as the white herons' colony (18 in total) is still in the swamp nearby me (just 2 weeks ago i made a short clip with canon ef 24-105mm and beroflex 500mm, which gives occasionally dark images http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg52EoObeuk). I could imagine how great these herons would look with 80 aperture!
Thank all for your advices
 
The CNC Supply adapter would probably be the way to go in the future. I was trying to think of them the other day but just couldn't remember the name of the website. I still use a Canon T-mount on my 450D and use a simple screw in 2" nosepiece like this one here. Eventually I will upgrade to a one piece one though.

Paul.
 
Thank you, the adaptor looks really advanced. Today i've ordered a simple 2'' scope adaptor, which has to arrive at the end of the next week with 2 scopes (i arranged to check both ed80 and at65 with my canon at the vendor's before choosing which one performs better).
Incredibly great birds' pics, Cango! So close and sharp. I cant believe you made it with a similar scope i am aiming.

I'm dreaming of getting the whole package a.s.a.p. as the white herons' colony (18 in total) is still in the swamp nearby me (just 2 weeks ago i made a short clip with canon ef 24-105mm and beroflex 500mm, which gives occasionally dark images http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg52EoObeuk). I could imagine how great these herons would look with 80 aperture!
Thank all for your advices

Thanks.
Looked at the video. What a great morning that must have been. I love these foggy early mornings. Would be nice to learn how to film a bit, you miss a lot by just capturing stills. (although the experience is never lost)
 
The telescope with adapter has finallly arrived. The adapter looks as follows, i also attached extention tube to it to get focus.

ED80 is great for both watching and filming. I also tried AT65 but the vendor could not find the proper eyepiece for stargazing. Here is the sample with herons, velbon-7000 tripod is used, without much care for white balance. As you see there is no vignetting with canon mark II and the filed flattener is probably not needed.

Thanks Paul, Cango, Kurakura for valuable advices. I hope next time to come closer to herons and to contribute to your great web-site with some pics or video.
I tried not to frightened herons so i captured from a distance. I tried also with barlow lense 2x but the image was not focused and was dark. It seems 2x extender will be needed but which one and how much light will be lost?
 

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Good to hear you're up and running :)
Thank you, in fact i am not running but driving the bike in the morning and now the new task is to be resolved - attaching the aluminum case with sky-watcher to my my bicycle.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=182146&page=14

The thread was interesting but still i have no clear answer: canon mark 2+ext.tube + sw ed80 + what tc will give the best results. Canon 2x for $500 is probably not the best as auto-focus it has will be of no use. I tried shooting on Sunday it was good but definitely i need to be closer that is with 2x TC (since herons are afraid) and when i cropped the photo the details are sometimes lost, which was probably bad tripod fixation.
 
The thread was interesting but still i have no clear answer: canon mark 2+ext.tube + sw ed80 + what tc will give the best results. Canon 2x for $500 is probably not the best as auto-focus it has will be of no use. I tried shooting on Sunday it was good but definitely i need to be closer that is with 2x TC (since herons are afraid) and when i cropped the photo the details are sometimes lost, which was probably bad tripod fixation.

Kenko Pro 1.4X is good, very good for the price. There's also some threads in this forum on stripping down old zoom lenses and taking out the telenegative element to make 1.4X teleconverters. I've made quite a few and they are every bit as good as my kenko Pro 1.4X. You can stack a couple of them together and also putting something like 30mm macro tubes between them also boosts magnification up to around 3X if needed.

Generally though it's best to get as close as possible. Get some camo netting and use that as a portable hide. Shooting at long range with any set up is generally flawed because atmospheric effects will degreade the image. The more you increase magnification then the more you increase any bad effects in the air quality.

Paul.
 
Thanks a lot Paul for your valuable advice. I understand i have to get patient and become a friend of them to make good shots/video. TC would also be desirable when the weather and atmosphere is fine, i read your threads with recommendations on hand-made TC. By the way what old zoom lenses will be useful? Any? I still have Berroflex 500 mm but it has no zoom, it's fixed. And as i understand the amazing pics of birds in your gallery have been shot with your hand-made TCs. Barlow 2x ED gave me no focus, i was close to focus when i pulled off my extention tube but still there was some blotch in the middle of screen as i also read in some other threads.
For the moment the sky is clouded and i was twice on the locale where the herons stay now and didn't get good results. Increasing ISO to above 1000 does not look good. I am thinking about blind now to make good close-up video of them.
Thanks again
Best
 
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