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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Kenko Pro 1.4X + GSO 2X barlow combination (1 Viewer)

P

Paul Corfield

Well-known member
Probably one of my favourite combinations is these two stacked together. For these photos I had them mounted in this order - Canon 450D - 25mm macro tube - Kenko 1.4X TC - 25mm macro tube - GSO 2X ED barlow - 2" scope adapter - 600mm Skywatcher Pro 80ED

Range for the dove was 10m, Blue Tit 35m and photos are uncropped. Haven't adjusted the levels, they are as shot and applied a little unsharp mask in Photoshop.

Paul.
 

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Lovely

You say in the past that 2x barlow gives about 1.5x, + your 1.4, so approx 2.9 x 600mm ?

Impressive. To get that clarity, i have to stick to 600mm

Mind you, i've just ordered a GSO ES Barlow, so will still be trying :t:
 
For the posted photos I had a 25mm macro tube between camera and Kenko and another 25mm tube between Kenko and barlow which means both were giving around 1.8X and so giving 3.6X overall. With Canon 1.6 crop factor that comes out at around 3100mm equivalent. On an Olympus with 2X crop factor that would be around 4300mm. I need to do a proper test to see exactly how much it is but it's pretty close I should imagine to what I posted.

Forgot to add that the photos of the dove were ISO800 and 1/250sec

Shall try for some more today at longer range.

Also I bid for a 3X Kenko Pro on ebay the other day but missed out. It was on something like £58 with 10 seconds to go to the end of the auction so I bid £95 but was outbid and didn't win. One of the previous bidders had set their max bid at higher than my bid but I didn't want to go higher than that for second hand.

I think seeing as I didn't win I shall for now stick with the Kenko 1.4X and GSO barlow combination. With summer just around the corner it wont be possible to go for really high magnifications anyway because of all the heat shimmer over longer distances. In the meantime I've got my eye on some barlows on ebay though and hopefully I'll win some of them.

Paul.
 
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Great shoot paul
Today the weather is ok for a trip outside with the SW setup|=)| but my wife wants to go shopping:C and she neeeeeeds the car...
 
Hi Paul excellent shot!! I am extremely impressed you get shots like this using the tripod and head you show on your gallery. Thanks for posting all this.
Regards,Steve
 
A few more with the Kenko/GSO combo using various length macro tubes.

Getting an Antares 1.5X Apo 3 element barlow hopefully this week if it comes through the post quick enough. Shall try it out in various combinations and post results in a new thread.

Paul.
 

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I've now tried my GSO barlow, and the IQ is as bad as the DOI.

Cannot get sharp focus using a tripod. Also, the closest distance i can see is about 15 metres, but nothing is sharp. Thats despite trying the GSO closer to the cam or closer to the scope, with varying ext tubes

I can see targets at monster distances though, perhaps 300 metres ( a guess ). But again, the image is awful
 
Paul Corfield said:
A few more with the Kenko/GSO combo using various length macro tubes.

Getting an Antares 1.5X Apo 3 element barlow hopefully this week if it comes through the post quick enough. Shall try it out in various combinations and post results in a new thread.

Paul.
Click to expand...

Hi Paul,

In all the TCs and barlows you used, witch gives the better image quality? Barlow or TCs? And witch barlow or TC? I always wondered if I could do better than my Kenko TCs, but never took the time to try it myself. So if you don't mind sharing a quick conclusion, I'd love to know ;)
 
FernandoBatista said:
Hi Paul,

In all the TCs and barlows you used, witch gives the better image quality? Barlow or TCs? And witch barlow or TC? I always wondered if I could do better than my Kenko TCs, but never took the time to try it myself. So if you don't mind sharing a quick conclusion, I'd love to know ;)
Click to expand...

I think for the money the Kenko's are very good. Most of the other 7 element TC's I've tried were all from the 1970's and 80's and I never found them to be as good at long range apart from the DOI HQ7 2X. Most of them were good at close range though and I've tried pretty much every model that was made. Only ones I haven't tried are camera own brands because of the price.

I've not tried that many barlows but with the ones I have tried I've always have issues with stray light making the photos less contrasty than a TC. That can be overcome with some modification however. Also with a barlow you need a longer extension tube in the back of the scope to get the same focus as you get with a TC. Plus because they are designed for astronomy the coatings on them aren't always ideal for daytime use.

So far my 2" GSO ED barlow is my best one. The way I have it mounted gives me around 1.5X magnification and as far as sharpness goes I would say it was fractionally sharper than the Kenko 1.4X but beyond around 30m it doesn't carry on resolving detail as good as the Kenko 1.4X.

I've got some spare money this month so I will be buying a couple of decent barlows to try out. One is already on its way and there's other's I'm watching on ebay.

Paul.
 
Musoman said:
I've now tried my GSO barlow, and the IQ is as bad as the DOI.

Cannot get sharp focus using a tripod. Also, the closest distance i can see is about 15 metres, but nothing is sharp. Thats despite trying the GSO closer to the cam or closer to the scope, with varying ext tubes

I can see targets at monster distances though, perhaps 300 metres ( a guess ). But again, the image is awful
Click to expand...

If everything is in good alignment then I can only say it must be down to you as they are both proven to be very sharp. With the barlow you will need slightly more back travel to get close focus which is why I mount mine next to the camera. I can focus down to around 7m with my usual 60mm extension tube. If you screw the barlow lens cell into the Max dslr then you might need around 75mm extension in the scope.

Are you getting focus confirm with the barlows or TC's and if not do you think that is where the problem lies? How well does the split prism katz eye work with higher magnification? Does the prism black out?

Paul.
 
Paul Corfield said:
If everything is in good alignment then I can only say it must be down to you as they are both proven to be very sharp. With the barlow you will need slightly more back travel to get close focus which is why I mount mine next to the camera. I can focus down to around 7m with my usual 60mm extension tube. If you screw the barlow lens cell into the Max dslr then you might need around 75mm extension in the scope.

Are you getting focus confirm with the barlows or TC's and if not do you think that is where the problem lies? How well does the split prism katz eye work with higher magnification? Does the prism black out?

Paul.
Click to expand...

I'll try different combos of tubes, and yes, i have the GSO screwed into the MAX.
I'm sure i'm part of the problem, yet i dont have any focus issues with just 600mm, no TC.
The Katz Eye is great, but yes it starts to blacks out but only partly, around f11 i believe.

I'll keep at it ;)

PS no focus confirm at all, so i guess it isnt working
 
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