Astroscope + DSLR = Gallery! (1 Viewer)

[Paul Corfield]

Nice. How do you stop it down to f13?

On the SW80ED the lens cap has an extra removable cap to reveal a 50mm hole. Put the lens cap on the scope and remove the smaller cap and this stops the scope down to F12.

I made some other inserts to stop it down even smaller, works really well on bright sunny days and still allows enough shutter speed. It can be a bit hard to focus if you increase the depth of field too much though.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Cruedag, two very nice photos you posted.

Paul.

 

[cruedag]

I checked some other apertures that gave me f7.2 and f9. I use a chip focus confirm, and theoretically it works up to f7.

In practice if works well with f7.2, and with f9 it only works sometimes, under hard light and over high contrast areas. After a "micrometric adjustment" the chip is great and really gives you the best focus.

With f13 you get plenty of DOF, but in fact it can be difficult to get really the best focus in the desired area. I like a lot to have good focus over the whole body of the bird, and that is usually impossible with the f6.3 fully open scope. You can see that effect in the rock bunting picture, there is not the same focus in the whole body like it happens with the blue tit.

 

[DanC.Licks]

I know the lens cap trick, but it is not good if there is too much light shining directly on it. Causes haze. I thought about inserts in the extension, even about putting a diaphragm from an old lens in there. Would be neat if it could be adjusted from the outside, but probably more trouble than it is worth. My camera is not the best above ISO400, and it is not very often we have enough light to allow stopping down. I usually have to shoot around 1/320-350 at ISO400 if I have the TN in on a bright day, and that is a lottery. Lucky to get anything sharp.

 

[JvdM]

Jaco,
Mine can be mounted either way. The only difference is that I can't use a locking screw with it on the left, (unless I drill a hole in the focusing tube to allow for it), but I never need that anyway.

Thanks Dan, my multi speed drive is part of the focuser and can be opened up via a cover plate. But I am afraid that one will have to mess with the gears and stuff inside to achieve what I want. Not worth the effort I think.

BR

Jaco

 

[Tord]

I checked some other apertures that gave me f7.2 and f9. I use a chip focus confirm, and theoretically it works up to f7.

In practice if works well with f7.2, and with f9 it only works sometimes, under hard light and over high contrast areas.

I use an AF confirm chip as well. At F/7.5 it works fine, at F/10.5 it works on silhouettes or high contrast subjects, at F/15 it works only on silhouettes in good light conditions. (Now we are a bit off topic...)

 

[DanC.Licks]

True, but we'll get back on soon
Here is the diaphragm mechanism from the old Canon 100-200mm zoom I pirated for the TN, stuck inside my first extension tube. Wide open it stops down only about 1/3 EV at the most, maybe not at all, so I could live with leaving it in. 4/3 sensor. The lever adjusts it. Have to try it out tomorrow.

 

[Paul Corfield]

I know the lens cap trick, but it is not good if there is too much light shining directly on it. Causes haze.

I've flocked my scope internally and also flocked the inside of the lens shade. With the cap on I get good contrast and colour saturation, better than without it for sure.

I've tried all sorts of old camera diaphragms and they will vignette quite badly. They really need to be right inside the scope somewhere to stop them vignetting and this isn't practical.

Paul.

 

[DanC.Licks]

I tried it first inside the T2 and it was hopeless. Better on in the first extension, but to be honest, a diaphragm should be right behind the lenses to be the most effective. I have flocked everything EXCEPT the inside of the hole in the lens cap. I noticed it causing problems once when sun was falling on it and reflecting off the shiny surface. Maybe I will try and make an couple of inserts that fit inside the sun shade right in front of the lens. Hmmmm...

 

[cruedag]

I also think that the best place for diaphragming is inside the focuser, in my scope works fine just in front of the barrel of the first extension tube. Going a bit off the main conversation of this thread, I will post more on this in another thread.

I have flocked the extension tubes, and have no trouble with internal reflections except when I use barlows.

Diverging rays from the barlow that will fall outside the camera's sensor are difficult to avoid, and at the moment makes impossible for me to use barlows in a shiny day.

 

[Paul Corfield]

I also think that the best place for diaphragming is inside the focuser, in my scope works fine just in front of the barrel of the first extension tube. Going a bit off the main conversation of this thread, I will post more on this in another thread.

I have flocked the extension tubes, and have no trouble with internal reflections except when I use barlows.

Diverging rays from the barlow that will fall outside the camera's sensor are difficult to avoid, and at the moment makes impossible for me to use barlows in a shiny day.

I made a thread on making baffles for barlows with before and after images. You can remove the stray light completely, see http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=135606&highlight=contrast

I use the same method for my telenegatives too as they are very similar to barlow optical designs and suffer the same problems.

Paul.

 

[DanC.Licks]

Two little birds and a big bird's lunch.....maybe.


From today. Light was not so great so I had to push the ISO to 800.

 

[roztoczol]

Can't understand how you (those of you) can shot the 80ED scope's handheld and focus. Amazing (to me)

I keep dovetail of scope with four fingers of my left hand while turning knob of focuser using thumb. My palm is stretchet a little . Simple trick helps- I put a ring on focuser barrel exactly at the point it is set at infinity ( using LV). For bird flying 100 m away it's only light touch of focuser to get sharp image. Pentax K5 is heavier than Oly 520 and photographing of birds flying high above my head become more complicated because camera tends to slide down. But excercise, big pentaprism viewfinder with magnifying eyecup- oly's ME-1 fits Pentax- and it's OK.

Good job, lucky you, seems the Buzzard is really far from the normal distribution range. Also the Falcon should be less common in Poland, am I right in that?

You're right. But during migrations ( begining of August till mid September) many of red- footed falcons pass SE Poland, some of them stay for some time ( perhaps several hours or days ) and feed on arable fields catching insects and sometimes small rodents. Yesterday my friends have seen concentration of 15 birds- these falcons are very sociable. Example
http://www.lto.org.pl/obrazki_obserwacje/faves11082012kościaszynsa1.jpg

Breeding sites of Long Legged Buzzards are further east, but some of them ( usually 3-5 ) come late July and stay for longer time . Last year one of them left for migration at the end of October. They feed on our rich chernozem fields mainly hunting for hamsters and sousliks . There is only one such a place in Poland- exactly at ukrainian border 60 km NW from city Lvov.
Unfortunately this year no pallid harriers we have seen yet.

 

[roztoczol]

Three photos of young lesser spotted eagle ringed in nest in 2009 year.
handheld ISO=400, 1/1000 , cropped- distance aproximately 100 m.
Another LSE with marsh harrier, rare comparison of sitting birds ( these birds usually doesn't tolerate each other).

 

[DanC.Licks]

Briliant. Going to have to give your hand holding technique a try. But first a litt weight lifting in the gym!

 

[DanC.Licks]

From today with the Canon TN at 1.57x. Hot and windy. NOT hand held

 

[cango]

very nice roztoczol and Dan.

 

[DanC.Licks]

We went over to our Kingfisher place again today. Some days we don't see anything. Today one showed up and stayed for nearly an hour! The only problem was, he was either behind a bunch of branches, or in a place where the light was so bad I couldn't get a decent shot. Great fun watching him for such a long time though, fishing, eating, resting....fat little bugger! This is the best I could manage. It is pretty noisy. My camera is NOT good in low light. This is actually two pictures stacked on top of each other. He was still enough so I could get two identical frames, and by stacking them you get better detail and less noise.

E-30 ISO800 80/600+1.6xTN

 

[roztoczol]

My camera is NOT good in low light. This is actually two pictures stacked on top of each other. He was still enough so I could get two identical frames, and by stacking them you get better detail and less noise.
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I have Olympus E-520, wich in terms of noise and dynamic range is similiar to E-30. In good light I'm able to get good results, but many times conditions are unfavourable, bird is moving fast etc. Sometimes very small details are necessary to identify bird properly ( example- feathers barring of Lesser Spotted Eagle and Greater Spotted Eagle) that's why I decided to change brand. After two weeks of using Pentax K-5 I'm satisfied.

And red-footed falcons a coming...
Young falcon catching insects, cropped heavily 1/1000 s ISO=400, handheld of course.
Ten misfocused or motion blurred shots but this one is ok.

 

[Tord]

Excellent pictures, in spite of high ISO.