Astroscope + DSLR = Gallery! (1 Viewer)

[Paul Corfield]

Glad to hear the camera is fixed Tord. No Waxwings here yet, they will probably be turning up in a month or two. Not cold enough yet, quite a mild start to winter here this year.

Paul.

 

[DanC.Licks]

Not liking the weather very much.

Taken at an angle through our double glassed window, so not so sharp. Last picture with my trusty D7000. It has served me well with nearly 14,000 exposures, (most of which went straight into the trash, but that is the way to do it. Film is cheap these days) I will use my Olympus E-30 over the winter, and then decide on either a D7100, or an E-M1, (for twice the price!)....unless a great deal on a 7100 comes along, in which case I will nail one and wait for the E-M1 to work out its bugs (auto-focus with 4/3 glass in C-AF mode) and drop in price.

Still very happy with my 90/600 triplet!

 

[Tord]

With a mouthful

Weather has been quite miserable with strong winds as often is the case at this time of the year. Still mild though. Have been experimenting with flash this weekend, trying to get the right balance with the dull ambient light.

TL804
E-M5 @800 ISO, super FP fill-flash

 

[Tord]

Not liking the weather very much.
View attachment 474567
Taken at an angle through our double glassed window, so not so sharp.

Not bad at all! I guess you did shoot at square angle, and you windows must be pretty clean (not like mine, storm did collect quite a lot of dust from a construction site across the street)

 

[DanC.Licks]

Hi Tord,
no, I had to shoot up at about 30-40°. This is the one window in our house I try to keep reasonably clean, though.
You got the balance of light pretty much just right. Did you use some sort of screen over the flash to diffuse the light? Could even be a tad less flash for a more "natural" look, but you could do that in PP as well. Also, the tiny dot in the center of the birds eye gives away your setup. With the light coming in over the birds shoulder there would be no reflection of the sun in its eye. Normally it brings a picture to life, but here it seems a bit unnatural, which of course it is.
..... I just played with it a little and came up with this:

I found that taking out the light dot killed it, so I just softened it a bit.

By the way, we are clear to go for Falsterbo in May! Looking forward to it o

 

[DanC.Licks]

You and your TL804 seem to be getting along quite nicely! I am thinking of unloading my old Nikkor 400 with 2x TC. Just too much CA for my taste, and with the sudden FF rage in full swing I should be able to sell it maybe even for a little profit.
Otherwise I like it, but you have to be so careful with the light....

 

[Tord]

Hi Tord,
You got the balance of light pretty much just right. Did you use some sort of screen over the flash to diffuse the light? Could even be a tad less flash for a more "natural" look, but you could do that in PP as well

...

I'm glad you like the result.

Some tech:

I just got myself a cable (connecting the flash to the body), before that I was controlling (or rather, trying to control) the flash in wireless more and after a long discussion on forums with answers pointing in different directions I had confirmed by Olympus that the super FP mode will not work unless a cable connection is used.

The only way before cable to control the exposure and balance between ambient light and flash was to play with ISO and use manual mode.

With the cable, it is so much easier.

I used a diffuser/softener in between the flash and the fresnel lens. The fresnel lens is 300mm so in theory I would get some 40% (300/480) of the FL50R flash nominal guide number so something like 20. I guess the softener steals 50% or so, so perhaps the real GN is 10. The poor light called for ISO800 (1/160s) and with F/6 I should have been able to shoot at about 13 (8x10/6) meters (in the dark). The distance to subject was maybe 8 meters.

Anyway, just a test. Need more field test to better understand how to fine-tune the flash exposure depending on background.

 

[Tord]

You and your TL804 seem to be getting along quite nicely! I am thinking of unloading my old Nikkor 400 with 2x TC. Just too much CA for my taste, and with the sudden FF rage in full swing I should be able to sell it maybe even for a little profit.
Otherwise I like it, but you have to be so careful with the light....

Yes, the TLAPO804 is a nice tool and capable of good results. I am still working on optimizing the setup for comfortable use with monopod. When done I could post some pictures. I could also put it on a scale if you want to know the weight.

D800 seems to be a popular camera today and I guess there is/will be a demand for Nikkor optics so it could impact the second hand price in favor of seller.

 

[JGobeil]

I'm glad you like the result.

Some tech:

I just got myself a cable (connecting the flash to the body), before that I was controlling (or rather, trying to control) the flash in wireless more and after a long discussion on forums with answers pointing in different directions I had confirmed by Olympus that the super FP mode will not work unless a cable connection is used.

The only way before cable to control the exposure and balance between ambient light and flash was to play with ISO and use manual mode.

With the cable, it is so much easier.

I used a diffuser/softener in between the flash and the fresnel lens. The fresnel lens is 300mm so in theory I would get some 40% (300/480) of the FL50R flash nominal guide number so something like 20. I guess the softener steals 50% or so, so perhaps the real GN is 10. The poor light called for ISO800 (1/160s) and with F/6 I should have been able to shoot at about 13 (8x10/6) meters (in the dark). The distance to subject was maybe 8 meters.

Anyway, just a test. Need more field test to better understand how to fine-tune the flash exposure depending on background.

Tord,

When using a Better Beamer, I put the flash in High Speed mode and set the exposure at -1/3 or -2/3. Usually, I use ISO 800 with the lens opened wide.

You have to be careful in HS mode because the flash has to fire many times to synchronize, so you loose a lot of power.

My Metz 52-AF-1 has a guide number of 52 at ISO 100 and I figure it is useful to about 10-15 meters.

You don't want to send too much light to the bird, just enough to soften the shadows a bit. When the light is really bad, I have had some success in normal TTL mode at 1/250 s.

Regards
Jules

 

[Tord]

Blue Tits and Apples

Not much activity... where is everyone?

In my garden is an apple tree that produced an ample supply of apples this year. After the two storms we have had this year, the last one Thu/Fri, only few apples are left hanging and are acting as magnets on the Blue Tits. Those that fell to the ground have already been devoured by various Corvidae who are not agile enough to eat the free hanging fruits.

TLAPO804, 75% crops of E-M5 frames at ISO 800
#2 and #3 with flash support
Snowy and windy conditions - perhaps I should have used longer exposure times?

 

[JGobeil]

Not much activity... where is everyone?

In my garden is an apple tree that produced an ample supply of apples this year. After the two storms we have had this year, the last one Thu/Fri, only few apples are left hanging and are acting as magnets on the Blue Tits. Those that fell to the ground have already been devoured by various Corvidae who are not agile enough to eat the free hanging fruits.

TLAPO804, 75% crops of E-M5 frames at ISO 800
#2 and #3 with flash support
Snowy and windy conditions - perhaps I should have used longer exposure times?

Cute ! I like the last one best.

I received my EM-1 and 12-40mm. I'm impressed. More comments soon.

 

[DanC.Licks]

Nice, Tord.
Nothing going on here. Few birds and crappy light. Sigh....

Not a hint of CA! Would not have been the case with my doublet.

 

[DadraFromFrance]

Nice #3 Tord !
Few birds also in France but a clear sky and a nice half moon :eat:
With Astro-Professional 80/480mm +Kenko x1.4 on 5DmkII body...

 

[Tord]

Sentinels

There was at least of dozen of these enigmatic sentinels seeking shelter, their back facing the howling storm that struck us the other day.

TL APO 804, EM-5 800 ISO

 

[Tord]

Goosanders

Normally found in large water bodies, I suppose these Goosanders had found shelter from the storm in this medium size pond. I wish I could have shot from lower perspective, but with water level almost 2m above normal it was impossible.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Nice, Tord.
Nothing going on here. Few birds and crappy light. Sigh....
View attachment 475434
Not a hint of CA! Would not have been the case with my doublet.

The banding looks odd in the frost all along the out of focus branch to the left of the apple.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Nice #3 Tord !
Few birds also in France but a clear sky and a nice half moon :eat:
With Astro-Professional 80/480mm +Kenko x1.4 on 5DmkII body...

That's a nice crisp shot of the moon.

Paul.

 

[DadraFromFrance]

That's a nice crisp shot of the moon.

Paul.

Thanks Paul ! The moon is less unstable than birds...
More easy to have a crisp shot but this triplet is reall good. It's the same optics than the TLAPO804. Thanks to Fernando to have been the first one to guide us to this triplet!
A german test of TLA804 vs Astro-Professional here : http://www.astro-foren.de/showthread.php?12618-APO-Triplet-80-480-eineiige-Zwillinge
:smoke:

 

[DanC.Licks]

Paul,
I see what you mean. It is also in the original file, so it is not a rendering issue. Could be movement related, or have something to do with the E-30's IS. I usually have it off with the scope, but I may have forgotten. Haven't used the E-30 on the scope for a year, but I sold my D7000, so....Doesn't look lens related. Edit: Just checked the other three shots taken at the same time and they don't have it. IS was in fact off. 1/500 sec. so maybe a little camery shake? Who knows....?
Dadra
The linked test states that the are for all practical purposes, identical. Slight differences due to construction perhaps, (flocking, baffling...).

 

[DanC.Licks]

Henry is back!

Our resident Hawfinch with a damaged left wing. Haven't seen him since early spring. Good to have him home.
Crappy light. E-30 at 400 ISO and 1/40 second.