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

Astroscope + DSLR = Gallery! (6 Viewers)

I tried my Skywatcher 80 ED with old 2x TC Komura Telemore 95 7 KMC ( M42 thread) that gives focal length 1200 mm and 2400 mm equivalent.
Setup suffers from lack of contrast and magenta cast (old coatings of TC ), but chromatic aberration is well controlled. Tried to shot birds in flight ( large, slowly flying raptors and storks), but focusing without chip is extremaly difficult. Angle of view (1 degree) is just a bit wider than size of the Moon.
Telescope mounted on Velbon Sherpa 600 tripod and cheap gimbal head.
ISO 200, 1/200 s pushed in PP +0,8 EV, sharpened and denoised in Neat Image
1:1 crop attached.
Distance exactly 15 m.

I had the Komura a few years ago and remember I sold it on again quite quickly. I've tried pretty much every 7 element teleconverter ever made and non of them work as well as a 2X barlow over long range. The TC's tend to go soft after about 20m or so. Best 2X TC's are the big makes like Canon, Nikon, Kenko Pro and Sigma Apo.

Focusing comes with practice for birds in flight. The key is not to use too much magnification, 1.4X TC works best. Practice on aircraft, helicopters and stuff like that.

Paul.
 
K200D - SW 120 ST all at 600mm + Monopod

All ISO 200

Wagtail + Greylags @ 1/1000
Moorhen @ 1/500
 

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More from the same reserve

K200D + SW 120 ST all @ 600mm + monopod
All ISO 200

No.5 is 100% crop of No.4

1) @ 1/1000
2+3) @ 1/750
4+5) @ 1/350
 

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all with celestron 80ed and olympus e-3

1. Anthus trivialis - 1/500s iso 200
2. Nuthatch - 1/160s iso 400
1. Blue tit - 1/320s iso 400
1. Nuthatch - 1/320s iso 400
 
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Hello.

This is my first message in this section, and those are my first photographs shown. It's not as good as those seen here before..

All the pictures were taken with a Skywatcher ST102 refractor (500mm f5).

The pigeon was taken at 1000mm with a kenko converter, at 6400 ISO at the very end of the day.

The blackbird was taken at 500mm, it's a heavy crop.

Thank you :)
 

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My experiments with Barlow lens
E-520 + Skywatcher 80 ED with Barlow GSO 2x (baffled) mounted in extension tube-magnification approx. 1,7x, ISO400, 1/800 s.Setup on tripod with gimbal head. Day was hot and atmospheric distortion is visible. First photo of Marsh Harrier is 80% of frame, second 60%.Bird was gliding slowly so I was able to focus using very dark viewfinder.
Third photo -White Tailed Eagle is from distance circa 500 m, 1100x 850 pixels resized to 800x 600.
 

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Hello.

This is my first message in this section, and those are my first photographs shown. It's not as good as those seen here before..

All the pictures were taken with a Skywatcher ST102 refractor (500mm f5).

The pigeon was taken at 1000mm with a kenko converter, at 6400 ISO at the very end of the day.

The blackbird was taken at 500mm, it's a heavy crop.

Thank you :)

That was excellent considering your using Achro and new to this setup. Few here can achieve that during out initial trail of this system.
 
My experiments with Barlow lens
E-520 + Skywatcher 80 ED with Barlow GSO 2x (baffled) mounted in extension tube-magnification approx. 1,7x, ISO400, 1/800 s.Setup on tripod with gimbal head. Day was hot and atmospheric distortion is visible. First photo of Marsh Harrier is 80% of frame, second 60%.Bird was gliding slowly so I was able to focus using very dark viewfinder.
Third photo -White Tailed Eagle is from distance circa 500 m, 1100x 850 pixels resized to 800x 600.

Your 2X Barlow when mounted in extension tube only give 1.7X ? That's handy. Your Oly at that ISO and setup does comes out well.
 
That was excellent considering your using Achro and new to this setup. Few here can achieve that during out initial trail of this system.

Thank you! |;|

Here are some others shots. They were taken at 500mm, 400ISO and 1/1000 if I remember correctly, early in the morning. The two birds were on the same tree. I also have a picture of them too but the depth of field is so short, the crow looks blurry.

There is not enough details in those pictures. I still think an ED80 is a better choise, (but I have no money).

Those are heavy crops, by the way!

Thank you :)
 

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Your 2X Barlow when mounted in extension tube only give 1.7X ? That's handy. Your Oly at that ISO and setup does comes out well.

My GSO 2X would give me 1.5X when mounted inside the 2" scope adapter. The closer you can get the barlow to the camera then the lower the magnigication.

Paul.
 
My GSO 2X would give me 1.5X when mounted inside the 2" scope adapter. The closer you can get the barlow to the camera then the lower the magnigication.

Paul.

Paul, did you tried using your Sunagor 100-200 TN mounted as Barlow for Astronomy and what magnification it ended with and the quality in comparison to your Antares?
 
Thank you! |;|

There is not enough details in those pictures. I still think an ED80 is a better choise, (but I have no money).

:)

Not to worry. They are much better than most photography lens costing many many times more. You can always keep an eye open for used ones to come along. They can be quite cheap too.
 
Hello.

Here is another serie. All pictures are 100% crop. Sorry the for composition, these are all shots from my bedroom.

I think the light is too "hard" on the second and third pictures.

The last one is a bit different, it's a simple proxyphoto.

I'm open to any advice. :)
 

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Here is a short lovestory.

First, we started to flirt : " Hey, I wanna tell a little secret "
Then, we kissed each other, it was like a dream..
However, we finally broke up. I wanna kill myself..

[ It was raining, so high ISO setting and low speed ]
 

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