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

DDG-Focuser (1 Viewer)

kurakura

Well-known member
Hello,

As you know, I am looking at different telescope with the intend to get one at somepoint:D

I have been looking at the various William Optics refractors with DDG focuser. Can this digital focusing system be used as a focus lock- program focus for lets say 6-10-15-25-50meters then when we are in the field we can use it to get a rough focus or when in studio like settings at a feeder we can have a focus setting for the particular setting??
 
Hello kurakura

I am not technically qualified or experienced to give fail-safe advice on this matter, but it would appear from the literature that its primary application is to lock focus on things that don't move very fast. Also, for astro-photography where everything has to be shrouded in darkness, you don't need a flashlight to check your settings. I suppose that for studio type surroundings/hides it might work to get things into focus quicker by referring to the presets. It is not clear how many presets one can store in the device. Hopefully someone with hands-on experience can enlighten us on this aspect.

From my experience with manual focus lenses, you always shoot and refocus in any case. Also, any movement of the subject necessitates the need to refocus. But, yes, providing one can store a few preset focus offsets, it may work in stationary situations - I think.

However, have you checked the weight of that thing? 1.6Kg!!!!

You need a young Charles Atlas to carry that around :)

BTW good luck with your scope hunting. Mine is in transit and should be here within the next few days. I feel like a 6-year old during yuletide!

Kind regards

Jaco
 
Thanks Jaco....

Yeah I actually think the ddg is pretty much useless for our use, so probably waste of money getting a scope with it.

Well I got time before I get a scope, I need money first:D I have just put up my Tokina 300mm f2.8 for sale to get the money:D
 
Hello kurakura

"I have just put up my Tokina 300mm f2.8 for sale to get the money"

That is a pity - quite a decent lens at the price.

I believe one has to be careful, it is easy to get carried away by bling value on one hand and marketing hype on the other.

If I may be so bold and suggest a few guidelines that may help? These are the main criteria (essentially a wish list to start of with) I used to make my selection:

1. Affordability - what is the max you want to pay.

2. Portability - I sometimes need to carry this thing long distances and limited the max weight to 4.5Kg. I also have to use it inside a vehicle at times, so limited the length to 65cm.

3. f/ ratio - the more light the better, so I decided on f/5.6 and 700mm FL (I have a 400L f/5.6 and the scope is an extension of that)

4. Optical quality - FPL-53 preferably in a triplet, mandatory in a doublet. Also consider FPL-51 an LZOS for triplets. But read reviews on all scopes.

From here I ended up with a list as long as my arm with apertures ranging from 80mm up to 120mm. As with most things in photography, either nobody has manufactured the thing that you want, or it is too darn expensive if someone has. So, you go back to your wish list and give them priorities or values so it now becomes a list of criteria. Match scopes to the criteria and allocate scores. Start deleting the things that don't satisfy the criteria. Eventually I was left with about 5 scopes and benchmarked them against the 80ED which has been widely reviewed and tested in this forum and elsewhere.

One has to make compromises at some point to come to a final decision. It will largely depend on which criteria carry the most weight in your particular case. That only you can do.

Hope this helps

Best regards

Jaco
 
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yeah the tokina is great, just alittle short for my like. adding a telescope will further bump up the weight. the tokina is 2.3kg scope will be the same. tripod is also around 2kg. Gimbal 1kg. 150mm macro 800g.

Most of my time for photographing is when i travel. Mainly hike treak in Malaysia and Indonesia - so weight and length start to be a worry:) how would i carry a 65cm scope as cabin luggage. So that is why I thought to let the tokina go and only carry one heavy lens. Might look at the lighter canon 300 f4 at some point in the distant future.

I am thinking to go fernando and get the ts apo804 - short,light and fast would still save me money to get a new flash, as the old one was stolen along with my kenko 1.4x.

Dont get me wrong parting with the Tokina is a hard decision, not even sure there is a demnad though:D
 
Hi kurakura

Decisions, decisions....

Sometimes I wonder if an unlimited money supply would make it any easier?

Best of luck (or fortune);)

Jaco
 
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