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Extreme digiscoping - not only for birds... (1 Viewer)

yossi

Well-known member
I'm often asked by newcomers to photography or disigcoping during learning sessions - how far can you get with a digital P&S camera and a spotting scope, so here are some of my examples I'm showing them.
The first - Jupiter and companions (two of it's moons I think) taken with the Celestron C5 and the Leica 20-60 zoom EP using a Leica scope adapter (allowing to use a Leica EP on an astro or another Cat scope which uses Plossl Eps).
The camera used was the CP8400.
It was VERY cropped, but still...and I have no tracking device, therefore I needed 40 minutes of chasing to pin it down.
The second exaple is to show how much details you can get from an animal's face 40 meters away from it. This was taken with the same camera and the Leica Apo 77 scope at almost maximal zoom setting of the EP.
In another post I'll upload a couple of artistic shots that I show to my guys during the learning sessions - using plain digiscoping equipment.
One can also digiscope other things than birds...
 

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jvanoyen said:
Can you tell me if my nikon 995 can work with a Lomo 70mm?
Thanks!
jvanoyen

Sure it will work. You need a simple adapter between the eyepiece and your camera's 28 mm thread.
 
Nice Jupiter and moons Yossi :)

I used to have the works, with tracking mount but it all got too heavy for me, so I cant do shots like that any more - bit of a shame really.

I notice that you also got the same green cast that I did when I got my best Jupiter !

It's coming up again here in UK, so I might just have another go if I can lay my hands on a 5x Powermate or similar. Another way to grab planets is to use a webcam and take a short video then stack the individual frames using a program like Registax (freeware, just google it).

Please dont feel like I'm stealing your thunder Yossi, but I've attached mine purely for comparison purposes.
 

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David, no problem. Amazing how our shots are similar.
I'm dreaming about a 12" tube with GPS and tracking. Maybe one day...I've already located space on my roof...
The C5 + a Leica eyepiece is a winning combination. In theory, up to a x150 magnification can be achieved. The scope, as said, is quite bulky, therefore I prefer for field work my spotters, but if someone is ready to lug it around - it's a great piece of glass and mirrors.
 
If you are that much into astro work Yossi, may I invite you to another forum, just for astronomy ? LMK and I'll PM the info.

A 12" eh, must have big muscles to work one of those beasties. The C5 has a good enough reputation though ....

I started with an 8" f5 reflector on an EQ5 dual driven, then, as my illness took hold, dropped down to a 102mm f5 short tube refractor on same mount. Then down to an 80mm f5. Then nothing for a year, but the bug had bitten deep, so I then bought a Skywatcher 80ED on an LXD75 goto ! That was great, but it only got used five times in total, before I had to sell it (when will I learn ?)

After that, I just used my 15x70 bins on a para mount, and concentrated on terrestrial photography. However, when I started to shoot birds, I knew that the 300mm on the D70 was really not enough, so I *finally* (yes, no more after this, honest!) bought the Revelation 80mm f6 with 500mm FL. It's what they call a "semi" apo, but if I want I can use the Williams Optics APOgrade to go to fully APO spec. As it is, it's light enough for my std Cullman tripod to handle, and I still had the T mount and 1.25" adaptor, so was able to go straight into prime focus. I've also bought a zoom EP, 8-24mm, which gives me 20x to 60x mag for spotting, via a 45 deg prism.

Not a bad setup, and all very light and fully portable - even with the wheelchair !! I just had new fat tyres fitted to that so I am even ready for rough terrain :)

Only a beginner birder, so I can only improve.
 
David,
I'm not "that" much into astro work yet. I've started my interest in astronomy when I was 16 years old (too many years ago). I've dived into photography when I was 20, and only lately I'm trying to link them together. Digiscoping is my "long arm" for taking pictures, but after taking some moon shots I got hooked again on astronomy.
I just enjoy taking pictures of whatever I find interesting.
Here's a picture composed of two shots, taken at the same day with different focal lenghts of the moon and Mars.
I was just testing my equipment (Mars was taken with the Swaro ST 80 HD and a Pentax 7mm wide Plossl, the moon was taken with the same scope but with the X20-60 EP). I had to cut off a piece of the Pentax EP to fit into the Swaro.
 

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Lomo 70mm

yossi said:
Sure it will work. You need a simple adapter between the eyepiece and your camera's 28 mm thread.
Thanks Jay. I just won the bid on ebay for a Lomo 70mm (NEW). It should arrive early next week. I have an F-adapter for the Nikon995 and hope that works with the scope. I have read your article on cats, etc. and appreciate your clear discriptions and proceedures.
Jerry
 
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