Using "Other" kind lenses...

Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
edited May 31, 2009 in The Dgrin Challenges
Since my digital camera has no means of attaching an external lens (and before the digital I was too poor to buy anything more than an 80-200 Zoom for my Pentax) I've had to learn how to improvise over the years. I've taken to using spotting scopes and binoculars to bump up the power of my lens. This picture was taken on a Whale Watching cruise off the south coast of Oahu. We are about three miles off shore and you can make out the cars on the road along the tree line.

Anybody else ever try this?

scope1.jpg
--
Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
http://imagesdesavions.com

Comments

  • cmr164cmr164 Registered Users Posts: 1,542 Major grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    Stephen! wrote:
    Since my digital camera has no means of attaching an external lens (and before the digital I was too poor to buy anything more than an 80-200 Zoom for my Pentax) I've had to learn how to improvise over the years. I've taken to using spotting scopes and binoculars to bump up the power of my lens. This picture was taken on a Whale Watching cruise off the south coast of Oahu. We are about three miles off shore and you can make out the cars on the road along the tree line.

    Anybody else ever try this?
    "Digiscoping" I used to do that quite a bit but mostly with film cameras.

    On the otherhand I did hookup my Nextstar5 Celestron to the DCS520 for the next shot.


    telescope00jul01_s.jpg

    In the next shot you can see the clock tower (called the Custom House) on the extreme left. The two shots were both from the balcony of my then Boston apt.

    bostonMisc99nov124FinDis_sr.jpg
    Charles Richmond IT & Security Consultant
    Operating System Design, Drivers, Software
    Villa Del Rio II, Talamban, Pit-os, Cebu, Ph
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    Here's a web site with digiscoping shots.
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    cmr164 wrote:
    "Digiscoping" I used to do that quite a bit but mostly with film cameras.
    I have a stack of prints somewhere... Haven't done it a lot with the digi...

    cmr164 wrote:
    On the otherhand I did hookup my Nextstar5 Celestron to the DCS520 for the next shot.
    Does that require some kind of special attachment?
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    Stephen! wrote:
    I have a stack of prints somewhere... Haven't done it a lot with the digi...


    Does that require some kind of special attachment?

    Click on the digiscoping link, click on Information/Adapters to see how others do it.
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    wxwax wrote:
    Click on the digiscoping link, click on Information/Adapters to see how others do it.
    Heh... Which brings me back to my "cheap/poor" side... Correcting for the exchange rate, the non-thread adapter I'd have to use is $178... I think I'll stick with holding it all together a little while longer... :bash

    That did, however, give me an idea on how I can build my own attachment to hook it up to my wife's bazillion power telescope... Thanks!
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • cmr164cmr164 Registered Users Posts: 1,542 Major grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    Stephen! wrote:
    I have a stack of prints somewhere... Haven't done it a lot with the digi...


    Does that require some kind of special attachment?
    I did a whole series from first nest to first flight of chicks of some peregrine falcons in Boston. I was living on the 38th floor so even though they were on the 25th floor roof of a building some distance away, I was able to shoot right into the nest. I had the camera/telescope setup in the window for a couple of months. (not the nextstar5 but an 80mm refractor from edmunds)

    There are 2 main types of attachments. One uses eypiece projection and the other skips the eypiece. The 1st is more magnification and the 2nd is better optically.
    Charles Richmond IT & Security Consultant
    Operating System Design, Drivers, Software
    Villa Del Rio II, Talamban, Pit-os, Cebu, Ph
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,937 moderator
    edited January 24, 2004
    Stephen! wrote:
    I have a stack of prints somewhere... Haven't done it a lot with the digi...


    Does that require some kind of special attachment?
    Something like this for a coolpix from ScopeTronix (it's what I am using):

    waappart.gif

    There are "T" rings and other adapters available.

    Ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • FleasFleas Registered Users Posts: 38 Big grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    Adaptor
    Although my Sony 707 is threaded I use a Scopetronix digital camera adaptor on my C-8 for this cropped picture of a half moon
    389811-M-1.jpg
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    Fleas wrote:
    Although my Sony 707 is threaded I use a Scopetronix digital camera adaptor on my C-8 for this cropped picture of a half moon
    Absolutely outstanding...

    Alright... Now y'all have gone and done it... I'm gonna have to break out the wife's telescope soon as this crappy weather (rain and 60 mph winds couple nights ago with more to come this weekend) gets out of here...

    We'll see how well I can do with just handheld alignment... With the power on that thing perhaps I can tell NASA what's wrong with their Mars lander... :D
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 24, 2004
    Fleas wrote:
    Although my Sony 707 is threaded I use a Scopetronix digital camera adaptor on my C-8 for this cropped picture of a half moon
    Here's one I took through a telescope they've got set up about ½ way to the top of Mauna Kea to look at sunspots... It was a very difficult shot because it was around noon and the auto-tracking telescope was nearly vertical. The non-angled eyepiece was abut 18" off the ground... Made for a very uncomfortable position to try and align everything just so...

    sunspots.jpg
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 25, 2004
    Fleas wrote:
    Although my Sony 707 is threaded I use a Scopetronix digital camera adaptor on my C-8 for this cropped picture of a half moon
    Alrighty then... Here's my uncropped (but reduced), handheld through-the-telescope shot of tonight's moon... Turned out okay but it would have been EVER so much easier if I had a way to align it for me. There's about ½ second delay in what I see on the LCD so it's difficult to get it lined up *JUST SO*... expecially with mosquitos biting the hell outa me! headscratch.gif

    moon.jpg
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited January 25, 2004
    That's pretty cool, Stephen. Really good detail. I'd like to see what it looks like on a full moon.
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 25, 2004
    wxwax wrote:
    That's pretty cool, Stephen. Really good detail. I'd like to see what it looks like on a full moon.
    Thanks... I plan on trying... gonna have to do it some place other than my back yard, though. Too many trees. By the time the full phase rolls around I should have come up with a mounting method...
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited February 7, 2004
    wxwax wrote:
    That's pretty cool, Stephen. Really good detail. I'd like to see what it looks like on a full moon.
    Here ya go! Didn't turn out too bad, actually... This is an unretouched (no cropping, no resizing, no color/contrast/brightness adjustmen, no nutin') image... I managed to get the color like that by using the "Tungsten" setting for the White Balance. The EXIF data should still be there if anyone's interested...

    Oh... and those spots in the background aren't noise, they're stars... 1drink.gif

    moon3.jpg
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited February 7, 2004
    That looks like a 7-iron on the South Massif.

    bowdown.gif Tremendous detail, nice job. That's still handheld?
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • wxwaxwxwax Registered Users Posts: 15,471 Major grins
    edited February 7, 2004
    Compare yours to one taken from Apollo 16.

    AS16-131-20163.jpg
    Sid.
    Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
    http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited May 30, 2009
    wxwax wrote:
    That looks like a 7-iron on the South Massif.

    bowdown.gif Tremendous detail, nice job. That's still handheld?
    Wow... Guess I missed this reply. So Solly... ne_nau.gif

    Yes, that was still hand held up against the eyepiece of the telescope.
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • MikeKMikeK Registered Users Posts: 227 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2009
    Cool!

    A few years back I was into this type of thing, I used to hook up my Meade ETX-90EC to a Nikon Coolpix 995 with a ScopeTronix 18mm Eyepiece adapter.

    Here's some of the pictures I took. Moon shots were easy, planets required multiple shots stacked together.

    http://www.bourbonstreetphotography.com/gallery/7763849_VSFMq

    Cheers,
    Mike

    http://www.bourbonstreetphotography.com
  • JAGJAG Super Moderators Posts: 9,088 moderator
    edited May 30, 2009
    Stephen! wrote:
    Wow... Guess I missed this reply. So Solly... ne_nau.gif

    Yes, that was still hand held up against the eyepiece of the telescope.

    Wow...where you been for 5 years??eek7.gif Impressive shots though...
    ~JAG (Joyce) - My site: JAG Creations JAG Creations be a fan.
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited May 31, 2009
    JAG wrote:
    Wow...where you been for 5 years??eek7.gif
    Hehe.. Been busy. Lessee... Since Feb '04 I've got my Seaplane license, my Glider license, and my Instrument-Airplane certificate. I retired from the Navy, took the wife for a 16,000+ mile, 50-state (we started in Hawaii), 3-Province motorcycle ride[1], did a stint with the Forest Service, and moved back to my 'homeland' in Montana.

    [1] http://imagesdesavions.com/biketrip/

    JAG wrote:
    Impressive shots though...
    Thanks. :D I'd forgotten all about this site until "Google Alert" hit on one of my keywords...
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
  • Stephen!Stephen! Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited May 31, 2009
    MikeK wrote:
    Cool!

    A few years back I was into this type of thing, I used to hook up my Meade ETX-90EC to a Nikon Coolpix 995 with a ScopeTronix 18mm Eyepiece adapter.
    I thought about getting an adapter but I couldn't justify the expense. ne_nau.gif
    MikeK wrote:
    Here's some of the pictures I took. Moon shots were easy, planets required multiple shots stacked together.

    http://www.bourbonstreetphotography.com/gallery/7763849_VSFMq

    Cheers,
    That's pretty impressive!
    --
    Si hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes
    http://imagesdesavions.com
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