Camera Labs

I can't remember exactly now as it was quite a time ago, but I think it was around £400 maybe (the scope and mount comes together).

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Something isn't working here....

Looks like my memory wasn't working either. At least I got the digit 4 in there

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I'd like to see some pictures, the full picture and not 100% crops.

I'm curious how they look.

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dersuawesome.com
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Canon EOS 7D | Canon EOS 500D | Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 | Sigma 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 20-35mm f/2.8 L | Canon 28-70 f/2.8 L USM | Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM |2x Lumopro LP160 | Metz 48 AF-1

If you need a tad more resolution you could always re-mortgage your house and go for the canon 1200mm f5.6, add a 2x tc and you got one big scope.

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Canon 1D Classic
Canon 60d
Canon 17-55mm F2.8 IS, 430ex, 50mm F1.8

Tomek, I'll have to dig some out...

darragh, in astronomical terms, I think dedicated scopes would give more performance for much less cost. The lens would have AF, but that isn't really needed for sky work. Roughly speaking, assuming the optics are of sufficient quality, the resolution is limited by diffraction, which eventually comes down to how big it is on the front. 1200mm f/5.6 is only just over 8 inches. A 12 inch dobsonian can be had for less than a 7D body, and a 12 inch Ritchey-Chrétien with mount is less than a 1Ds3.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Some samples... the first 5 are camera jpeg resized only with no further processing.


A thin moon... taken with camera at scope prime focus.


From same set as above, but this time using a 2x barlow for effectively 2650mm f/26. Even scaled down here you can see diffraction softening. It is still worth it


This is what the contrast looks like when the sky was still relatively light.


As above + 2x barlow again.


To give an idea of the size of the moon relative to focal length. Note the moon varies in distance, and therefore size from the earth. When it is close, it is too big to fit in a single shot on 1.6x crop sensor. Here it only just fits.

Also check out the best moon thread where I have posted two other examples. One shows the best resolution I ever got from the scope, the other is when I went for colour cleanness. Both of those involved processing.

And finally, my best planetary attempts with a DSLR:


Jupiter -
2650mm f/26 1/10s ISO400, 7 shots stacked


Saturn - 2650mm, f/26, 1/13s, ISO1600, up to 25 shots stacked

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

So, Popo, you have a 5D, which is full frame, right?

If Diffraction is your main issue, wouldn't mounting the 5D help? The larger sensor size would mean less diffraction?

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

This is no different than with photographic lenses. While bigger pixels (regardless of sensor size) will be diffraction limited later, a bigger sensor gives you get a bigger field of view so need more focal length to get the equivalent detail. For a constant physical aperture typical of most scopes, you trade focal length and photographic aperture so it works out about the same. Fundamentally, need bigger scope.

That reminds me, I wanted to try the 5D to see what the image circle of the scope output is like...

Edit: here's a test shot on the 5D, taken with the rear adapter (not eyepiece adapter).



Not bad, covers most of the frame.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Those planetary shots are pretty good!

What kind of barlow are you using?

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Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro

I have the Celestron X-Cel ED barlow. Not though any particular choice other than it seemed to be above average construction and on sale when I got it.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

You could use the tracker to get nebulae shots.

Thanks for stating the blindingly obvious.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Nice moon pics!

But it seems that moon pics are the only thing you can do with this lens.

I guess it's not really agile enough to go into the wild and take animal/bird pictures with.

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dersuawesome.com
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Canon EOS 7D | Canon EOS 500D | Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 | Sigma 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 20-35mm f/2.8 L | Canon 28-70 f/2.8 L USM | Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM |2x Lumopro LP160 | Metz 48 AF-1

It's not practical for terrestrial stuff. 1325mm f/13 is incredibly long and slow. You'll need a fast shutter aided by high ISO, and a stable platform. Plus, it is manual focus. Also, while it can focus close, at typical working distances even the air quality will impact the final result. You can see heat haze ripples for example, and reducing contrast as you focus further.

So it is not impossible, but unless you're photographing distant stationary subjects in good conditions, it isn't really practical.

This scope is primarily sold for night sky observation where these factors are not so significant a limitation.

_________________
Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.