Astro and moon viewing and photography.

I have a Centon 500 f8 mirror lens which I understand is not as good as the Tamron, but it would be fun to put an eyepiece onto that and mount it properly. it's not a patch on the DA* 300 for moon shots tho, even if I re-sample the 300 shot up to the size of the 500.
Don't s'pose you want to sell your Tamron Johnha?

The main reason for this thread is to quickly get a photographer's perspective on telescopes, mainly for moon shots and general viewing with the children. I kinda guessed it would get complicated; if it was easy, everyone would be at it

Incidentally here's the sort of thing I'm getting at 300mm. but I'd love to get something big enough to print.

Hastily-grabbed outside the front door, hand-held, 100th F5.6, ISO100 7am.


Tripod-mounted.


Next day, higher in the sky, so smaller, but it accepted a bit of license with the saturation (less haze)

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And earlier this evening.


Would be so much nicer if I didn't have to work the file so hard!
This (click on it) is as big as 300mm will go on a K5 without any help
Bought an eyepiece for my my lenses, so at least they aren't door stops for 95 percent of their lives

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Higher in the sky so smaller? I thought the Moon was at a constant distance from Earth (well not really but effectively so over our lifetimes).

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You can see some of my photos here if you are so inclined

The moon can appear huge compared to its normal self, when it is low in the sky. It's probably a lens effect due to the thickness of the atmosphere.

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Best regards, John

It's a fascinating subject...link

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Thanks for that, very interesting.

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Best regards, John

When it's low it's big if course, but also it's less sharp and the atmosphere adds its own colour which prevents the moon's true colours from showing through. So if you wait till it's high you can crank up the saturation without it just going yellow. Try it
Shooting the moon is great practice for lots of disciplines especially sharpening!

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Ha! So it's an illusion. That's good to know, as I get frustrated with the optical quality when it's low.
I suspect the same illusion occurs when we put a familiar object into the scene. Which would explain why we find sush compositions so beguiling.

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No, but I'd like to know how the DA* 300 does with an eyepiece, pretty sure it would out perform a cheap telescope

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I am no expert but have to say I have never seen moon shots posted on astro forums via a telescope any better than that unless they have spent thousands on imaging equipment. I appreciate it's small and a scope will get you closer / bigger but for overall impression....

Nebulas and the like yes once you have spent a lot on kit.

If you can accept just visual get a 150P / 200P Dob. but if you want astro photo's of that sort quality be prepared to spend serious dosh.


I am, now, SO regretting not getting a DA*300 when they were a bargin on Amazon a year or 2 ago.

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Sharon's: K-x, FA35/2, DA 18-250.Glen's: K10D, DA100 Macro, 55-300, Paragon 500, Silk Pro700 Tripod

Just an afterthought, esp. as you are in Plymouth. First Light Optics in Exeter are very good and helpful and defo. don't try and sell you stuff you don't need. They have even told me not to bother buying things I was about to buy from them and suggested alternatives they don't sell themselves.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/contact.html

If you contact them, email is best as telephone can get very busy, with what you are wanting to achieve they might be able to shortcut all the online research a bit.


They are online only as their plans to open a showroom got put on hold, but sometimes will let locals visit the warehouse for stuff.

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Sharon's: K-x, FA35/2, DA 18-250.Glen's: K10D, DA100 Macro, 55-300, Paragon 500, Silk Pro700 Tripod

Cool, thanks Sharon, and thanks for the comments re the photos

The Kenko eyepiece arrived overnight this morning - excellent service and price from Uttings. Nice piece of kit, seems well made and first impressions with the 300mm are that it's the equal of any binoculars I can remember
I think that will become my new lens cap for this lens

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Thanks for the pointer to Uttings, I've now ordered one from them (the angled one is better than my straight one for Astro and their price is the lowest I've seen).

All you need now is a 1.4x TC to go with it

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I had a play with the eyepiece last night. Moon looks awesome with the DA*300 but the Centor 500 mirror is a little too strong and the quality from the 300 more than makes up for the size penalty.
The tripod mount on the eyepiece is very flimsy, making the 500 without its own mount really prone to vibration.
Around the house I often need to look closely at things and in this respect it is awesome! my 35 macro is perfect and bizarrely the fisheye too - it gets really close still, but the wide angle makes finding tiny things a cinch.

I think the best combination for general viewing like a pair binoculars, is the 100mm macro - small and light and easy to hold still - perfect for general scanning of birds etc. and gets in super-close for checking out the macro world

Fun, but if you have a pair of binoculars already I wouldn't bother.

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Checking out the sunspots yesterday. About 70% full size, K3 55-300 @300mm with some Baader solar film over the lens hood.




Looking directly at the sun will qualify you for the Darwin awards so don't do it!