Images with 600mm astro scope

My only long birding lens, adapted to K-7. Local bird reserve ISO 200 + 1/500th ( IS set to 400mm )

Nice sharp shots It always make me wonder why telephoto
lenses are so expensive when telescopes are often sharper and
cheaper to buy

Cheers Algi

The complete lack of any luxuries whatsoever is just about the reason. So, no AF, no IS / OS, not even variable aperture. The cost savings go on.. only 2 glass elements in the whole thing. Just 2 ! Compare this to a 600mm f4 / f5.6 / f8 telephoto

Advantages - this thing weighs 6.5LBS. But you have to add mount plates and ext tubes. So in reality, about 9LBS. My scope was under £400 used.

The ' sometimes sharper ' is subjective and depends on the comparisons, but i know what you mean. If using a scope for astro work, then you can go way cheaper, but for terrafirma photography, you need ED / LD glass, and that puts up prices. Nothing like Canon / Nikon / Sigma big gun prices of course.

BIF are a bit of a nightmare for gear like my Orion scope with its lack of any help, but its possible if you're used to the way you use a scope. Quality on that Lapwing isnt as good as i'd like ( you can see this in the photo ) but i was taken by surprise, because i had set up to get a shot of the young Great Crested Grebe you see below. Still, not bad for off the cuff. I'm sure i could do better if was planning BIF shots.

Lapwings aren't that easy to catch in flight and the one that you
have posted is reasonably sharp and shows the wings quite well.

The Grebe shot is nice and sharp and well captured considering
that these don't usually come close to people.

There was some stuff about telescopes for bird photography on the
US forum. I think it was a thread about lenses longer than 300mm

2 mins later:

This is the thread link I had it bookmarked at page 74..... that might
be the last page I read? I've looked back to page 70, but can't
find the details of the telescope so it may be prior to that

You're right about Lapwings - they have what seems a really awkward flight pattern. Almost indecisive - luckily they're a reasonable size otherwise I'd have never got that shot. As for the GCG, I'd say being an inexpereinced juvenile, possibly this helped with the closeness, around 50/60ft , but mum was right next to him. I had to keep fairly still and was half hidden by shrubbery which helped

yeah thats me on US forum. I dont think there are too many bird photographers in that 300mm + lens club that shoot with a lens built for taking shots of stars and planets

The scope is an Orion 80ED, which is 80mm objective lens size, F ratio 7.5 ( this gives you FL ... 80mm x f7.5 )
Mine has an upgraded Williams Optics dual focuser, replacing the stock unit.

This is the best i could with 1mp camera phone

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/slapper/Lenses/Orion1.jpg[/IMG]

That looks quite impressive I see what you mean about how
it would be difficult for BIF, but any long BIF work needs a
gimbal type mount to not be awkward

Actually, i used to have a Manfrotto 393 and it makes no difference. The Pan / Tilt head i have is excellent - its the lens itself that makes BIF awkward, believe me

Impressive stuff Pierro. That last shot of the young Grebe is just gorgeous.

Thanks Froggy - I struck lucky with the lovely water colour. The lake was already reflecting a lot of yellowy-green due to the shrubbery / trees / leaves etc. Then the Sun just turned it golden. Its weird but there was only that small spot on the lake where that colour was - the Grebe just happened to be there in that area

I have the Skywatcher 80ED scope. I've taken a few bird shots and the detail captured is amazing. All manual of course although focus confirm works well, even with the Kenko 1.5x TC attached.
I plan on disassembling it over the winter months and adding some matte black flocking lining to the tube assembly to increase contrast a bit before taking it for another bird photography outing.
These scopes certainly provide a lot of bang for the buck once mastered.

I thought I recognised the photos too from the Birdforum site.

Yep, you would have seen mine there mac, and I recognise your name too, and you probably know that i started with the SW 600 80ED, but sold it on to try some others. Im happy with this Orion, as the build quality seems better than the SW. It also has a WO dual focuser ( retro fitted ) which is real nice.

What i'd really like though is the WO Zenithstar 2 105ED