Telescopes and a D40

[Revel]

HI

I have been given a telescope (not the type from Argos) and would Like to connect my D40 to it to take some pictures of the moon to see if it is really made out of green cheese.

What equipment /adapters would I need. I will get the telescope tomorrow, so I would be able to give you a better idea if that makes a difference.

Thanks

 

[DennyCrane]

I don't have any answers, but once you figure it out, please post your shots along with how you got it all rigged up. Astrophotography fascinates the hell out of me.

Good hunting!

 

[astrostu]

You need both a T-ring and a T-mount. The T-ring is specific to your camera and adapts it to a universal thread. The T-mount is specific to the telescope and will either be 1.25" or 2.00" on one end (to fit the eyepiece barrel) and have the threads to math the universal ones on the T-ring.

 

[Revel]

I have a pdf called "How to Photograph the Moon and Planets with Your Digital Camera" thats 23mb. If anyone wants it, let me know. Trouble is, the size of the file

Once ive figured it out, I will post and let ya know

 

[Revel]

something like this ?

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/members/astrostu.html astrostu. Nice pics on your site

 

[Revel]

Ok. I have had a look at the telescope and it looks good, but what do I know until I Googled.

Iwas right, it wasnt an Argos special
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It was Aldi according to my Google search and a naff one at that. But hey, beggers cant be choosers when you dont know anything about the things and didnt cost me anything.

So what sort of image can I expect from this ?

Regards

Andy

 

[bp4life71]

The adapters work great...but to be honest, you could actually just set your tripod up and place it right at your telescopes eye piece and that would work. Of course the adapter is far better, but in a pinch, you could still do it without the adapter.

 

[KmH]

So what sort of image can I expect from this ?

Not great ones I'm afraid.

The telescope is about f/9 as far as speed.

There is no way to readily balance the tube assembly with a camera attached to the focuser.

The telescope mount (alt-azimuth) has to be moved in 2 axis at the same time to track what you are looking at, and the legs it is all standing upon are not very stable at all. Every time you touch the focuser (without a camera attached) it will all jiggle and shake making focusing difficult at best.

You would need something more like this with an equitorial mount and a balancing mechanism.

An equitorial mount only requires movement in one axis (the polar) for tracking, though adding a motor drive would be beneficial.

 

[Gecko23]

So what sort of image can I expect from this ?

Passable shots of the moon, and pretty much nothing else.

The first, and most important problem is the alt-az mount. Its fine for bird watching, but useless for the kind of tracking required for long astro exposures.

I was going to ramble on, but this link covers it pretty well: TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a tiny URL

(tinyurl handled oddly?)

 

[Revel]

I was only going to use it for moon shots at the moment. Just wondered what sort of detail, closeness would it achieve?

Thanks for the info

 

[Derrel]

You would probably get better optical performance, as well as better handling and easier focusing if you went with an old-fashioned, all-glass (ie. non-mirror) long-focus lens like this 500mm f/8 pre-set lens.

Amazon.com: Phoenix 500mm f/8 Telephoto Lens with Mount for Nikon D40, D60, D90, D200, D300, D300s, D3, D3x, D700, D3000 & D5000 Digital SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo

 

[Revel]

That looks ideal. What sort of detail would I get. I know i wont see the flag armstrong planted, but a cretor or 2 would be nice