Teletography

[tevo]

I just discovered my grandfather's (brand new in box!) Swift Short Tube Catadioptric Telescope (d=76mm, f=600mm). It is in great condition, and according to the manual I can attach a camera body to it. However, the "T Adapter" it comes with only has a thread mount on the end of it. Does anyone know how I might go about connecting a Nikon to this, but more importantly how to take some astro photographical pictures with it? I'm excited!

 

[480sparky]

Go to a camera store and buy a T-mount to (insert your camera mount here) adapter.

 

[SCraig]

Just a T-mount wouldn't work with my D60 or D90 (and I didn't have the D7000 at the time) on my Celestron SLT-1300. The camera would mount but would never focus. I finally wound up having to use a 2x T-Barlow mount to get it to focus.

 

[KmH]

Be aware, at a focal length of 600 mm and a diameter of 76 mm the telescope is f/8 - 600 mm (f) / 76 mm (lens aperture) = 7.89 - which gets rounded to f/8.
76 mm = 3 inches. The inexpensive 500 mm, fixed aperture 'mirror lenses' are also small catadioptric telescopes. Catadioptric system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are 2 reflective surfaces in the lens/telescope - the main mirror - right in front of where your camera will mount, and the secondary mirror - which is much smaller and at the other end and attached to the front correcting plate of the lens/telescope. You can see the back of the secondary mirror mount in the middle of the front correcting plate.

The condition of the very thin reflective coatings on those surfaces has a lot to do with how much light the lens/telescope can reflect. The reflective material is usually aluminum, and aluminum oxidizes and becomes less reflective.

 

[tevo]

Be aware, at a focal length of 600 mm and a diameter of 76 mm the telescope is f/8 - 600 mm (f) / 76 mm (lens aperture) = 7.89 - which gets rounded to f/8.
76 mm = 3 inches. The inexpensive 500 mm, fixed aperture 'mirror lenses' are also small catadioptric telescopes. Catadioptric system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are 2 reflective surfaces in the lens/telescope - the main mirror - right in front of where your camera will mount, and the secondary mirror - which is much smaller and at the other end and attached to the front correcting plate of the lens/telescope. You can see the back of the secondary mirror mount in the middle of the front correcting plate.

The condition of the very thin reflective coatings on those surfaces has a lot to do with how much light the lens/telescope can reflect. The reflective material is usually aluminum, and aluminum oxidizes and becomes less reflective.

I have seen a few articles / videos on teletography, and was planning on buying a proper telescope to attach a camera to at some point. This one fell into my hands, so I just want to see if it will be workable. Would a basic T mount > F mount adapter work with this telescope? Or is the focal point of the finder in the wrong location ( ^^ mentioned the need for a different adapter)