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[Rocketman]

Last night I wasn't able to sleep, so I got up, and went outside. I saw the Moon, and decided to get out my telescope. After a few minutes of looking around I got an idea. That idea was to make a bracket to mount my camera near the eyepiece. I decided to make it out of wood, it was all I could find at the moment, I was desperate... So here I am, at 3 AM with a roaring skilsaw waking up my mother, who already thinks I'm a bit off my rocker... I took some quick measurements, and eventually cobbled something together that would hold the camera right where I wanted it to. So here I am buckling down this wooden bracket with a big hose clamp, and foam padding underneath. I'm all set, well I thought I was. Turns out I didn't cut it long enough to allow adjustment, at this point I said to hell with it. I intended to run the line from my camera to my computer so that I could record a video to edit later.

When I win the lotto I'm going to buy me an eyepiece with a camera in it, along with a lot of other gadgets. I figured you people might find this to be a bit humorous, so I decided to share that with you all.

What a shame, it was a dead center match, just not long enough. Just my luck...


I've probably shown this before, but here is my camera.

^{Panasonic PVGS9}

[katodog]

You know, I've often contemplated a way to connect my camcorder to the telescope, but I think it would be a bit too heavy. I tried holding it up to the eyepiece once, but decided that I would get tired before the camera did. The cam is a Sony Handicam, CCD-TRV608. It's got a 20x optical, 560x digital zoom, which I would die to have on my Fuji DSLR. I've been trying to come up with something that would connect to the mount instead of the telescope, but haven't decided where to start. The good thing is I work on heavy machinery, so getting tools and materials is no problem.

[jglover]

katodog said:

a Sony Handicam, CCD-TRV608. It's got a 20x optical, 560x digital zoom, which I would die to have on my Fuji DSLR.

Well, you can get a 20x magnifcation easily on the Fuji with a 500mm lens. Fuji DSLR are built on Nikon bodies and i think they have a 1.5x crop factor, just like my Pentax DSLR. The standard field of view with a 35mm lens which approximates the human eyes and is roughly equivalent to 1x magnication is from a 50mm lens. So to get a twenty fold magnification, you would need a 600mm lens to acheive approximately a 20x magnification factor. Problem is, a quality 600mm lens will set you back about $4K!

Now, if you are talking a 20x zoom range, that will never happen with a DSLR because that range is just too wide to be able to properly design a zoom lens....there are just too many compromises that would have to be made as 20x zoom range would encompass extreme wide angle to telephoto (ie a 10-200mm lens). Such a lens might be made but my guess it would be so soft at each end no one would buy one. About a 3:1 or 4:1 zoom ratio is what I've found gives acceptable results across the whole zoom range. My Tamron 70-300mm is really, really good but the Tokina 35-300mm I once owned was absolutley awful from 200-300mm and only marginally acceptable at 35mm.

Now, 560x digital zoom is easy.....just use Phtoshop and blow up a regular image....that is all digital zoom does is enlarge the center of the CCD, just like an image editing program. Only thing is image editors do it better.

[jglover]

rocketman2 said:

When I win the lotto I'm going to buy me an eyepiece with a camera in it, along with a lot of other gadgets. I figured you people might find this to be a bit humorous, so I

Orion's got this:

www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=6517&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=6&iSubCat=36&iProductID=6517

They're backordered, but only $120. It does have a camera in it, though not a very big one!

[stargazer]

guys just my personal opinion but dont get this one. I have heard they dont work all that good. The pics were lousy, couldnt get it to focus right.

I have the stellacam ex and it works great! Yes it is $600.00 bt worth it.

Like I said just my opinion but who am I but someone who has a camera system and checked out quite a few brfore I got mine.

B

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I think C.A. Oscar has this one and maybe C.A. Bill as well. Oscar is happy with it, and it does record well. I saw some lunar footage he took with the color CCD.

What I don't like is that the CCD eyepiece is set at a certain mm, and I think it's at a 17mm. A variable eyepice would be nice, or at least the ability to change mm's at least.

Why couldn't someone invent a CCD hook-up while using any desired eyepiece in series?

[Rocketman]

That's a good question Joe. I feel so silly now that I think about making the bracket. I guess there is something after all that even duct tape can't do

Hey it was worth a try, and it did make me sleepy... lol


4000 BUCKS!?!?! Astronomy will put you in the poor house... lol

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Nothing to feel silly about.

Those who have shared sessions with me know of my "Experimental" devices. From my home built finder scope and eyepieces, to impromtu camera holders...all have a place. And saving money by doing it yourself is quite cool.

So keep up the modifications, and improvements in enhancing your astronomical pleasure. I know I am!