The last pieces are here!

[JNB]

I've been on such a binge lately, I need to lay off a while. Lenses, new flash, tripod, heads, flash, & on & on. Just got my telescope adapters from Adorama today, so I'm good for astrophotography play and terrestrial shots (out to an effective 2000 mm!) Now I guess it's wait until next Xmas, and maybe a 40D will be under the tree...

(The photos were from the iPhone, forgive the quality!)

 

[jsw]

Amazing! You're doing pretty well for an unemployed brute, Fezzik.

What do you have planned for that lens?

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

How much do these run??

 

[JNB]

Amazing! You're doing pretty well for an unemployed brute, Fezzik.
What do you have planned for that lens?

I will shoot some staarrs, and long-distance caarrs.
Maybe some still-standing biirrds, or slow-moving herrds.

How much do these run??

The 'scope is a Bushnell Northstar 90 x 1250 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain, retails for $425-$500 (but I used Marriott Rewards Points, $0!) The T-adapter and T Ring combined came to $47 shipped.

 

[Macerture]

I'm gonna look you up when I hook up ma Bushnell... Nice setup dude!

 

[Westside guy]

If you're looking for True Geek Cred(TM), what you'll need to do is figure out how to tie your iPhone into the Bushnell.

 

[Macerture]

there's a guy taking insanely good moon shots with a webcam out there.. Very trick, yet simple setup.. google it or something..

 

[Aperture]

Looks cool. Please post your results after you get around to trying it out!

 

[JNB]

If you're looking for True Geek Cred™, what you'll need to do is figure out how to tie your iPhone into the Bushnell.

Fixed that for you...

Yeah, some sort of BT control/logging app (It already is microprocessor controlled, does everything pretty much for you). Until then, I'll just have to paint it white with a red stripe on the end to maximize the "mine's bigger" thing.

Looks cool. Please post your results after you get around to trying it out!

Naturally, it's overcast here, getting the spillover from the CA storms, I guess. I might opt for some terrestrial practice over the weekend.

 

[Westside guy]

Fixed that for you...

Hey, how did you do the superscript? I couldn't find it, and I knew I couldn't just pass  tags through.

 

[JNB]

Hey, how did you do the superscript? I couldn't find it, and I knew I couldn't just pass  tags through.

Option-2 for the trademark symbol, it's not superscript. I have to use that weekly, or I forget and go hunting all over again...

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

The 'scope is a Bushnell Northstar 90 x 1250 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain, retails for $425-$500 (but I used Marriott Rewards Points, $0!) The T-adapter and T Ring combined came to $47 shipped.

Awesome. I also didn't know the adapters would be so inexpensive.

I actually have a decent scope from the mid 90s - I know it was around $300 back then, so I'm guessing it still would work decently, but nothing like these fancy new ones. I'll have to start going through my shed to see if I can locate it.

 

[JNB]

OK, VERY first shots. These were taken from my driveway, all to the east. Still have some focusing issues to resolve (!). All were tripod mounted, timer shots, ISO 200 (Program mode), either 1/40 or 1/50 second exposure, no aperture data, but the scope is about an f/14.

White van: ~450 yards/410 meters
Small peak: ~7,800 yards/4.4 miles/7,100 meters
Large hillside: ~ 11,100 yards/6.3 miles/10,200 meters
(Google Earth is your friend!)

I had a couple closer, but the focus was even worse. The first trend I note is that this would be great for shooting mountains from 20 miles away - focus tends to improve with distance, even though the apparent sharpness through the lens seemed to be the same for all. The image is REALLY dark through the lens, so matching focus was a bit of a SWAG.

I also think that placing the tripod on a softer surface (lawn instead of concrete driveway--vibrations dampened more), and using the wireless remote after giving the rig time to settle down instead of the built-in timer should improve the images. Yeah, I was in a bit of a hurry.