focus reducers

hi all,

I'm new to CCD, so Igot questions. I was taking shots of the moon the other night and only getting a small section of the moon. according to the book I need a focus reducer. my question is will this work on a 10" reflector OTA? I'm using a Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imaging Camera II

thanks
Doug

My experience with focal reducers is that it would depend on your scope and CCD combination. If your chip is not that large, then you will be staying near the center of your scopes "sweet spot" and you likely would not notice any problems, just a wider field of view. If your chip is larger, then you might notice some star flair or other effects. The moon would be a large/challenging target for my camera.

Charlie

Doug Waller said:

hi all,

I'm new to CCD, so Igot questions. I was taking shots of the moon the other night and only getting a small section of the moon. according to the book I need a focus reducer. my question is will this work on a 10" reflector OTA? I'm using a Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imaging Camera II

Doug,

thanks

Doug,
I have used the Orion DSI II with the .5 focal reducer they offer in the catalog. It works very well with the f/4 Newtonian Starblast (4.5in). It is relatively inexpensive. I now have the new StarShoot Pro with the larger imaging chip. I haven't used it with this imager but I suspect it will cause some vignetting because of its 1.25" barrel diameter. I would like to get my hands on a .5X reducer in a 2" barrel.

Try it. You might like it!

Gary Caldwell
[email protected]