Posts Made By: Reynaldo Cordero

I am planning to attend the Golden Gate Star Party in Adin (NE Cal). Viewing the most recent satellite images, it looks like the smoke from the fires is travelling over the party site. It is scheduled for July 2-6. Is there anybody in the Redding, CA or Southern Oregon area who can comment about the current seeing conditions.

Thanks.
Rey

Hi:

I would like to know if anyone out there has put a C6 on a Vixen skypod. The capacity rating of this mount was increased by the company to 15 lbs. The C6 OTA weighs ten. but with eyepieces (TV Radians) and such, 15 lbs is easy to get to.. I am afraid to overload the mount. Rumor has it that is never a good thing for the longevity of the motors and gears.

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

RC

Hi:

I would like to know if anyone out there has put a C6 on a Vixen skypod. The capacity rating of this mount was increased by the company to 15 lbs. The C6 OTA weighs ten. but with eyepieces (TV Radians) and such, 15 lbs is easy to get to.. I am afraid to overload the mount. Rumor has it that is never a good thing for the longevity of the motors and gears.

Any information will be greatly appreciated.

RC

I am looking for any user experience with the Pentax DCF ED or SP line of binoculars. Please share any experience with both birding and stargazing if able. Thanks.

Hello:

I pondered the same issue with my AS-CG5 mount.

Here is what I found after some research.

Pelican cases remain very popular for the storage of optical equipment (waterproof and very hardy). However, they are quite expensive. With pick-and-pluck foam it will run about $150 plus for this particular use.

The other option is to use a telescope case such as a Meade or Celestron. If fact, I found an uncut, brand new Celestron case for a Next Star 5 and could fit the mount and many (not all of the accesories). Frankly, I was lucky to get it for $60.00. It may be hard to find a new one for this price, but there are probably many used ones in the market that can be retrofitted for this telescope mount. However, I ended up needing this case for something else.

In the end, I went to my local hardware store and bought a Craftsman Truck Tote Model 59027. It has wheels and a handle. It swallowed all of the accesories for the AS-CG5 including electrical plug, hand control, eyepiece holder, etc. It also can be used as a seat. At $40.00 it was a deal. All I had to do was find the right kind of foam to protect the mount. I highly recommend this solution.

Rey Cordero
Berkeley, CA

My first scope was a Jason 60 mm refractor that I got as a birthrday present when I was 8 years old. The box had one of those ridiculous claims of 454x. I never figured out why they picked that number. My guess is that it had to do with the displacement of muscle car engines of the time (1970).

It was not a good scope but my first views of the moon and Saturn only intensified my desire to see more. I lost interest in that scope about 5 years later. It was not until 1992 when I purchased a used Celestron Super C8 Plus that I started to look at the sky seriously again. Needless to say, it was great to have a real scope.

Rey Cordero
Berkeley, CA

Hello all:

I opted to buy the Tele Vue 8-24 zoom because I do believe that their quality control is more stringent than that of Orion. It is true that at 24 mm the FOV is narrow compared to say a 25 mm Tele Vue Plossl. This is why I always have a TV 32 mm Plossl on hand. Nonetheless, at the higher magnifications the FOV is actually quite competitive with most fixed power eyepieces in the market.

Beyond the issues of quality control, there is a great deal to be said for the ease of use of a well-made, high quality zoom eyepiece whatever the brand. It allows to test seeing conditions without changing eyepieces. It's fun to zoom into the object and see its features unfold. The other night, I was able to split the Lyra double-double for the first time. I spent some time zooming in and out to see the stars split.

The Apogee zoom may have a wider FOV but I doubt it will have better optics.

Rey Cordero
Berkeley, CA

Has anyone tried the Tele Vue High Magnification Zooms? I have the 2-4mm zoom on a Tele Vue 60 and it works quite well. Although expensive, the zoom feature precludes having to get 2 or 3 other fixed magnification eyepieces to cover that range?

Rey Cordero
Berkeley, CA

I am very impressed by the time and effort Astromarters take into answering questions and giving sound and educated advice.

I support the idea that an amateur astronomer must learn, refine and exhaust all of the skills necessary for visual enjoyment of the sky before seriously undertaking astrophotography. This is the route I am planning on following. I do not plan to do any serious astrophotography until the Summer of 2006.

The availability of computerized Go To mounts make celestial objects easy to find. By the same token, it is creating a new breed of amateur astronomers that barely know the sky. There is also something to be said for the frustration and the excitement of manually searching and finding objects, rating the seeing conditions, etc.

In the end, most of us will end up with at least two scopes. I have four scopes and 2 binoculars, and plan on acquiring another scope soon.

Gregory, my advice is to buy a used Celestron C5 Next Star and a nice pair of binoculars, and spend at least a year learning the sky before buying another instrument specifically for astrophotograhy. The beauty of the C5 is that it is an excellent all around scope for the beginner. It is relatively inexpensive, and holds its value in the market if you decide to sell it. Moreover, it can be used for simple astrophotography thus giving you the opportunity to start developing your skills before you decide to spend $2K on a high end refractor ota for photo work.

Any thoughts from the other Astromarters about this recommendation.

Gregory, must of all, don't get caught in all of the technical details. Many of us spend more time researching and discussing equipment than we do observing. Go out there and have fun.

Rey Cordero
Berkeley, CA
Tele Vue 60
Celestron C5 (non Go To)
Celestron Super C8+ (1986 Vintage)
Celestron C 9.25 on Advanced Series Go To CG5

Excerpt from the Optics4Birding website:

"Vignetting"

"Selecting a digital camera for digiscoping is different than picking one for general use. Excluding the professional digital SLR cameras, the best cameras for general use have large objective lenses with large apertures. For digiscoping cameras, however, large objective lenses lead to one of the biggest problems in digiscoping - vignetting.

Vignetting is the effect caused when the entire frame of the image is not illuminated, leaving a circular image with surrounding black. It occurs when either the objective lens of the camera is larger than the exit pupil of the scope, or when the curvature or mounting of the objective lens of the camera is farther away from the eyepiece of the scope than the scope's eye relief. For this reason, most digiscopers prefer cameras with small objectives, which can be brought very close to the scope's eyepiece. In general, pocket-sized digital cameras with large zoom ranges are also problematic, as their zooming lens elements recede from the eyepiece when zooming to larger magnifications.

The only way to solve the vignetting problem without changing the physical parameters of the camera and scope is to crop the image. Cropping can be done in a photo-editing program, which reduces the size of the image, or by zooming in with the camera while taking the photo. Zooming in maintains full resolution of the image file, but lowers image brightness."
+++++++++++++++
Now for my own experience. I do not yet have a an SLT digital.
My Olympus 4040 is notorious for vignetting problems. Buying a Scopetronix Maxview 40mm eyepiece went a long way towards ameliorating the problem. The remaining vignetting disappeared entirely by using the optical zoom in the camera. Zooming in takes the circular shadow out of the picture.

I am not sure whether you are attaching the camera directly to the scope without a photo lens. You probably are. In which case, I am not sure if you can use the optical zoom in the camera to reduce vignetting.

You may want to post the same question in the astrophotography forum instead of in the equipment forum. You are more likely to get an answer there.

Rey Cordero