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Post by Dragon Man on Oct 30, 2015 13:48:54 GMT
After reading the conversation yesterday in another thread about using a Video Astronomy camera in a Finderscope, and how you can buy a Finderscope/Guidescope ready made to take an EP or camera, or as Johnno pointed out you can buy an adaptor to fit onto the standard GSO Finderscopes. I looked up both, and the Purpose-made Finderscope is $145, and the adaptor to make my Finderscope into a camerascope is $80 plus international freight costs. So being a bit of a DIY'er I said in the thread that I'll try make my own Well today I did. After spending about half an hour rummaging through my spare parts and checking fit, I worked out a way to do it. I started with a GSO (Skywatcher, Orion, Saxon etc) right-angle Finderscope (I checked focus with a straight-through Finder and a right-angle finder and found that the right-angle finder could reach focus with a camera). This model Finderscope: After unscrewing the right-angle eyepiece section I found that after just a very small rub with some sandpaper I could get a standard 2" to 1.25" EP adaptor to fit perfectly into where the right-angle section came from (I lightly sanded the adaptor not the scope): Then, with a bit of 2 part Epoxy Glue I fixed the adaptor into the Finderscope: Glued in: The finished setup takes the LN-300 in the Revolution Kit comfortably Instead of setting up all my gear with the lousy wind and cloud I have today I taped the Finderscope to a camera tripod for the test This photo shows how well it works and gives an idea of the FOV using a tree waayyyy off in the distance. I marked which tree it's looking at. Looks very sharp on the monitor: and a quick look at the sunset before it started raining on me: I am waiting for the storm to blow away and attempt to get some shots of the sky but we are forecast for Thunderstorms for the next 2 days, then rain for a week As soon as I get some sky shots, I'll post them in here. I am hoping for a really wiiiiide FOV But for now, I have a Finderscope that is now a Camerascope/Guidescope that cost me nothing. Just 5 minutes work to assemble.
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Post by fondofchips on Oct 30, 2015 17:11:34 GMT
Nice one Ken, could I do something similar with my SW ST80?
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Post by Dragon Man on Oct 30, 2015 17:21:47 GMT
Not sure I understand what you mean Harry. The ST80 comes with a focuser and takes a camera.
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Post by davy on Oct 30, 2015 18:44:25 GMT
Great stuff ken ..good tutorial
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Oct 30, 2015 23:57:48 GMT
Awesome Ken! Simpler than I thought it would be!
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Post by davy on Oct 31, 2015 4:12:45 GMT
I'm looking forward to seeing what your combo will come up with ken, the view on the portable monitor using the ln300 is very good and sharp and the revolution kit suits the set up perfect..on the orion kit I got they give you an adapter that you can fit to a photography tripod.. maybe if the images from this camera combination are good it may be a good add on for the revolution kit.. I have a sneaky feeling we are all going to be blown away by the images fromthis combo, part of the reason i went this route myself.. at just over f3 and 50mm and lightweight im hoping its a winner. . Wonder how many finders will be getting modded this weekend.
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Post by Dragon Man on Oct 31, 2015 4:31:15 GMT
I'm looking forward to seeing what your combo will come up with ken, the view on the portable monitor using the ln300 is very good and sharp and the revolution kit suits the set up perfect..on the orion kit I got they give you an adapter that you can fit to a photography tripod.. maybe if the images from this camera combination are good it may be a good add on for the revolution kit.. I have a sneaky feeling we are all going to be blown away by the images fromthis combo, part of the reason i went this route myself.. at just over f3 and 50mm and lightweight im hoping its a winner. . Wonder how many finders will be getting modded this weekend. True Davy, it would be a good kit with a small guidescope included. One of these: www.telescope.com/Orion-Mini-50mm-Guide-Scope/p/99607.utsOr even something like Harry's ST80 Guidescope. They are cheap. $219 or £108 www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-045F2
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Post by fondofchips on Oct 31, 2015 11:04:03 GMT
Not sure I understand what you mean Harry. The ST80 comes with a focuser and takes a camera. Sorry Ken, I'm assuming that any camera fitted to a ST80 would be the equivalent of a 6mm eyepiece. I'm hoping to get a more wide field, like a 25-30mm eyepiece and use the ST80 as a finder scope with camera attached or widefield. My ST80 was cheap, it came up new on Ebay last year with only the retail packaging missing, I sold off the accessories so it has been a good purchase. It is really good value for money even at full price.
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Post by Dragon Man on Oct 31, 2015 11:48:58 GMT
Ahhh, OK Harry. With one of the cheapie analogue Video Astronomy cameras in your ST80 you will still get a nice wide FOV. Using CCD Calc it shows a FOV of almost 1 full degree when using a 1/2" sensor and 42 minutes with a 1/3" sensor (these are without using a focal reducer):
They are the same results I get when using my ED80 WITH a focal reducer, so that is really good.
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Post by Dragon Man on Oct 31, 2015 14:00:39 GMT
Well, there was a bit of a break in the thunderclouds tonight for about half an hour so I quickly set up the finderscope on the camera tripod and fired up the Revolution kit, and aimed it at M42 to see how this combination goes on DSO's Here's the setup pointing at M42 as the image settles on the monitor: and here's how it looked once I got it running at x512 DNR-2 AGC off. The star trailing is due to a camera tripod having no tracking The photo doesn't show it as good as it looked on the Monitor. It's pretty hard to photograph a monitor and make it look the same But this quick little test showed that even with a simple 50mm Finderscope and the Revolution battery powered kit you can see bright DSO's. It would show even more at x1024, but then there would be more star trailing. Once I mount this finderscope up on my main scope and use tracking I'll post some more shots to show how it actually looks without trailing. I had to pack up quick because it started to rain again Because the kit is self-contained and battery powered, it only took me 20 seconds to switch the battery off, pick it all up, and run inside out of the rain.
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Post by davy on Oct 31, 2015 16:46:59 GMT
good stuff ken, been a good experiment and tutorial. part two of my thinking is obvious now, two systems on one mount. finder/guider scope with a camera and camera on main scope, how do we work round twin video captures, we don't we go for triple capture, now ken has paved the way with his finder mod I have a finder guider spare, a double mounting finder bracket is available from ebay for £40, where is this all going you all ask,,davy is going nuts...nope we are now looking at the realms of multi camera array, three cameras to one tracking mount..video cam on main scope and two variant video cameras on twin 50mm finder scopes,,, how do we capture all these feeds,,,easy mk1 davy portable array box,,plastic tool box with a 15" 12v dc monitor in the lid,, inside the tool box we have a 1.5tb cctv dvr and a 12v dc 22amp golf cart battery.. how does it work,,, a treat already built and tried battery can power dvr three cams and a monitor no probs should get roughly four to six hours and that's powering an eq3/2 mount. very easily made.. the principle is the dvr records the three camera feeds, the monitor can show four feeds at one time or you can select a camera.. big wow.. now what can i do with it stuck in the dvr hard drive..i cant broadcast live then,,,wrong ,,you split the av feed going to the monitor with a three way adapter and you send a feed to your usb capture device you now can have up to four live feeds going into your computer,, davys multi camera array on a tracking mount.
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Post by davy on Oct 31, 2015 17:01:53 GMT
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willw
Member
oxford ,miss,usa
Posts: 20
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Post by willw on Dec 12, 2016 18:20:35 GMT
Hi Ken, very nice . will w
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 13, 2016 6:54:06 GMT
Thanks Will, and it works good too
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