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Best camera *platform* for moon pictures?



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 1st 05, 04:33 PM
Howard Lester
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Default Best camera *platform* for moon pictures?

ScopeTronix, Orion, and Lumicon offer devices that clamp to the telescope
and have a little platform onto which the camera is mounted. The first two
clamp to the eyepiece, but eyepieces vary considerably in height and
diameter, possibly limiting their clamping ability... The Lumicon one clamps
to the focusing tube. Does anyone have an opinion on which would work best?
My little Nikon 3200 weighs about 9 ounces with the batteries.

Howard Lester


  #2  
Old February 1st 05, 05:04 PM
Mark
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Howard -

I fashioned a homemade adapter (basically a very heavy cardboard tube
and two hose clamps) that couples my Kodak DC4800 (11 oz) directly and
securely to my TeleVue 32mm Plossl (after removing the rubber eyecup)
and it works great. If you can find a suitable low power eyepiece of
approximately the same diameter as the lens housing or adapter, you
could do the same. Someday soon I will take a pic and post it.
My preference is for the first option you mentioned.

Mark

  #3  
Old February 1st 05, 05:06 PM
Mark
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Howard -

I fashioned a homemade adapter (basically a very heavy cardboard tube
and two hose clamps) that couples my Kodak DC4800 very securely to my
TeleVue 32mm Plossl. It works great - some day soon I will post a pic.
If you can find a low power eyepiece of approximately the right
diameter, you could do the same. So my preference would be the first
option you mentioned.

Mark

  #4  
Old February 1st 05, 05:07 PM
Mark
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Sorry, I forgot to mention that my camera weighs 11 oz.

  #5  
Old February 1st 05, 05:15 PM
Howard Lester
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"Mark" wrote

Sorry, I forgot to mention that my camera weighs 11 oz.


No, you did say so in your first post. As for suggesting you prefer my
"first" option, are you referring to the ScopeTronix platform?

Howard


  #6  
Old February 1st 05, 05:30 PM
Mark
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Sorry to possibly mislead you. In my case I am clamping the camera
directly to the eyepiece so the alignment is right each time. I have
not used the "platform" type adapter, but I think I would prefer it to
clamp to the focuser rather than the eyepiece if I had to choose.

Mark


Howard Lester wrote:
"Mark" wrote

Sorry, I forgot to mention that my camera weighs 11 oz.


No, you did say so in your first post. As for suggesting you

prefer my
"first" option, are you referring to the ScopeTronix platform?

Howard


  #7  
Old February 1st 05, 05:42 PM
Howard Lester
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"Mark" wrote

Sorry to possibly mislead you.


I'm just a babe, lost in the woods.... I need direction!

In my case I am clamping the camera
directly to the eyepiece so the alignment is right each time. I have
not used the "platform" type adapter, but I think I would prefer it to
clamp to the focuser rather than the eyepiece if I had to choose.


OK, so from that I take it you would prefer the Lumicon option over the
other two - sounds good to me. I successfully took a shot of the moon
handheld over the eyepiece, but I wouldn't want to hassle with that all over
again.

Howard




  #8  
Old February 1st 05, 06:03 PM
David Nakamoto
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The best working cheapest mount is you, if the object is simply the Moon or Sun.
Simply hold the camera right up to the eyepiece, taking care not to scratch the
camera lens against the latter. I had used an attachment fixing my digital
camera to selected eyepieces directly, but I found the old hold it up there and
shoot technique to be the best. And it didn't cost a cent to implement. With
exposure times of one thousandth of a second or so, there's no problem using
this technique.
--
Sincerely,
--- Dave
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It don't mean a thing
unless it has that certain "je ne sais quoi"
Duke Ellington
----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Howard Lester" wrote in message
...
ScopeTronix, Orion, and Lumicon offer devices that clamp to the telescope
and have a little platform onto which the camera is mounted. The first two
clamp to the eyepiece, but eyepieces vary considerably in height and
diameter, possibly limiting their clamping ability... The Lumicon one clamps
to the focusing tube. Does anyone have an opinion on which would work best?
My little Nikon 3200 weighs about 9 ounces with the batteries.

Howard Lester




  #9  
Old February 1st 05, 06:21 PM
Howard Lester
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"David Nakamoto" wrote

The best working cheapest mount is you, if the object is simply the Moon

or Sun.
Simply hold the camera right up to the eyepiece, taking care not to

scratch the
camera lens against the latter. I had used an attachment fixing my

digital
camera to selected eyepieces directly, but I found the old hold it up

there and
shoot technique to be the best. And it didn't cost a cent to implement.

With
exposure times of one thousandth of a second or so, there's no problem

using
this technique.


Hi Dave,

I did successfully use this method, but I had trouble being sure the plane
of the camera was perfectly parallel to the plane of the eyepiece. Also, it
wasn't easy finding the moon's image on the LCD screen. Any movement side to
side vignetted the image, even when the moon was centered in the eyepiece.
(I shot at 56x through a Panoptic 22 and got a very nice image -- one out of
about eight.) This is why I thought a more 'permanent' solution would give
more consistent results. ?

Howard


  #10  
Old February 1st 05, 06:42 PM
Mark
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Dave -

A perfectly workable solution, but when you want to do things like
photograph the very old or very new moon or capture earthshine, you
need longer exposures. I really like the direct connection between the
lens and eyepiece using an appropriatelysized tube. The very thick
(maybe 1/4" cardboard) tube I found is ideal because it flexes slightly
under the pressure of the hose clamps to secure everything tightly but
still holds it all in perfect alignment.

Mark

 




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