[hinman]

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I bought this TC new in ebay. It has the brand name of both Tokina in the box and Kenko on the TC. I tried it out last night with Pentax F* 300mm f/2.8. The AF actually work in the setup. Though it has the power zoom contacts, it does not work with SDM with my Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8. It is not the best in terms of detail but I get a bunch of clouds moving in with the wind. I will try again in another night

Moon shot with Kenko Pz-AF 2x Teleplus MC7

#1
1/20 sec, f/8.0, 600mm, iso 400, +0.7 Ev



#2
1/60 sec, f/7.1, 600mm, iso 400, 0 Ev



#3
1/30 sec, f/7.1, 600mm, iso 400, 0 Ev

What is your setup in shooting the moon? I cropped the 600mm pictures by about and above 50% in the crop. I lost some detail in the shots but reasonable to use in small size. I will try it again in using just the lens without the TC and heavily crop to view difference

Thanks,
Hin

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Last edited by hinman; 09-02-2009 at 10:05 AM.

[hinman]

By the way, I have a blog post on a youtube video that a wonderful Pentaxian capture it using Pentax K-7 along with a scope by the name of something like a Skymax 150. I hope someone can tell me the setup. I post a question to the author of the video in youtube asking if he uses the Pentax K-7 with a lens mounted on the Skymax 150 or not.

Blog post: Passing Moon YouTube Video by Pentax K-7

I really get inspired by this video in going out to have some still shot on the moon with my Pentax K20D. But my still shot is nothing compared to the clarity in this video. The dude is wonderful and I hope to learn how he set it up so professionally using k-7 video.

Thanks,
Hin

[ivoire]

Hinman, make sure you have a sturdy tripod. I used my lightweight and had lousy results with the f*300 and mc7 2x tc. then i switched to my heavy unit and got the pic below. Also, the closer you get to full moon, the less detail you will capture (full brilliance will decrease contrast). As for the video, that was excellent. If you email link below, they should be able to tell you what you need to connect the scope to the camera:

I have been looking at this as an inexpensive choice, but I'm not sure of the quality for photos. It does have some nice features.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bushnell-NorthStar-1250-x-90mm-Maksutov-Cassegrain_W0QQi...4011.m20.l1116

and heres a decent page for reviews/comparison info:

http://www.best-telescope-guide.com/bushnell-telescopes.html

[Venturi]

I have certainly seen much, much better but I was pretty pleased with how these came out July 3rd @ 600mm EFL using my Tamron 75-300/4-5.6 with Vivitar MC 2x-22 TC. Modestly enhanced in LR2.


uncropped


3:2 crop


1:1 crop

And "Creatives"...

[hinman]

Damn, those are nice with a lot of detail. I need to find a better ball-head. I used a Linhof ball-head that my good friend in PF, SOldBear, let me borrow, it is already night and day difference with my cheapo ball-head that fails to lock a 50mm lens in place. The Linhof is pretty good but it falls short along with my inexperience with the 2nd tightening knob. I tilted my 300mm with the 2x TC at a 45 degree angle and I was not able to lock the gig in place, so I hold the camera with my hands and use the 2 second timer for the shot.

I need to try it again and see if the tightening knob was used wrongly by me. Also, I would try with the much better TC with my Pentax F-1.7x AF TC that I used quite well with another 300mm lens before.

Thanks,
Hin

[MattGunn]

There are two ways of taking pictures with astronomical telescopes.
With the afocal method you keep the lens on the camera and focus it to infinity. You then have to line the lens up with the eyepiece on the telescope and focus the telescope to get a sharp image. There are brackets available to hold the camerain the right place but they are generally designed for compact cameras.
With the prime focus method you remove the lens from the camera and replace it with a T mount adapter and a tube which fits into the eyepiece tube on the telescope. The telescope forms it image on dicrectly on the sensor and this will give the best overall puicture (less glass in the way to introduce aberations).
I would expect that a reasonable astronomical telescope with bits for mounting a DSLR could be obtained for less than an AF 300mm f/2.8.

[wildlifephotog]

8"/f6 dob, 2 second timer, iso 400, ist DS.

[ivoire]

8"/f6 dob, 2 second timer, iso 400, ist DS.

Excellent detail in this. Is this an 8"telescope? if so, what kind and what camera?

[wildlifephotog]

The scope was built by me. The camera was the ist DS.
The scope has a 1200mm focal length.

[ivoire]

The scope was built by me.

Now i'm even more impressed.

[wildlifephotog]

Just takes patience, of which I barely have enough. Last shot. My apologies for butting into the thread.

This was done with a 2X barlow added between camera and scope.

[hinman]

Just takes patience, of which I barely have enough. Last shot. My apologies for butting into the thread.

This was done with a 2X barlow added between camera and scope.

No apology is needed. This is exactly what we need to gather information and share the Pentax love of photograhy. If you ever have a chance to show the setup, that would be wonderful so that we get a visual idea what are involved to get great detail picture of the moon. Of course, if you can share more of your techniques besides patience, that would be wonderful too. I am not familiar with barlow, do you mean a bellow? Here is a snapshot of my setup:

Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5
Kenko 2x Pz-AF Teleplus MC7
Linhof ball-head
Dynatran Carbon tripod legs

I mounted the special tripod mount bracket from the F* 300mm f/4.5. I was out in the dark and without a coin and I find it hard to secure the tripod mount. I am now carrying a coin 24/7 with my backpack.

Warmest,
Hin

[ivoire]

Hinman, that looks like my setup only i have a Giotto brand ball head with a heavy aluminum and steel unknown brand tripod. Shown with the f*300mm and Kenko MC7 PZ-AF 2x tc made by Tokina. It will autofocus with this lens.

[wildlifephotog]

First, here is the scope with camera mounted.


Here is a view of the focuser and camera.


And here is the two attaching pieces. On the left is the 2" snout that goes on the camera. It's made from aluminum tubing and a K mount T adapter. The other is a 2X barlow. This doubles like a teleconverter. The seeing must be very good to use it.


I've also done comet imaging with the scope and a modified webcam. But that is a different beastie.

[ivoire]

Thanks for the post of this amazing cannon! I'm feeling rather tiny right now.... but i guess you'd be able to see that