[sindbad1]

I use telescopes as telephoto-lenses with long focal distances. Here in Germany spring has finally arrived and I went to Linum, a small village in the state of Brandenburg which is a part of Germany. Linum is famous for its storks, which come here every year to breed and raise offspring in the estimated ten nests in place.

I've produced pictures and footage with a Sky-Watcher ED80 Pro, which is a telescope with 600mm focal length and a Pentax K-5 DSLR. This equipment is supported by a wooden tripod with a head, which is known in astronomy as the azimuthal mount named AYO. It comes from switzerland.

The telescope, a Sky-Watcher ED80 with a so-called flattener, an additional optical element, is an excellent corrected telephoto-lens delivering outstanding picture quality, which is mainly limited by the shimmering of the air and drifting particles like dust. As it happens often, it was not possible to use the original sound. Some person nearby was operating a loud machine for cutting or chopping wood. You can watch that video on YouTube.

You Tube

You Tube

Tom

---

Last edited by sindbad1; 04-23-2013 at 12:23 AM.

[Kerrowdown]

I see your using the military grade tripod head there.

I would imagine it's an absolute must, looking at the weight you have there in that set up.

[kiwi_jono]

Very nice. Using telescopes on cameras is completely new to me so excuse my newby comments...

Always liked the idea of getting a nice telescope. Had a small one when I was a child and used to spend a bit of time peering into the night sky. Did not know much about what I was looking at but pretty interesting. I'm curious what sort of $ do these telescopes cost?

Any chance of seeing a 100% crop from a still?

Thanks for posting.

[sindbad1]

The tripod itself is not something special. You can buy a used surveying tripod with wooden legs on the second hand market for a few bucks. They are perfect. The mount between the tripod and the telescope is very important. I like the Vixen Porta Mount with has slow motion controls for both axis. If you buy it, throw away the tripod which comes with it and replace it with a better one. The mount shown in the video weighs around 3.5 kg and you can attach two optical tubes to it, which is nice if you want to use different focal distances.

Here is a link to a still which I've made between filming the birds.
http://www.photoinfos.com/astronomie/Skywatcher-Pro-ED80/-FaVoStorch20130420-142.jpg

With an APS-sensor vigentting is no issue. In the edges you can notice some fringing, but these are sticks in front of the blue sky which are always hard to get without any color. The aperture of that system is f 7.5. You could use a frontcover with a smaller circular opening, to close the aperture a bit as in the early days of photography.

Long distance shots with long focal distances suffer under the effect of shimmering air and small particles drifting in the air. If a picture is not tack-sharp it isn't always because of the lens. To show this, I've made a video with a 2000mm telescope on a warm day:

You Tube

You Tube

Good Telescopes don't have to be expensive. An ED-refractor with a 80mm/600mm lens is very nice and there are some for 400 - 700 $. Look for this one: Sky-Watcher Pro 80ED APO. It usually comes with a case, some eyepieces and more. For photographic purposes you should add a corrector, which enhances the image quality. For that you'll have to pay 200 - 250 $. Try to get these on the second hand market. Astronomers like to change their equipment or go for larger telescopes.



Tom

---

Last edited by sindbad1; 04-23-2013 at 04:57 AM.

[smigol]

I can see where live view would be ideal for framing and focus rather than trying to crouch on the ground or use a right angle finder. Have you had any problems with viewing the screen in sunlight?

[qleak]

Very nice . Do you have any interest in recording the sound? Do you have access to a parabolic microphone?

Best,

-Q