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I have a Meade ETX125 UHTC and thinking about using it in combination with my D7000. Has Anyone out there tried it yet with this model?
I bought an adapter for my Canon G2 years ago and only used a couple times. Now with the D7000 being a different beast altogether, I'm tempted to give another try.
It should just be a T-mount adapter you need to get. Usually you add an adapter to the telescope (male), then T-mount adapter on your camera (female). I do know Meade sells them.
What a sweet telescope - I can't wait to see your pics.
@TaoTeJared. I thought I would need just the one. I'll call the shop I bought it from and see what they have. Thanks.
@spraynpray. I've had this telescope for about 10 years now. Must admit that it's been collecting dust for the last five. I plan to take it out this summer.
The problem I faced with my G2 at the time and this is probably because I did not know what I was doing. Is that all the pictures I would take where round, just as if looking through a hole. Probably just a settings issue and I might have been using the auto feature on the camera instead of aperture or shutter priority as well.
I got some reading to do this spring to prepare and would appreciate any bits of experience sharing from those who do practice this kind of photography.
>> The problem I faced with my G2 at the time and this is probably because I did not know what I was doing. Is that all the pictures I would take where round, just as if looking through a hole. Probably just a settings issue and I might have been using the auto feature on the camera instead of aperture or shutter priority as well.
That's what usually happens when you shoot with a camera/lens in addition to the telescope (actually, there's a whole field of photography that involves using telescope/lens/camera, telescope/eyepiece/camera or telescope/eyepiece/lens/camera... it's called "digiscoping,' if you do a Google search it'll turn up a ton of info on the subject). When you shoot with just a DSLR body and telescope (with a T-mount and adapter), you should not have any problem covering the full frame.
bhoveyga said:
>> The problem I faced with my G2 at the time and this is probably because I did not know what I was doing. Is that all the pictures I would take where round, just as if looking through a hole. Probably just a settings issue and I might have been using the auto feature on the camera instead of aperture or shutter priority as well.That's what usually happens when you shoot with a camera/lens in addition to the telescope (actually, there's a whole field of photography that involves using telescope/lens/camera, telescope/eyepiece/camera or telescope/eyepiece/lens/camera... it's called "digiscoping,' if you do a Google search it'll turn up a ton of info on the subject). When you shoot with just a DSLR body and telescope (with a T-mount and adapter), you should not have any problem covering the full frame.
Will look it up. Thanks much!
As TaoTeJared said, get a T-adaptor (sometimes call T2 adaptor) and a nose-piece to fit the focuser draw tube on your scope, probably 1 1/4" for your scope. Look up 'prime focus astrophotography'.
The scope is in effect used as a large manually focused telephoto lens.
Also look up 'afocal astrophotography' or 'eyepiece projection'.
This is where you leave the eyepiece in position and may be have a lens on your camera that can't be removed and take images. This method usually gives the 'like looking in to a hole' results. I think this is how you were set up last time and it is more difficult to get results compare to prime focus.
Afocal can be very useful to get very high magnifications to image single craters on the moon for example.
ATB.
Here are some pictures of mine:
There are 3 pieces, one is a Nikon specific mount(larger part on the left), the second is a 1.25" mount for the telescope (smaller part on the left). The cylinder on the right comes with the telescope mount and allows you to insert a eye-piece for increased magnification.
Here is how it looks on the scope:
Nice review of the D7000 for astrophography:
http://www.weasner.com/etx/astrophotography/d7000dslr/nikon_d7000_dslr.html
bhoveyga said:
Nice review of the D7000 for astrophography:http://www.weasner.com/etx/astrophotography/d7000dslr/nikon_d7000_dslr.html
Thanks for the link. I got surprised by the good performance of the D7K for Astro-Photography. (I guess next time I visit my natal home I will bring my home-made Telescope and use it (10" Newtonian Mirror)
One nice think I learned from that report is that the D7K has two sensors for the wireless remote release, one on the front of the camera and one on the back of the camera. (Something I was missing on my old D70s).
rbid said:
One nice thing I learned from that report is that the D7K has two sensors for the wireless remote release, one on the front of the camera and one on the back of the camera. (Something I was missing on my old D70s).
Yeah, that's a feature I noticed right off... I use my ML-L3 in place of a cable release and when you're behind the tripod that other sensor is a real plus.
Now if only Nikon would redesign the remote. I know infrared emitters are capable of sending varied signals... so why can't Nikon give us a wireless remote that supports half-press the way wired ones do?
Mike Weasner's webpage (thanks for the URL, bhoveyga) makes interesting reading. What got my attention was the image of the ISO2000 dark slide. I couldn't see any noise on it at all so noise is certainly not going to be a problem with this camera. (My old Pentax K10D performs the same at ISO400 in the dark as the D7000 does at ISO25600 so we've come a long way in a few years.) Weasner kept the noise reduction turned off; probably sensible because faint stars might be mistaken for hot pixels.
If you look at the front of the ETX125 you'll see that it has a staggering high f number. My experience is that the images taken with an ETX125 are grainy and any dust in the optical path shows up strongly. I must re-read Weasners web page but I don't think he actually put the D7000 on an ETX125 at any stage.
My ETX is about 10 years old so what I say next may be outdated...my ETX mount is plastic and wobbly and, if I T-mount a camera at the back the scope cannot be tilted up very far before the camera hits the base of the scope mount.
I have used my D90 and I have tried my D7000 on my Meade LX90-SC 8 inch scope .
I had far better results with the D90 on my old ETX125 (that the grand-kids can use ).
I have concreted two steel post into the ground in two different areas of my farm so I can mount the telescope securely with not much vibration (that a tripod will have ).
two locations for the different seasons .
Using this method have very little vibration when taking shot at great distance (Venus Jupiter Saturn) , the shots Ive tried with my D7000 are not good and I haven't progressed far with any better results .
The D90 shots are great ,when you can see Saturn's rings in a picture you have taken ,,that's great for me .My older moon shots were awesome (to me )
I cheated and put a Philips PCVC740K ToUcam PRO PC video camera on my new 8inch telescope scope and got some great shots direct onto my laptop ,everybody can see them and nobody has to touch the telescope and tripod ,its all on automatic using Meade's Autostar hand paddle .
I will persist with the D7000, I have all I need to take fair shots ,just the setting up,trial and error in manual mode ,but patience is lacking at the moment .
You must have a remote cable for this exercise .
Any vibration is a big problem .
http://www.nikonweb.com/svp127/
As the author of the above says ...How about a 1540mm lens !
Now that's on a 5 inch like the ETX125 ,my 8 inch scope give me a huge telescopic lens with a focal length of 2000mm.
But he results (so far) aren't as good as my older 8 inch ETX125
Its a great sideline hobby,something different to just taking down to Earth photos .
Im wondering as I type this if I can use the D7000 using LiveView Video mode when attached to the back of my Meade telescope......???
I did take a photo of the Big Dipper constellation a few weeks ago. The D7000 just rocks.
I remember reading somewhere, unfortunately I don't remember where, that a CCD DSLR is a better choice for astrophotgraphy. The reason why escapes me.
Additionally, regardless of whether you use a CCD or CMOS camera, ideally you should remove the infrared filter in front of the sensor. This accomplishes two things, it allows more light in general to reach the sensor, and of course allows for infrared radiation from heavenly bodies to record, giving a better exposure of said heavenly body.
So either way, ideally for astrophotography, you should buy a second-hand body and remove the infrared filter.
Ive kept my D80 and D90 ,D80 will still take a good shots of the moon craters and the Planets when needed, plus it is lighter on the back of my telescope .
Having said that the little (and I do mean little ) Philips webcam always wins out for stunning Stacked shots and laptop scanning of the moon plus other interesting objects "out-there"
So the D80 now sits in its box without a lens ,both my other Nikon's have lenses attached and Im always ready to shoot .
This is maybe what you read Spy Black?
I have fitted this to mine as well, Baader UV/IR-block filter forgot just looked and there is is on the tiny webcam
http://www.weasner.com/etx/astrophotography/2005/webcam.html
or this
http://www.astro-imaging.de/astro/webcam_imaging_6.html
I found these website invaluable when I first started out with a Meade ETX90 and then (the same as with my cameras ),I went and kept spending ...
Im lucky to live in an area were there is no Light Pollution and skies are clear and black .
A mans got to get out more often and on a warm night I do ...looking at those celestial bodies
Stick to the canon.
Nikon do not do a raw image, their raw image is processed the canon is not,
so you will get a true image of the night sky,
Nikon process their raw images, so you will lose the faint stars as they will be looked at as being hot pixels.
have a search through our astronomy forum.
there is loads of info burried in there
http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php
Mac.
Found the link regarding the noise processing by Nikon on their raw images
http://astrosurf.com/buil/d70v10d/eval
Mac
We have a Celestron telescope and still have not found an adapter for the D90, D300, D7000. We do live in area that has a very good night sky without as much manmade light as most places do. We bought the Celestron on eBay.
Our Celstron is an 8" amateur scope. It is a reflector style scope.
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