Is anyone here using a 6900 with a telescope?

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you? How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the 6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will match well to telescope use.

Jim Gilliland said:

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you?
How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the
6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new
S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the
lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often
a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will
match well to telescope use.

Click to expand...

So is no one here doing any astrophotography?

Am I correct in understanding that the filter thread on the Fuji requires an extension tube? I assume that this is so the lens has room to move - correct?

If you add the extension to the 6900 and then add a teleconverter to that, do you get vignetting? Assuming, of course, that the 6900 itself is at the wide end of its zoom range.

The eyepiece of a telescope will behave much like a narrow teleconverter - if it is too far from the lens, severe vignetting would be expected.

But I sure would like to hear from anyone who has some real experience in this area.

The extension tube screws onto the body of the camera and the lens moves inside it. This is so that the weight of added lens is supported on something solid not on the lens itself. There are no screw threads on the lens.

As far as I'm aware there's no vignetting with the propietary tube, but there is a bit with 3rd party tubes because they are 55/52 and not 55/55.
regards
Ian

Jim Gilliland said:

Jim Gilliland said:

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you?
How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the
6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new
S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the
lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often
a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will
match well to telescope use.

Click to expand...

So is no one here doing any astrophotography?

Am I correct in understanding that the filter thread on the Fuji
requires an extension tube? I assume that this is so the lens has
room to move - correct?

If you add the extension to the 6900 and then add a teleconverter
to that, do you get vignetting? Assuming, of course, that the 6900
itself is at the wide end of its zoom range.

The eyepiece of a telescope will behave much like a narrow
teleconverter - if it is too far from the lens, severe vignetting
would be expected.

But I sure would like to hear from anyone who has some real
experience in this area.

Click to expand...

ianR said:

The extension tube screws onto the body of the camera and the lens
moves inside it. This is so that the weight of added lens is
supported on something solid not on the lens itself. There are no
screw threads on the lens.
As far as I'm aware there's no vignetting with the propietary tube,
but there is a bit with 3rd party tubes because they are 55/52 and
not 55/55.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. That makes sense. When you start working with a telescope, though, the diameter of the eyepiece is much smaller than the diameter of the adapter/lens - regardless of whether its 52mm or 55mm. So you can't avoid vignetting. But you can minimize it by closing the gap between the lens and the eyepiece - getting them as close together as possible. It seems to me that this arrangement with the extension tube is going to make that difficult.

Unfortunately, I don't really have enough experience with this stuff to be able to predict how a given combination will behave. That's why I was hoping to find someone who had already hooked his 6900 to a telescope.

Yes, well in that case I expect you'll get it pretty badly.

The lens clearly can't touch the filter at the end of the tube, so the extention is already a bit longer than the lens. I'm using a third party tube because I only use a filter, so the edge of the barrel is about 2mm in from the innermost screwthread when fully extended. The outer edge of the extension is therefore about 7mm away from the outer edge of the barrel, and of course, the lens itself is probably 5mm from that. In all there's about 1cm from the centre of the lens to the glass in the filter.

I don't like the extension tube. It unbalances the camera and makes much more uncomfortable to carry, and the camera droops downwards when it's round your neck. I wish they'd put threads on the lens for a filter and threads on the case too. Then it would be possible to add the tube only when a lens extension was needed.
regards
Ian

Jim Gilliland said:

ianR said:

The extension tube screws onto the body of the camera and the lens
moves inside it. This is so that the weight of added lens is
supported on something solid not on the lens itself. There are no
screw threads on the lens.
As far as I'm aware there's no vignetting with the propietary tube,
but there is a bit with 3rd party tubes because they are 55/52 and
not 55/55.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. That makes sense. When you start working
with a telescope, though, the diameter of the eyepiece is much
smaller than the diameter of the adapter/lens - regardless of
whether its 52mm or 55mm. So you can't avoid vignetting. But you
can minimize it by closing the gap between the lens and the
eyepiece - getting them as close together as possible. It seems to
me that this arrangement with the extension tube is going to make
that difficult.

Unfortunately, I don't really have enough experience with this
stuff to be able to predict how a given combination will behave.
That's why I was hoping to find someone who had already hooked his
6900 to a telescope.

Click to expand...

Ian,

I have a Kenko 55-52 tube and have found absolutely no vignetting at any focal length, even with two filters attached to it. The actual lens in the 6900 has a 46 (43?) mm thread, so with 52mm you should not have any vignetting problems, even though it is a little further forward.

Regards,--Matias'If all else fails; read the instructions.'

Jim Gilliland said:

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you?
How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the
6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new
S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the
lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often
a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will
match well to telescope use.

Click to expand...

Jim this is crude but does work with a Fuji 4700. I just placed the lens against the eyepiece of a Nikon fieldscope. Ok so its vignetted but it can be cropped and sharpened.

http://www.pbase.com/image/414762/medium.jpg--Best Wishes,Richard DunnWarwick UK http://www.pbase.com/rmwd/galleries

We have tried this using a scoptronics 52mm digit-T adapter (scopetronics) to link the camera to a 30 mm Plossl eyepiece (also scopetronics). We have done this with both the Fuji 6900 (using the kenko 52 mm adapter) and with the Sony f707 (using a generic 58/52 mm step down ring). Telescope is a celestron nexstar 4.

Vignetting occurs with both of these set ups, due to the relatively snmall size of the Plossl lens in relation to the size of the camera lens. For a great explanation of this phenomena go to the scopetronics site.
(www.scopetronics.com)

The vignetting is acceptable, although if you are serous about this you might want to consider a camera with a smaller lens which is a better match for the eyepiece (e.g. Nikon 995). Scopetronics also sells a special eyepiece for cameras with big lens, but it is expensive.

In my opinion the Sony is better for this, due to the rotating camera body which really can save your back on those vertical shots. Here are shot's taken with both cameras.

http://public.fotki.com/RichyG/winter_20012002/fujimoon.html

http://public.fotki.com/RichyG/winter_20012002/Sonymoon.html

Rich G.

Jim Gilliland said:

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you?
How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the
6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new
S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the
lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often
a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will
match well to telescope use.

Click to expand...

--RichG

Rich, thank you. This is exactly the kind of information that I needed.

I realize that a smaller lens will reduce vignetting, but the larger lenses are generally the faster lenses, and astrophotography is only one of many applications that I'm likely to indulge in.

I had also given the Sony's swivel design some thought. As you point out, it will be quite advantageous for astrophotography. Would you consider the Sony to have other advantages for this application, or is the swivel design the only reason you'd choose it over the Fuji?

I'm quite familiar with the Scopetronics site, in fact I wrote them to ask this same basic question before posting it here. Unfortunately, no one at Scopetronics has any experience with the Fuji. I am likely to buy their "MaxView40" Plossl, since none of my existing eyepieces will work with their Digi-T system.

In your testing, were you using the Fuji's extension tube with your setup? If so, how did it contribute to the vignetting?

RichG said:

Vignetting occurs with both of these set ups, due to the relatively
snmall size of the Plossl lens in relation to the size of the
camera lens. For a great explanation of this phenomena go to the
scopetronics site.
(www.scopetronics.com)

The vignetting is acceptable, although if you are serous about this
you might want to consider a camera with a smaller lens which is a
better match for the eyepiece (e.g. Nikon 995). Scopetronics also
sells a special eyepiece for cameras with big lens, but it is
expensive.

In my opinion the Sony is better for this, due to the rotating
camera body which really can save your back on those vertical
shots. Here are shot's taken with both cameras.

http://public.fotki.com/RichyG/winter_20012002/fujimoon.html

http://public.fotki.com/RichyG/winter_20012002/Sonymoon.html

Rich G.

Jim Gilliland said:

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you?
How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the
6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new
S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the
lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often
a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will
match well to telescope use.

Click to expand...

--
RichG

Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

I used the kenko extension tube, which has a 52 mm filter thread. I actually don't think it contributes much to the vignetting as there really is not that much distance between the extended lens and the eyepiece. The step down ring I used to adapt the Sony to the digi-T actually created a bigger space betweeen the lens and eyepiece. But it still worked pretty well. I think the Maxview is probably a good choice. The other potential advantage of the Sony is the low noise in long exposures, althlough most of the astro photos we have tried have been 1 sec or less. Far less for the moon.

Rich G.

Jim Gilliland said:

I realize that a smaller lens will reduce vignetting, but the
larger lenses are generally the faster lenses, and astrophotography
is only one of many applications that I'm likely to indulge in.

I had also given the Sony's swivel design some thought. As you
point out, it will be quite advantageous for astrophotography.
Would you consider the Sony to have other advantages for this
application, or is the swivel design the only reason you'd choose
it over the Fuji?

I'm quite familiar with the Scopetronics site, in fact I wrote them
to ask this same basic question before posting it here.
Unfortunately, no one at Scopetronics has any experience with the
Fuji. I am likely to buy their "MaxView40" Plossl, since none of
my existing eyepieces will work with their Digi-T system.

In your testing, were you using the Fuji's extension tube with your
setup? If so, how did it contribute to the vignetting?

RichG said:

Vignetting occurs with both of these set ups, due to the relatively
snmall size of the Plossl lens in relation to the size of the
camera lens. For a great explanation of this phenomena go to the
scopetronics site.
(www.scopetronics.com)

The vignetting is acceptable, although if you are serous about this
you might want to consider a camera with a smaller lens which is a
better match for the eyepiece (e.g. Nikon 995). Scopetronics also
sells a special eyepiece for cameras with big lens, but it is
expensive.

In my opinion the Sony is better for this, due to the rotating
camera body which really can save your back on those vertical
shots. Here are shot's taken with both cameras.

http://public.fotki.com/RichyG/winter_20012002/fujimoon.html

http://public.fotki.com/RichyG/winter_20012002/Sonymoon.html

Rich G.

Jim Gilliland said:

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you?
How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the
6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new
S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the
lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often
a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will
match well to telescope use.

Click to expand...

--
RichG

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--RichG

Jill,

I'd be very interested to hear how you make out with the adapters for a telescope. I want to connect my 6900 to a fieldscope but will wait to learn how some others do it first. I guess I should get the Kenko 55-52 noiw though, do you have a link for a place to buy it from?

many thanks
Guy

Jim Gilliland said:

Is anyone here using their 6900 with a T-connector to a telescope?

If so, what adapters are you using? How well does it work for you?
How much vignetting to you get? Are you able to use much of the
6900's zoom range?

The reason that I ask this question is that the 6900 (and the new
S602) use a lens adapter thread that looks like it won't allow the
lens to come very close to the telescope's eyepiece. That's often
a cause of vignetting. I'm wondering whether the Fuji cameras will
match well to telescope use.

Click to expand...

Rich,

I haven't used a professional scope but have been trying to assemble one using various lenses. I have 4900. To avoid vignetting I had to use a gun scope eyepiece because of the long eyerelief and size. I just like to experiment.

Would like to see a picture of your camera scope setup.



Daryl

Hi Daryl,

I'll have to wait a few weeks on that set up shot as I have had to send my telecope back to the manufacturer (Celestron) for some alignment problems with the mirrors. When they send it back I will post a picture of what the camera looks like mounted. It works well enough that I wish i had sprung for a bigger scope as I think I could take some pretty cool shots with an 8 inch scope. The weight of the camera assembly does effect the balance of the scope and makes longer exposures of fainter objects tough as the telescope's tracking is affected.

The components I have used are:

Kenko 55-52mm barrel adapter
Scopetronics 52mm Digi-T adapter
Scopetronics 30 mm Plossl

Celestron Nexstar 4 - a 4 inch computerized Matsukov Cassegrain telescope (mirrors and lenses)

Rich



--RG

Daryl,

I would love to see the scope setup. I think your picture is awesome.

I would love to make pictures from wild animals. Therefore I'm looking for a telescope setup for my 4900z. But I think your solution will be to expensive.

Thanks for sharing your info and picture.

grt,
Lex

Thiha (Daryl) said:

Rich,

I haven't used a professional scope but have been trying to
assemble one using various lenses. I have 4900. To avoid vignetting
I had to use a gun scope eyepiece because of the long eyerelief and
size. I just like to experiment.

Would like to see a picture of your camera scope setup.



Daryl

Click to expand...