Dwight1973
Veteran Member
Thanks for the info and instructions. I think I will give that a shot this weekend. Should be quite a few $ cheaper as well.
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The Moon, 4500 and ETX 90 (pic)
- Thread starter Dwight1973
- Start date
swivel man
Leading Member
Im not sure how useful the barlow would be in this set up, Dwight. With the 18mm eyepiece, you get approx. 70x power. Now, if you zoom in with the camera...you can get an additional 4x on top of that. I think we had previously discussed that the 4x of the 4500 is really 3x as it relates to magnification on binoculars and telescopes. Still, multiplying the 70x by the 3x gives you 210x magnification in total. Isnt that close to the observational range of the scope anyway? I believe that under good seeing conditions you take the aperture of the scope (in mm) and multiply it by 2....or in inches and multiply it by 50 or 60... to get the maximum useful magnification for that aperture, i. e., for a 90 mm (3.5") scope that would be 210x.
Dwight1973
Veteran Member
I believe I have read that same formula somewhere as well. I know for daytime shots that full zoom with the 4500 on the scope is hard to do if at all so far. Usually halfway and less works best. Full zoom is pushing it a little too far.
swivel man
Leading Member
Dwight, what happens when you try to zoom the whole way? Does the image get blurry and out of focus? Also, would you recommend the meade 884 tripod or do you simply use the tripod legs that come with the scope and is it possible to do polar alignment with them? Also, at higher mag, do you find that the moon drifts out of visual range and does it cause blur, or is the shutter speed fast enough to negate that? Thanks,
Alex
Alex
Hi there. I have been following this thread and was wondering what the store in Toronto was you purchased the scope from, as I'm just west of Mississauga here. Thanking you in advance, Robert Wilson.
R
Ralph Encarnacion
Guest
I guess you are refering to this picture:
Since the ETX is so powerful, it doesn't let you see wide angle portions of the sky. So I made the piggy back camera bracket for it to photograph M45 or the Coathanger Cluster. Those objects are too big to see in the ETX, but just the right size for the 5000 and the monoscope. The monoscope on the 5000 is a Crystalvue Sharpshooter 8x32. You can get it from Tom at http://www.ckcpower.com Yoy can mount it to the 5000 with just the UR-E6. In the picture, I show mine mounted on a Adjustable Coolfix adapter from Nextphoto. You can see how it all goes together and some sample pictures I took here: http://www.pbase.com/panotaker/crystalvue_super_combo You can build a piggy back bracket like I did or you can buy one pre-made from http://www.SCOPETRONICS.com for $50.00 They also sell the flexible focus cable for $35.
Ralph
R
Ralph Encarnacion
Guest
That is what Meade wants you to think. The optical tubes on the ETX-90RA and ETX-90EC are identical and interchangeable. Only problem is Meade wont sell you the EC's forks. You can buy the EC's forks on Ebay or astromart. They show up every once in a while. I bought a used set of EC's forks on Ebay and the RA tube bolted right on. So now I have an ETX-90EC. You can see it here: http://www.pbase.com/panotaker/etx90ec A much better solution is to buy a used DS-70EC or one of the smaller or bigger versions and convert the mount to mount the ETX-90 tube on it. It uses the same computer as the ETX-90EC. The DS mount is a lot better than the plastic fork mount. The DS mount is all metal and comes with a metal tripod. They are also very cheap. With the DS mount, you wont need to buy the right angle finder or the flexible focus cable. The focus knob always stays in the clear and the straight through finder is easy to see through because it is always in the clear. It also looks a lot more professional:
The conversion is easy to do. You can read all about it here : http://www.pbase.com/panotaker/poormans_lx200 Once you have a DS mount, you can use it to mount other scopes:
The DS mount will convert any scope to a fully computerized go-to scope.
Ralph
-=Dusty_D=-
Senior Member
Hi Robert;
I bought mine from a little scope shop (Khan Scope Centre: http://www.khanscope.com ) around the Yorkdale mall area. it is almost accross from the huge Efston Science Scope place.
Here is a sample shot with the moon and my 995. The only problem I have had is taking good daytime pictures as I cannot seem to get the damn scope to focus 100% through the LCD on the camera.
--
David
http://www.pbase.com/dusty_d
I bought mine from a little scope shop (Khan Scope Centre: http://www.khanscope.com ) around the Yorkdale mall area. it is almost accross from the huge Efston Science Scope place.
Here is a sample shot with the moon and my 995. The only problem I have had is taking good daytime pictures as I cannot seem to get the damn scope to focus 100% through the LCD on the camera.
--
David
http://www.pbase.com/dusty_d
John1999
Well-known member
Hi there Robert.
I prchased my scope package from Khan Scope on the east side of Dufferin Street just 1 or 2 lights south of Yorkdale Mall. Theire web site is at http://www.khanscope.com
Unfortunately though, I noticed that they took down the package advertising off their web site a few days ago. Perhaps they sold out?
Best regards: john1999
Thanks for the info. They have an excellent website.
Dwight1973
Veteran Member
So far, when trying to zoom the whole way there is just way too much shake to focus the camera. This is using the three little tripod legs.
I just have been using the 3 legs that came with the scope. I have a little portable table that I bring with me and some chairs and the family gets in the car and we go out into the country where it's darker and away from the city lights. Polar alignment using the 3 legs works very good. If I have the camera set on the timer and the scope tracking i can get pictures taken with some zoom used. It works best when there's a full moon though because of having more light from it.
I just have been using the 3 legs that came with the scope. I have a little portable table that I bring with me and some chairs and the family gets in the car and we go out into the country where it's darker and away from the city lights. Polar alignment using the 3 legs works very good. If I have the camera set on the timer and the scope tracking i can get pictures taken with some zoom used. It works best when there's a full moon though because of having more light from it.
swivel man
Leading Member
Dwight, would that mean that you would get the same kind of camera shake with a barlow lens since both processes increase the magnification and also thereby magnify camera shake? Also, would the Meade 884 tripod be handy in reducing this camera shake more so than the three tripod legs would? One last question, what have you found to be the maximum useful magnification with this scope, both for naked eye viewing and for photography?
Much appreciated,
Alex
Much appreciated,
Alex
R
Ralph Encarnacion
Guest
I am not Dwight, but I think I can answer your question since I have the 884 tripod. The 884 tripod is rock solid for visual as well as photography. It comes with a nice carrying bag. It has a built in wedge for polar aligning, or you can leave the wedge flat to use your scope as a spotting scope. The only problem is with the wedge. The wedge adjust up and down, but it doesn't have fine tuning, so you have to be carefull in adjusting it up and down. It also doesn't adjust left or right. So if you have to move the wedge a little to the left or right to polar align, you have to move the whole tripod a little. It would be a lot easier to polar align the scope if it had fine tuning adjustments for up and down as well as left and right. Other than that, the tripod is excellent. It is a lot more solid than putting the ETX with fork mount on a photo tripod. A photo tripod is all you need if you take the ETX off the fork mount, but then you lose the tracking. But never fear, I have a solution to the wedge problem! I just recently bought a used standard Celestron wedge. The Celestron wedge is actually made for an 8" scope so it is super solid. It also has fine tuning adjustments for up and down as well as left to right. Only problem is that you need a heavy duty celestron tripod and the other problem is that the ETX doesn't bolt on to the wedge. I already had a Celestron tripod so all I had to do was make an adapter to bolt the ETX to the Celestron wedge. The adapter I came up with can be bought at the local hardware store and you only need a small drill to make it work on the Celestron tripod. The 884 tripod cost between $180 to $200. You can get a used heavy duty Celestron tripod for around $150 and a used Celestron wedge for around $50.00. So for the same price as the 884, you can have a super rock solid adjustable wedge if you go with my setup. My new setup is almost finished and I will have some pictures up as soon as it is done, so stay tuned. Now to answer your magnification question. The strongest eyepiece I have is the Meade 8.8 Ultra Wide. This eyepiece is a little smaller than a hand granade. It gives me 142x when mounted on the ETX and makes the moon look like a million bucks. I can use it with my 2x barlow for 284x and the scope can handle that with no problem. Only problem is nobody makes a camera adapter for it since the eyepiece is so big around. I came up with another solution for that too. I'm waiting for the glue to dry and the clouds to go away.
Ralph
Ralph
Dwight1973
Veteran Member
Since I don't have a barlow I can't say for sure, but I would guess that it would be the same kind of deal with the barlow because of the added magnification. I would sat the Meade tripod would be much better than using just the 3 tripod legs mounted on a portable table like I have been doing. I really need to get me one of those tripods like you mentioned. The 9mm eyepiece that I have is acceptable for viewing with your naked eye, but it has very low eye relief and you have to put your eye very close to it to be able to see anything. I think a higher quality eyepiece would take care of that, though. The only eyepiece that I have used with the 990 and 4500 is the 18mm from Scopetronics so far. So far it's looking like I can get to about half to 3/4 zoom and that is about it for now. I think with a more stable mounting I may be able to do better though. Right now just the slightest breeze and the ETX moves some when zoomed in that much.
Dwight1973
Veteran Member
You sure have a ton of good info there Ralph. I will have to look into the tripod as well now. Keep us posted with the pictures as well, thanks.
Ed Rotberg
Senior Member
Ralph or Dwight,
How do you focus the camera? I too have a Meade ETX-90RA and the Scopetronix 18mm. Only my shots don't come out nearly as crisp as either of yours. I set my camera up in macro mode, and let it auto focus. I used a tripod and a cable release, and the results are really not all that great.
Are you guys using manual focus with focus confirmation? Any other tricks I should know about? Heck, I'm at 2800 feet elevation. I would think I should get some good shots.
Thanks in advance,
= Ed =
--
= Ed Rotberg =
'A waist is a terrible thing to mind'
How do you focus the camera? I too have a Meade ETX-90RA and the Scopetronix 18mm. Only my shots don't come out nearly as crisp as either of yours. I set my camera up in macro mode, and let it auto focus. I used a tripod and a cable release, and the results are really not all that great.
Are you guys using manual focus with focus confirmation? Any other tricks I should know about? Heck, I'm at 2800 feet elevation. I would think I should get some good shots.
Thanks in advance,
= Ed =
--
= Ed Rotberg =
'A waist is a terrible thing to mind'
Dwight1973
Veteran Member
For my shots, I set focus confirmation to on and use auto focus. I then just watch the LCD and when it looks good I use the timer and half press the shutter to make sure the focus locks in and then the timer takes it from there. Can you post one of your shots? Adobe can work wonders, mine are all post processed that I post here.
Ed Rotberg
Senior Member
Dwight,
Yeah, I tried a bunch of stuff with PS6, but it can only do so much. I want to try the whole process again, maybe tnoight. We've had very clear weather here and the moon is nearly full. If the weather holds, I want to try different focusing techniques and just take a mass of photos.
I used spot metering, and just left it at whatever the meter said. The exposure looked good. I was expecting to be able to use a faster shutter speed however. I wound up with an aperture of 3.3 and shutter speed of about 1/45. It varied a bit. I'm also going try shortening up the tripod's legs and widening them out, in case it was shakde that caused it. Hopefully, I'll have something good to post tonight.
= Ed =
= Ed Rotberg =
'A waist is a terrible thing to mind'
Yeah, I tried a bunch of stuff with PS6, but it can only do so much. I want to try the whole process again, maybe tnoight. We've had very clear weather here and the moon is nearly full. If the weather holds, I want to try different focusing techniques and just take a mass of photos.
I used spot metering, and just left it at whatever the meter said. The exposure looked good. I was expecting to be able to use a faster shutter speed however. I wound up with an aperture of 3.3 and shutter speed of about 1/45. It varied a bit. I'm also going try shortening up the tripod's legs and widening them out, in case it was shakde that caused it. Hopefully, I'll have something good to post tonight.
= Ed =
--
= Ed Rotberg =
'A waist is a terrible thing to mind'
Dwight1973
Veteran Member
Good luck with the pictures. Shake will cause the pictures to not come out good enough. Hopefully shortening the tripod legs will help. Let us know how you do tonight.
Royston Vasey
Member
What happened to the great picture of the moon?
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