JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I expect to be using this new toy soon with some youth groups, so I thought a little practice would be in order on this nice, warm, clear night. I got started well before the moon came up, but it eventually chased me back inside.

This video camera works great with the Samyang 24mm f1.4 lens. I did not use the composite video to USB adapter tonight. Instead, just let it output to the 7" LCD monitor that is included in the kit. And the results were stunning. I was seeing far, far more stars than the images I posted several weeks ago when capturing on a laptop using the composite video to USB adapter. In fact, I took out my 8x42 binoculars tonight, and I compared the result displayed on the LCD display against the binoculars. And the results were not even close. I had adjusted the video cameras shutter time and gain to the point that the black sky was just beginning to lighten up, let it stack 6 captures and the number of stars it saw was just incredible. If the binoculars were seeing 15 stars in one FOV, the Revolution Imager was seeing hundreds and hundreds. I was using the Red Dot finder so I could aim at specific stars allowing me to know exactly where to aim the binoculars to see the same spot. And it was showing some double stars too, ones that I could not resolve with the binoculars.

I have been wrestling with what camera lens to use for the youth groups and I think the 24mm is looking good right now. I could consider the 50mm f1.4 as another option. I am going to have this sitting on a tripod and I intend to let them steer it. And I can expose for some additional amount of time without showing star trails.

From playing with the Revolution Imager, I am now convinced that for many individuals, they would be better off pursuing EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) rather than buying a cheap telescope. It certainly was more fun watching a monitor than squinting through an eyepiece. Also, a reminder that I had to construct an adapter to go from the video camera's C-mount to the T-mount threads of the adapter I had made. Fortunately, the thickness of this adapter is thin enough that I can get infinity focus. These adapters can be purchased for Canon and Nikon, but I shoot Sony, so I had to make my own.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Very good Jim!

From the beginning EAA was the draw for me. As I researched what equipment did what, I wanted computers involved.
I might switch bats tonight as we have an Aunt and Cousin here from Hawaii for a week, and put the eyepiece camera in to display the Moon.

My router took an unexpected dive the other night and burned out it's WiFi side. Had me fooled for most of the evening because my Ethernet computer was having no problems, just everything else was. So the router got replaced with a new dual band. I hope it can last 12-13 years like the last one. Noticeably faster then the old one was.
But with the Moon being as obnoxious as it is, live viewing might be a good idea.

Have fun with your outreaching!

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I checked it out and it looks to be a very good beginner/intermediate setup. I am going to recommend it to a friend of mine.
I am sure the youth groups will love it with the Monitor.
Craig

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Jim , that sounds great and I sure know the youth will have a blast. I wish you all the joy and wonders that you can catch.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I bought the longer cable for connecting the camera to the power source and monitor/controller for about $12. The stock cables are too short. They also sell a 6-60mm lens for an extra $60. What I find with that lens is that it does not maintain focus as the focal length is changed. And I find it cannot achieve infinity focus at the wide end. I will also use a much larger monitor with the youth groups.

Since I have made an adapter, it opens the door to use my camera lenses. I also tried my Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 (APS-C), which does maintain focus as I change focal length. I had to rig the aperture lever to force it to wide open, and it worked quite well. But it doesn't have the light gathering ability of the Samyang 24mm f1.4. I also have the 50mm f1.4, 85mm f1.4 and the 135mm f2.0 which it works quite well with those too. But the higher magnifications would pose a problem for beginners to actually find anything.

It is quite easy to adapt this to m42 lenses. These lenses are plentiful and cheap. I have about 10 of them. All that is needed is a female m42 to male t2 (42mm with different thread pitch) and a female t2 to male c-mount adapter. Don't recall if a spacer is needed. I have spacers also and can't remember if I had to use them with I tried this out. But since I made the adapter for Sony A-mount, it is just easier to screw on an A-mount adapter (about $1.95 on eBay) to the m42 lens and use my homemade adapter. For the most part, fast m42 lenses are rare, other than the 50mm f1.4 that used to come with every camera some 35 or longer years ago. (Bought my first SLR in 1968 and it had one). Advantage m42 is that they have the aperture ring that is lacking on most modern lenses.

Zoom m42 lenses were not that common years ago and what is available are quite slow. I would like to have a fast zoom to use with it, but nothing in m42 seems right. As for m42 primes, a visit to eBay shows lots and lots of them. But I don't think I am going to place my more expensive Tamron 24-70 f2.8 (FF) on this camera and then turn it over to youth to play with it! I think they will get either the 24mm f1.4 or maybe the 50mm f1.4.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Thank you. I am sure that they will get into this. Have done the one with the telescope and go to equatorial mount. And it was an eye opener for them to actually see galaxies and star clusters. But this time, I will let them have some hands on.

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Awesome !

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Thanks Jim for the follow up on this setup. My friend uses the Nikon camera. What he's going to need is an​ older manual settings lens. I too will be in the market for a Nikon wide-angle Lens with a manual f/stop for my new QHY camera. So yes we're both EAAers.
Craig

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

For you Nikon users, you will need one of these to attach your camera lens to a CCD camera:

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p2837_Geoptik-T2-Adapter-fuer-NIKON-Objektive---mit-Stativanschluss.html

And for you Canon users:

http://teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p2836_Geoptik-T2-Adapter-fuer-CANON-EOS-Objektive---mit-Stativanschluss.html

Be aware that you may or may not need T2 spacers to get the right distance between the lens and CCD for proper focus. I bought a set and sometimes need them.

They look real nice, and have a flat base with 1/4" photo thread. The Canon one mentions an insert for 1.25" filters and 2" threads on the camera side for 2" filters while the Nikon version doesn't mention it.

Appears that they limit themselves to just Canon and Nikon. That's why I had to make my own for Sony A-Mount.

I see that Oceanside Photo lists the Canon and Nikon versions and mentions "Special Order". I wonder why these adapters are not more common? And they are hard to Google for them since Google like to assume you mean adapt to the camera body and not to the camera lens.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Craig,

Please look at this item:

http://www.highpointscientific.com/brands/zwo-astronomy-cameras/zwo-nikon-lens-adapter-for-asi1600-and-efw

It is designed to work with the ZWO ASI1600 that you were initially looking at and takes into account the thickness of the ZWO filter wheel. But the camera uses a T2 mount, so this has to dock to a T2 mount. I bet it could be made to work with the CCD your have on order. Might need some T2 spacers to get the distance correct. With a T2 to C-mount adapter, it could also work with the Revolution Imager.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Thanks very much Jim H for the leader. I was able to find the attachments​ for the QHY 10 camera, which arrives today. I have ordered it and expect to get it in a week. I should be up and running for some spectacular Milky Way shots as well as the scope work too. Thanks again.
Craig

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Why don't you post what attachment thing you purchased so that others may benefit?

Thanks

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

https://www.cyclopsoptics.com/accessories/canon-nikon-lens-adapter-qhy8-10-12/
Here you go Jim H this is the only QHY to Canon/Nikon Lens adapter setup I could find
and I bought one and it fits my Nikon Lenses. I also got the tripod adapter for a tripod
or my adapter plate I made to go on my Celestron CGEM Mount.
Craig

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Cool! This is one I didn't know about.

Did some more playing with the Revolution Imager again last night. This time I used a Minolta 35-105mm f3.5-4.5 with it. The lens worked great, but was a much slower lens that the Samyang 24mm f1.4, so I had to increase the exposure time and increase the gain to get similar results. And during a 6 image stack, there was enough movement of the stars I was generating small star trails.

I had my tablet outside too and was comparing what I was seeing to Stelllarium and was seeing stars to about 10.5 mag. Considering that this lens was an objective of only 10mm (35mm FL / f3.5). The 24mm f.14 is an objective of 17mm, so it gathers considerably more light. It was nice to be able to zoom in, but the 24mm actually is the better choice to use when I do this with some youth groups. I can keep the gain down so that there is less noise, and I don't need the longer exposure time which can generate star trails.

I do notice that the Revolution Imager does tend to saturate on 1st mag stars and the resulting star image is a rather ugly star blob, but the other stars all look good, and it certainly was showing close together double stars when I looked for some of those. I feel I'm ready now to let the youth have a go of it. But I'll leave the galaxies for my larger telescopes and with a better camera. They just aren't visible with a wide angle camera lens.