Please, stop using democracy! The United States of America is a Democratic Republic. This is quite different from a democracy. If you don't like President Trump, quit your whining and v**e him out next time around if you can.

Maybe Admin will move this tripe to the attic where it belongs.

Ron

My Wife and I both have the silk 505QF which is a vidio fluid head tripod. Now it is meant for less than a 10 lb load. Hers is the new version, mine is the old red line. We hang our 800e an 810 with an adapted 600mm Nikon Bronica ( 19 lbs for the lens) with no problems. The new version has a better designed head, and the legs have a notch which keeps them from spinning when you loosen the lock. The head extension on the new model has a friction ring that keeps the head from slamming down when you release the lock. We like them better than our studio tripods.

Ron

I have the Mead LXD 55 mount with a 10" f4 reflector. I went through the whole system as it was a mess from being stored in a carport for several years. The party that initially owned the system had upgraded the mount motors and gears. The gentleman that we purchased it from never used it as it was more than he cared to invest the time in to learn to use it.
So, now I have it back together. When I do a polar alignment, it swings to pick up the first point, then it wants to crash the DEC housing into the control panel as it swings to the second point. It is traveling 180 from the direction it should be going. I've checked the Autostar, and it was set to the northern hemisphere, proper lat and longitude for my location, time zone, time.
I'm in hopes someone on the site is familiar with this mount that might be able to point me in the correct direction. I have the manual for the mount, and am either misreading it or I have a bad circuit board in the mount or the controller. I know it is an ancient unit, but it's all I have, and Mead is of no help as it is "obsolete". No one in the local astronomy group has a tracking mount, and they have encouraged me to get this unit up and running.

Ron

Hopefully third time is the charm. Two cold night in a row, hope I can survive a third.

All our monitors are calibrated, and this is a beautiful shot. We live in the area, and our sunrises and sunsets get to the point that we have to knock down the brilliant reds in the clouds and light off of the mountains at times. There are times the sunsets are so intense, the whole valley gets a cast even in the shadow areas. Also, the sky at these altitudes does become a very intense blue at times, yours is just right. Wouldn't mess with it a bit. I really like the 3d effect you got. I think it is a winner as is.

Ron

Looking at the first photo, you can see the wing damaged, and it is out of the water. In the second photo, the wing strut seem to be pulled from the fuselage mount, and the nose gear seems to be bent slightly back, and the trailing strut looks like it is hanging from the air frame. I'm willing to bet there are some trees around the area that show some damage, and the river was the final resting place. I can attest from personal experience, that with half that much leading edge damage they are a bitch to keep in the air.

Ron

I used a D610, not familiar with Canon, but should be close. Set to manual, ISO was 200, shutter was varied between 2 to 20 sec., f 6.3, tripod mounted. I was very lucky, got the lift off and seperation on 20 sec exposures. Booster return at 20 sec exposure. The final sequences were at 2 to 6 sec. Basically I exposed for the brightest stars before the launch time. If you have a remote trigger you can set for Bulb and sequence your shots for effect.

I think he has another launch in a few weeks, hope it is as spectacular.

Ron

Use the bracket keys

Ron

Try using a wide rubber band or a ladies hair tie at a slight diagonal from the lens body across the focusing ring. Wide rubber bands work best for me, as they don't roll off the focusing ring. Works well to stop lens creep. Sending the lens in, to try to get rid of the creep is going to cost, and will not be of significant benefit as far as reducing the creep. Using tape is going to leave a residue that will attract crap, and make your fingers sticky, which will transfer every where your fingers go. Enjoy your lens and keep an eye out for those gems.

For the critics of older glass

Yes I know, they don't have the latest and greatest coatings, and are ancient tech, but the majority of us are not publishing and don't give a darn about pixel peeping. Maybe when we win the lottery, we can go out and get the latest and greatest. Until then these older lenses fill the bill. Besides, when you walk around with 23 inches of Nikkor Q 400mm or 600mm for a Bronica stuck on the front of your D800 series camera you get some interesting looks from folks and get to meet some interesting shutter clickers. Are they mostly manual, and heavy? You bet, but so what? They do what they are supposed to, and darn well. My Wife has even started using older glass on her 810. Several months ago she wanted to us my Tamaron SP 200/500mm. Well, Ive been threatened with bodily harm if I want it back. After struggling with learning to use it, she now has the auto this and that function on her lenses shut off and is taking much better photo's because "she" has to think more about the shot than letting the camera take up where she left off.

Ron

I've noticed with mine that after changing the ISO, if you have noise reduction on, if I change the aperture setting immediately after, it will trigger the auto iSO. If I give the shutter button a slight press, after setting the ISO, this does not happen. I've also noticed that when I'm using the command dial to change the ISO or shutter , my hand shifts and I roll the front dial. I don't have a lot of feeling in my hands so I have had to make sure of my setting before I take the shot.

Ron

Most do not realize how much planning it takes.

Well that is your problem, you free to leave at any time, please! I was also embarrassed to be an American under the last administration, but I sure didn't get my panties in a bunch by it.

Try Argentina. CNN says socalism is working great there. If you decide to stay here, I would strongly recommend that you do a study of our Constitution. Oh, and by the way, it does allow people such as yourself to spew their uneducated crap.

Ron

Noise? I find my digital cameras very quiet after having used my Ftn with a motor drive. If I really wanted to get someones attention I used my Bronica S2. Now that would drown out a train wreck. Be thankful for digital.

Ron

It is on my end, Media Com put in a new tower for us in this area and are having a problem with the upload speed. It has dropped to 2 mb max and is only good for e-mail. But, they are working on it. Waited for a year and a half to get the down load up from 16 mb up to 100 that they were charging us for, but dropped the upload frome 26 to if lucky 2mb. So when I try to upload, I get a time out and file to large for system.

Ron

Don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm unable to post a jpeg from even my D50. Tried reducing the size, but no joy. Ten mb should be acceptable?

Ron