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Posts Made By: James Benton

December 4, 2005 04:55 AM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

M42 with 4 inch

Posted By James Benton
nice one. what did you do to NOT burn the core?

Im waiting for m42 to be up high so i can shoot it from my back yard. I still have a few things to tweek on my setup but thats all comming along nicely

James

January 3, 2006 03:14 AM Forum: Meade

upgrade lx200 non gps to gps

Posted By James Benton
yes, there are a few options to do this.

1. you can use an existing GPS handheld unit like a garmin etrex (and other models) if you have one. you just need to buy a cable and the software to load into the LX200 controler.

2. Buy the Star GPS system for the LX200


here is a link with some pricing and such for GPS upgrades
http://www.scopetronics.com/gps.htm

and try this site for some more info

http://www.lx200classic.com/stargps2.htm

James

January 3, 2006 03:21 AM Forum: Meade

Meade ETX-125 Premier questions

Posted By James Benton
Bill, I read a little about the Atomic module thing and I think you just need to hook it up and sync the time once every so often. the internal clock in the autostar is set (at the factory) to the same clock the atomic module gets its time from. I dont think you need it for an entire night of observing, but I could be wrong.

I know there are dew heaters for telrads and such, maybe you could rig one of those to work on the red dot finder.

James

January 9, 2006 02:19 AM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

What should I buy for astrophoto

Posted By James Benton
if you want to prime focus shoot with the canon then look into these

canon t- mount - this connects to the camera as a lens would and is threaded to connect to other accesories
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=231&m=

this will come in handy with the t-mount adapter

T-1.25" Adapter (about 1/4 way down this page)
http://www.scopetronics.com/trings.htm

also you may want some type of remote. I dont think the 300d can do the mirror lock up, but there is a russian firmware hack that makes to 300d just like a 10D (in software/features only) then you get the mirror lock up function.

focal reducer
http://www.buytelescopes.com/product.asp?t=&pid=1062&m=

and you may want to put your scope on a wedge, this puts the scope in the correct orientation to do astrophotography. If oyu do it in just alt/az mode you will get trailing in the edges of the images.

wedge - its the second one on the page, you need the one with the LX90 adapter plate.
http://www.scopetronix.com/mounts.htm

this should get you started, lots of little things to get.

James





January 9, 2006 05:20 AM Forum: Meade

Is it my imagination or what??

Posted By James Benton
yea I noticed that earlier as well. wonder if they are going bigger or newer

James

January 17, 2006 12:27 AM Forum: Mounts

ProMaster Tripods - Positive experience.

Posted By James Benton
wow that is customer service.....

that promaster tripod you have looks very similar to a bogen/manfrotto setup.

I know promaster does not make anything, they just have contracts with manufacturers to put the promaster name on products.

James

January 23, 2006 02:30 AM Forum: Digital SLR AstroPhotography

Canon SD450 for astrophotography

Posted By James Benton
Bob, looking at the specs on the SD450, they dont look too favorable for astrophotography. not a whole lot of manual controls, no option for a remote, will only do a 15 second shutter speed. no manual focus.

the scopetronics camera adapter wizard came back with these results for the SD400 (looks identical to the SD450)

http://www.scopetronics.com/wizard/step4.htm?brand=Canon&model=Powershot+SD400&scope=Telescope+that+uses+1.25+and+2+inch+eyepieces&

there may be a lower cost adapter out there

James

January 28, 2006 10:56 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Technical merits of Mewlon design

Posted By James Benton
Im not a Mewlon owner, but have viewed through a Mewlon 300 with and with out bino viewers. and I must say its the best view I have ever had in a scope under 16". I was very impressed with it. the owner of the scope was showing off some of the features and build of the scope during the day and I was really impressed as well. looks like a great amount of thought and design went into these scopes.

James

January 30, 2006 12:25 AM Forum: Meade

Auto Align

Posted By James Benton
I have been reading through a few of the manuals for different scopes on meades customer support page.

from what I gather the Auto Align Autostar is the same hand box (#497) that comes with many meade scopes (lx90, lxd55, lxd75 and so on). Just a newer firmware revision. you can update your #497 autostar to this newest version

many scopes have "New Initialization instructions for Autostar" listed.
It appears to work more in conjuction with the LNT (Level north Technology) than it does with GPS.

there is a little secion in the new manual for auto star that states

link to the document
http://www.meade.com/support/autostar.pdf

"For models with Easy Alignment (older models without the
LNT unit):
The procedure for Easy Alignment is very similar to
Automatic Alignment, except for the home position:
You will need to perform the full home position procedure:
Loosen the vertical lock and level the telescope tube. Relock
the vertical lock. Then loosen the horizontal lock. Turn the
telescope tube counterclockwise until it stops. Then move
the telescope back about a quarter turn until the computer
control panel is under the telescope fork arm."

James

February 14, 2006 11:20 PM Forum: Birding Optics and Photos

Sigma lenses - opinions?

Posted By James Benton
I have have heard good things about the Sigma 80-400. I have not heard anything about the 100-300.

I recently got the Sigma 50-500 for my Canon and Its nice. it a lot heavier than I was used to with my Tokina 80-400 which I sold to get the Sigma.

if you want some good reviews of lenses go here. some of the reviews you will have to ignore, but look at the over all score of the lens.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

Here is the review on the 80-400, it scores a 9.4 overall rating. Anything over a 9 will be a good lens.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=223&sort=7&cat=37&page=2

they dont have the 100-300 listed. Maybe no one on this site has that lens.

James




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