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Posts Made By: Bill Byrd

August 30, 2009 02:09 AM Forum: Telescope Making

New Tripod Spreader

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]Noodled around last weekend and made a "Lapides-like" spreader to replace the old style wing nut and bolt set up on my old Mizar tripod.

Old spreader and tray in transport mode.
Bill[/COLOR]

August 30, 2009 02:13 AM Forum: Telescope Making

New Tripod Spreader

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]Old spreader set up and ready after several minutes of fiddling with wing nuts, washers and bolts. Not good in the dark!
Bill[/COLOR]

August 30, 2009 02:15 AM Forum: Telescope Making

New Tripod Spreader

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]New spreader in closed position.
Bill[/COLOR]

August 30, 2009 02:16 AM Forum: Telescope Making

New Tripod Spreader

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]New spreader partially open.
Bill[/COLOR]

August 30, 2009 02:19 AM Forum: Telescope Making

New Tripod Spreader

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]And finally, the new spreader completely open. Takes about 3 seconds to go from fully cloed to fully open. Much better than the old spreader. No tray sticking out when folded either.
Bill[/COLOR]

August 30, 2009 02:22 AM Forum: Telescope Making

New Tripod Spreader

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]Sorry! Read my posts from the bottom up. I did them as individual posts to keep from having extra pics all over the place and the posts are backwards now. Confused?
Bill[/COLOR]

September 20, 2009 03:28 AM Forum: Insects - Flowers and Other Small Stuff - Photos

Close Up Lens Test

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]In looking for a single-lens-for-hiking solution, I picked up a nice 2 element Minolta +2 close up lens to try on my Sigma 18-125mm. I wanted just a little more close focus capability for those smaller things that are sometimes found when out hiking.

Here's a pic of a lavender colored flower on a vine in the front yard. This is not full close up because you would only see the central part of the flower if I did that. I stayed a little wider to show the whole bloom and managed to capture an ant also.

The edge sharpness of this combo (18-125mm + CU lens) is not the best but in most cases that won't matter. The central sharpness, if carefully focused, is pretty good. I think it will work for my occasional needs.
Bill[/COLOR]

October 24, 2009 10:08 PM Forum: Landscape Photography

Big Bend National Park

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]Spent the week in Big Bend National Park. Quite a scenic place, especially if you're willing to get off of the roads and do some hiking.

To get to this vista overlooking the Rio Grande, we hiked 2.5 miles on trail and then cross country in the desert for another 1.6 miles.
Bill[/COLOR]

October 24, 2009 10:16 PM Forum: Insects - Flowers and Other Small Stuff - Photos

Big Bend National Park Small Things

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]A few from last week when I was in Big Bend.

Here's a spider that made its web in an agave cactus.
Bill[/COLOR]

October 27, 2009 12:29 AM Forum: Landscape Photography

More From Big Bend

Posted By Bill Byrd
[COLOR="Purple"]Couple more...
Bill[/COLOR]

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