Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: ErikKaffehr on May 13, 2009, 12:21:07 am
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Hi,
I bought a Celestron Mak C90 spotting scope essentially for birds. Here are my first real world pictures. I forgot to shut down "Anti Shake" which may make sharpness a little worse. The images are shot on full frame and slightly cropped. Capture sharpening is rather strong.
The "lens" is hard to use, but a cheap way to have a very long lens (around 300 USD). Focal length is said to be 1250 mm but it seems more than that to me, more like 1500-1700.
The lens is also quite soft. On the positive side it can be used as a spotting scope. Weight is about 2.1 kg (assembled) size like my 400/4.5 APO (from Minolta) with 1.4x converter.
This type of lens is used for photography using a "photo adapter" screwed into the end of the optical tube and "T2" adapter between the camera and that tube. The original Celestron T2 adapter was a bad design I throw it away (after trying to fix it) and bought one from Soligor instead, that one is OK.
http://www.pbase.com/ekr/celestron_mak_c90 (http://www.pbase.com/ekr/celestron_mak_c90)
Makers info: http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?Ca...&ProdID=203 (http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?CatID=87&ProdID=203)
The enclosed picture may give an impression of the resolution. Celestron to the left Minolta 400/4.5 APO + 1.4X extender to the right (3:1)
[attachment=13642:560_vs_Mak90.jpg]
Best regards
Erik
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V interesting!... Your first battle is with sharpness? I'd be interested in knowing what shutter speed you were using.
Ros
PS Bokeh is also rough but it has character!
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We are actually discussing about those long focal lengths here:
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=33425 (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33425)
Yesterday I uploaded some examples from a Noflexar and a Leitz Telyt with converters.
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V interesting!... Your first battle is with sharpness? I'd be interested in knowing what shutter speed you were using.
Ros
From the images posted on PBase, shutter speed is 1/100 of sec.
PS Bokeh is also rough but it has character!
I agree with you, the bokeh is far from excellent…
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Hi!
Yes of course, but I regard both the Noflexar and the Telyt to be a different kind of animal. This is a very cheap and very long lens, not primarily intended for photographic usage.
Best regards
Erik
We are actually discussing about those long focal lengths here:
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....showtopic=33425 (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33425)
Yesterday I uploaded some examples from a Noflexar and a Leitz Telyt with converters.
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Hi,
I don't really understand your comment on sharpness. Exposure time was around 1/100 s at ISO 400.
Aside from battling with sharpness other problems are:
- Hard to find the subject, there is actually a small telescope on the barrel that may be used for aiming. I would really prefer a gunsight.
- Most tripods I have flex so it is hard to maintain composition. My new Gitzo GT3541LS is better, probably because it lacks center column.
- Viewfinder image is hard to see
- Focus is very narrow
I'll post more images on PBase
Best regards
Erik
V interesting!... Your first battle is with sharpness? I'd be interested in knowing what shutter speed you were using.
Ros
PS Bokeh is also rough but it has character!
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Still, that first shot of the bird is very nice. Yes, it's soft, but what does a 1500mm+ lens run by comparison?
ie - getting an OK shot is better than none at all...
And, this is a spotting scope. A small high quality telescope would provide razor shard images by comparison(though weigh 15-20lbs including tripod and camera...)
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....st&p=277838 (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33425&view=findpost&p=277838)
The examples in post #68 are the difference between a good telescope and spotting scope. Stunning, really.