Can't help myself, bought another c-mount lens!

[avandonk]

Just got this on eb..... It has a field of view of 195 degrees into an image circle of 8.5 mm. The GstarEX has a diagonal of 8mm so should get about 150x114 degree FOV. Tell me it was too good to pass up!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7628120500&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:AU:31

I hope to use it for meteor shower images. Could also be used for 'whole' sky monitoring. Note no tracking needed.

Bert

[leon]

Hey Bert, that's a cool looking lens, never seen one like that before, :eyepop: should serve your needs very well i expect.

Leon

[iceman]

Looks interesting, Bert. I look forward to seeing what it can do.

[avandonk]

Yes Leon and Mike, this is a very rare lens. It has a few (3) small pits obviously due to impact with (shrapnel?) whilst in flight. It should not be bad for the final image if the scattering pits are blackened. The pits are only a tiny percentage of the total aperture. This lens is not meant for high resolution but wide angle coverage. My current thinking is to test it first. It should also be weather resistant.
As for mounting, put the whole lot on top of a very large pole or tree to clear surrounding trees and buildings etc. Raise it like a flag to the top on some sort of pulley arrangment.
Or better still in the middle of a paddock on a tripod.

We shall see. We all need something to look forward to.

Bert

[Striker]

looks weird but interesting....look forward to what it can do.

[ballaratdragons]

At that size and quality it will give better fish-eye images than the Siding Spring live image :thumbsup:

[avandonk]

It arrived today. As you can well imagine 180 degrees spread over 700 odd pixels does not give a high definition image. Just as a test took this pic. It seems with the GstarEX gives nearly 170 degrees. Should be great for whole sky images and meteor trails.
Will post some real astro pics when the weather allows.

Bert

[gbeal]

Cripes Bert, nice looking barrel you live in. Be good to see what you can do with it.
Gary

[ballaratdragons]

Bert,

You'll have to test it out on tonights Cloud and wind! :P

Because the Military used it on Surveillance planes it should give good images. Plus the low light capacity of your camera will give great stars images from horizon to horizon. :thumbsup:

I look forward to seeing it tomorrow when I visit. No doubt we will play with it :lol:

[iceman]

Nice play room Bert! Lots of toys in there I bet! Look forward to seeing what the lens can do.

[Fox]

Hi Bert, 195 deg FOV? I take it it's one of these fish eye lenses that can actually look behind themselves a bit? Fox

[avandonk]

A gap in the cloud enabled me to get this little movie. North is down. The reason the Elm on the left is so bright it is being illuminated by the laptop screen! Video taken at 12.34 AM Fri morn 20-09-2006.
Movie here
http://users.bigpond.net.au/avandonk/test.wmv

Bert

[avandonk]

For those that are interested. Here is a couple of pics of the lens on the GstarEX. The front glass element is 88mm in diameter. The 8mm diagonal of the GstarEX sensor records a measured 180 degrees.

Bert

[avandonk]

Here is a stacked pic from a clear night (morning). North is to the right.
Crux is on the top left and Taurus center right. Also a single 2.6 sec image.

Bert

[[1ponders]]

That's quite bizarre Bert. To see the Clouds and Eta Carina in the same field of view as Orion and Taurus. Looks like you will have some fun with that lens. :thumbsup:

[avandonk]

Here we go again bought another fisheye and it arrived today. This one is 165 degree FOV into a 7mm circle,FL 3.45mm and F1.5! Seems to be sharper than the 1.98mm F 1.9 and the front element is perfect. Don't let the pic below fool you it was taken at f1.5. The earlier (last)pic was at F11. This again was too good to pass up.

Tell me I am still as sane as last week, month or year.

I really bought this to set up at a dark sky site for meteor showers. The other will do for all sky monitoring.

Bert