After joining this awsome site and falling in love with the amazing imaging work that gets around these forums it makes you just want to get out there and have a dab at this too
But i know it all c omes down to cost so i have decided that with the baby 6inch newt that i have and my Canon 500d camera i want to take them to its full potential of what i can do with these babies for now before i move onto bigger and better toys down the track soooooooo..
With the help of Eric at the Snake Valley Camp
As most of us know the focal lenth on the camera will not reach so we had plan A which was to cut the tube shorter
Eric and i went shopping and bought some longer screws and we moved the mirrow up the tube (about 5cm) i think
And woohooo it worked now we have focus when the camera is placed into the eyepiece But now when you use the scope for visual viewing i use an extended piece from a barlow lens
Eric has another new idea to make the mirrow a bit more stable at a later date im sure he will fill you in on the rest So good luck to all the newbies that are dying to have a little dab at doing a bit of imaging Now all i need are some clear dark skies please
And that's one step closer Jen. I hope the surgery went well. When's first light?
Yep one step closer to having an empty bank account from now on JJJ and a test of having a lot of patience i think
Here is my first pic of Omega Centauri Its just one shot of a 6sec sub ( i think how you say it ) Im still learning the lingo LMAO I wasnt going to post it but i will get better right And more practice on polar alignment too me thinks
Welcome to the world of astrophotography Jen...and the black art of drift aligning
Hope you get many hours of enjoyment from it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tandum
That's no way to fix it .... this is ...
That's exactly what I did with my scope Robin.
There's a certain indescribable feeling of taking to a brand new telescope with a 4" cutting disc...measure twice, cut once, try not to S#!t ones self.
I did it to my newt as well. I pulled everything out of the tube when I cut it, so I have a lot more confidence when it comes to collimination now as well. And the things are cheap as chips anyway
ive just gone though a few things with modifying a 10" for the same reason.
1. Get a good focuser...
2. Change your secondary mirror. its to small.
3. Get a MPCC. makes all the sensor real estate liveable.
4. Invest in high quality collimation kit... photography is very sensitive to miss collimation! trust me on that one 7 months to find the cause of my greif now its humming along!
Those 4 things will see your 6 inch a wind monster with punch! good luck
Great to see another convert, brave move Jen, and no turning back either.
The side on shot seemed to show a bit of "out-focus" with the DSLR attached, and this is another area a clever dickie can crib a bit of "focus". In my case ages ago I used a T ring (for a Canon IIRC) that was close to 2" OD. All that was required was to lathe the OD down to 2" which only really affected the knurling/grip area on the extreme outside. This allowed the 2" nose-piece, AND the T ring to fit into the draw-tube, gaining effectively the depth of the T ring, about 10mm or so. Worth a thought, especially if the mirror collimation screw method is at the end of it's travel, and therefore slightly "wobbly".
Gary
Here is my first pic of Omega Centauri Its just one shot of a 6sec sub ( i think how you say it ) Im still learning the lingo LMAO I wasnt going to post it but i will get better right And more practice on polar alignment too me thinks
How to modify a 6inch newt for imaging
so i have decided that with the baby 6inch newt that i have and my Canon 500d camera i want to take them to its full potential of what i can do with these babies for now before i move onto bigger and better toys down the track soooooooo.. 
But now when you use the scope for visual viewing i use an extended piece from a barlow lens 
And more practice on polar alignment too me thinks 
