Some Videos from My Finderscope

[avandonk]

Below is a picture of my finderscope. It is a Canon C-mount 16 to 160 mm zoom with a GstarEX behind it feeding a 7" screen. At 128 frames integration it runs at a frame every 2.6 sec. What you see in the videos is real time. The videos are at half the resolution of the original. They are about 2MB each

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2009_12/vid1.wmv

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2009_12/vid2.wmv

http://d1355990.i49.quadrahosting.com.au/2009_12/vid3.wmv

Bert

[influx]

Do you shout PUNCH IT CHEWIE! before you zoom in?

[stargate101]

That's frigging cool man, seeing it zoom in is a kick ass effect!!!
love the blockade of dew prevention you got some nasty fog in melbourne hey:D

[sheeny]

Thanks for sharing, Bert. Looks cool and very effective.

Al.

[iceman]

That is very cool indeed. Makes for an easy way to find and frame your subject!

Do you zoom in/out by hand?

[avandonk]

Yes mike it is a manual lens. I forgot to say it is an F1.8. The front lens element is 100mm in diameter. I have one other manual lens the same as this one and three electronically driven lenses from high end security cameras. They are all 16 to 160 mm F1.8 zoom and the optics cover 16mm film or 1" video sensor size. I have been quietly picking them up from fleabay with a view to making remote controlled finders.

The really great thing about this finder is you do not have to dark adapt. This can take some time especially when you get older and have been looking at a bright computer screen. I can see the Helix Nebula in real time on a clear night with no moon. In the third video on my 7" screen both the Flame and HH nebs are clearly visible.

I know what position in the zoom frames for my 300mm lens and 100ED so when imaging it is very quick to get just the best framing for the target.

The only drawback is that with rings etc the finder weighs about 1.5 to 2.0 kg.

The zoom with a 2.6 sec refresh rate does make it look a bit Trekky.

I also thought I should say without the GstarEX camera this would be impossible.

Bert

[multiweb]

Haha... very cool videos! :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Nice one Bert.
I've been planning on doing the same with that lens you gave me Bert. Remember, that 100mm varifocal cmount, or my 70-300mm sigma.
ahhhh, no more squinting, looking for the cross hairs.

[avandonk]

Yes jjjnettie that lens would work very well as a finder. In fact I used it as such until I got the current lens. The real advantage of the lens you have is its lightness. It is far easier to mount on your scope as you can mount the GstarEX directly with a standard camera 1/4" thread.

When you get past sixty like me it takes a lot longer to dark adapt if at all for the really dim stuff. By then the Sun is rising and the night is over.



Bert

[Nifty]

Nice Bert
I have a Canon f4 70-210 FD lens from my old film days. Would this be suitable? I would need an adaptor to convert from the Canon bayonet mount to take the "snout" of the 1 1/4" front of the Gstar, probably from Moggadaptors.
I have been looking at small screens for a similar purpose. Some seem OK but others dont seem too flash as far as definition is concerned.
Any suggestions?

Cheers
Nev