Finderscope cam ??

[Insane Climber (Jason)]

Hello just me again with another silly question. Does anyone out there know of an easy way to make a finderscope cam? I have tried mounting a ccd on a normal finder scope but getting focus was impossible. i also tried a plain old web cam but it could only see the moon. I just need something with a realy wide field so we can figure where the thing is pointing with out haveing to go out side.

[GrahamL]

you could try a sparrowhawk...great little finder
not sure about camera mounting but you should get focus .

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1324

[theodog (Jeff)]

I sometimes use a DSI with a cheap 200mm pentax thread lens as a finder. For a wider field maybe a 50mm.

[AlexN]

A Gstar-EX in a finderscope would be great for this... Getting focus is easy enough, unscrew the finders eyepiece, then hold the camera behind it moving it forward and backwards pointing at something 1km of so away untill you get focus... once you get close to focus, take notice of the distance from the nose of the camera to the back of the finder, and make an adapter....

You can also go to dick-smiths, buy a celestron powerseeker 50mm scope, modify the finder scope to take the powerseekers focuser and there you have it... a rack and pinion focuser on the finder... you can then put a light camera into the finder and have an E-finder on the cheap... (im working on one myself...)

[Bloodbean (Troy)]

Jason,

What size is your finderscope? I've had limited success with a Meade LPI on a Stellervue F50 (9x50 interchangable eyepiece unit). I can quite easily see any first or second magnitude star but beyond that the Meade LPI is just not sensitive enough with a 50mm finderscope.

Troy

[Insane Climber (Jason)]

Thanks guys, a couple of good ideas there. Ill try finding one of those very small scopes i think, but failing that i like the idea of the pentax screw mount lens. I just finished modifying a 500mm cannon mirror lens to take 1 1/4 eyepiece. the job was insanily difficult as i had to dissassemble the lense and machine the mounting area. dont want to do that again in a hurry. The finderscope i tried was a 50mm from my skywatcher newt but even with the ccd almost touching the glass it wasn't close enough ?. if i understood optics a bit better i guess i could change the length of the scope.

[iceman (Mike)]

I'll be putting a ToUcam on my spare 6x30 finder to use when tracking the ISS to image it through my 12" newt.

Anthony Wesley has done something like this. It's not going to help you tell where you're pointing though, it's for a specific purpose.

Avandonk (Bert) has a marvellous array of finderscope cameras upon cameras. Check out some of his previous threads to find pics.

[Insane Climber (Jason)]

ok so do tell, how are you gonna track the ISS, Guide cam? or have you somehow pre programmed the path?

[ozstockman (Mike)]

Jason, you may want to check my thread at http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=37520 for a picture of a cheap solution without using a finderscope. It's on the second picture there with some details at the end of the thread.

If you are interested in it I can post a couple of advices on how you can find this little and fast Mak for yourself. It will take some time to get it but it'll worth it.

cheers,

Mike

[DaveGee (Dave Gault)]

Originally Posted by Insane Climber

Does anyone out there know of an easy way to make a finderscope cam?... I just need something with a realy wide field so we can figure where the thing is pointing with out haveing to go out side.

I made my video finder from 50mm f4 Surplus Shed optics. I liked the way the Orion finder scopes focus by screw mounting the objective to to the barrel of the scope. In other words, the objective rotates to find focus. Anyway, I duplicated that idea, pictures below.

The camera is a KT&C 350BH which is the PAL flavoured PC164C (NTSC) which is a rather famous cam. in occultation community. It can see down to about mag. 8 at 25fps in the finder.

I do most of my astronomy with some sort of vidcam in the 10" and both cams are fed to the monitor and I can switch between the scope and the finder as required.

[Insane Climber (Jason)]

I finally got 2 parts made for this idea. first is a web cam housing i made, 2 parts with recesses for the circuit board pressed together. and the female thread from an extension tube pressed in the front. second is a nikon to t mount adapter, i used the nikon mount from a cheap spacer ring set and the male thread from an extension tube, not too happy with the way the countersunk screws look. im not to good with the very small stuff,, but it works. just need a good nikon lens and a bracket.