Nikon D800 and Pentax 645 FA* 300mm f/4 ED

[Astrofriend (Lars)]

Now I got the first surface mirror delivered. They are normally used in video projectors and then mass produced. They sell them cheap, 2 Euro each. I made an adaptor for the mirror that fit my off-axis adapter. The older one was made for a prism. The off-axis adapter is the new design I made and it has a tilt adjuster too. I was able to do some test to see if the guide camera receive any light. And yes it did, much brighter now with the bigger opening. But if I could move the mirror one mm closer to the optical axis it will be even better. The edges of the mirror protrude out in the light beam to the main camera. I have to grind down these edges in a 45 degree angle. I don't think that will be a big problem to do.

I took some new pictures of the equipment, look at the end of the page:

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/...ikon-d800.html

At the home observatory I works terrific, but out on the field I use the WIFI spot function. There is some wrong with the setup of the Raspberry. The WIFI transmitter looks to go down often and interrupt the connection. I read somewhere that the hardware can be setup in "g" mode, not "n" mode and then be much faster response. From the tablet to the Raspberry it's fast, but the answer is the one that is delayed, from seconds to minutes.
I will take a new look at the problem. It's setup in non sleep mode, something else that cause this.

This is what I have done to the WIFI spot setup (at bottom):

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/...pberrypi5.html

Lars

[Astrofriend (Lars)]

One more example of what the combination Nikon D800 and Pentax 645 FA 300 mm f/4 ED system can deliver.

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/...851-oam45.html

It's taken from a Bortle Class 9 environment. But the stars are sharp all the way to the corners. Look at the full resolution image and zoom in.

The tilt adjuster is now working, it's a little fine adjustment left to do. A lot of try and error of the setup of KStars to control the Nikon D800 camera. Now it works like a dream. The guide camera ASI120 that I hade problem with in the beginning also do what it should do. The DIY MyFocuserProII also control the fokus motor with high precision, the tangent arm give much better result then the earlier tooth belt drive I had, less friction, less backlash.

Happy life ! Just need some darkness.

Lars