How can I attach a Nikon DSLR to a Meade refracting telescope for moon photography?
Asked 12/24/2011
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I have a Meade refracting telescope and a Nikon D50 DSLR. I’d like to photograph the Moon and other bright objects through the telescope. What’s the best way to connect the camera, and should I use the telescope eyepiece or remove it?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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There's a few different ways to do this. It sounds like you're most interested in afocal or prime focus methods though.
Afocal photography is putting the camera up to the eyepiece and taking a picture through the eyepiece. The advantage here is that you get the magnification of the eyepiece, but you lose some quality due to the extra glass the eye piece imparts.
Prime focus photography is where you'll take the eyepiece out and attach the camera with a t ring adapter and a camera to telescope adapter. The second is basically a eyepiece that a generic t ring thread screws on. The t ring is a standard thread on one side and a special F mount (for you) on the other side. Prime focus methods won't get you super high magnifications, but will get you clearer pictures.
There's one problem you'll have with both of these. The earth is moving. Yup, spinning around and around. And while the sky doesn't look like its moving fast, when you try to take a largely magnified picture of it, it is. To get reasonable pictures with astrophotography you either need to do a much larger field of view than going through your telescope - or get tracking for your telescope/camera.
Originally by user1917. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1917
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The usual options are:
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afocal: leave the eyepiece in and hold/mount the camera so it shoots through the eyepiece. This can give more magnification, but image quality is usually lower because you’re adding extra glass.
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prime focus: remove the eyepiece and attach the DSLR directly to the telescope using a Nikon F-mount T-ring plus the correct telescope T-adapter. This is generally the better choice for clearer images.
For your Nikon D50, look for a Nikon F T-ring and a Meade-compatible T-adapter that fits your telescope’s thread/eyepiece connection. The exact adapter depends on your specific telescope model, so check the telescope fitting size before buying.
If you don’t want to connect the DSLR body directly, there are also camera-to-eyepiece mounting adapters, but these are more commonly used for compact cameras and are less ideal than prime focus for best quality.
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