Telescopes and Camera lenses?

So I went into the telescope store on Tuesday and have to say the rep was at first rude and wasn't to helpful in educating me on the differences between the telescopes they had and which would be good for astrophotography. I started to leave and the manager stepped in and started to point out the differences between the telescopes. I think he wasn't to happy with working with the store and mentioned that if I wasn't in a rush to shop around online that there was better prices. I thought that was nice of him.

From what he mentioned there are a few brands that are very good and he goes if you purchase other brands, they might be less expensive, you just don't get the same optical qualities. This he said will make a big difference when you are going to be taking photos of objects that are hundreds of thousands of miles away from you.

3 brands to look for as he said are "Meade, Celestron and Vixen"

Now what I didn't ask him and I was hoping someone might be able to answer for me, is if the telescope optical system is manufacture the same as a normal camera lens, just larger? Do the optics work the same?

Back to my search.

Homer

In addition to lenses, telescopes use a big mirror. This mirror is also glass, but the details of its fabrication are different from a lens, especially for the big mirrors for telescopes for research. More thoughts on this thread -

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...pe-with-camera-mount

Kelly Cook

KCook wrote: In addition to lenses, telescopes use a big mirror. This mirror is also glass, but the details of its fabrication are different from a lens, especially for the big mirrors for telescopes for research. More thoughts on this thread -

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...pe-with-camera-mount

Kelly Cook

Thank you Kelly, I missed that thread during my search here.

How does a camera mount to one of these? Can't be the same as the existing eye piece or would it? If that being the case do you look though the telescope though your camera's viewfinder?

Monti Leehsu wrote: How does a camera mount to one of these? Can't be the same as the existing eye piece or would it? If that being the case do you look though the telescope though your camera's viewfinder?

There are 3 flavors: Prime focus places the DSLR sensor at the focus for the telescope itself (without any eyepiece). Some telescopes cannot do this because the focus location is inside the telescope hardware, inaccessible to the DSLR. There is also the projection type, where either an eyepiece or a Barlow lens is used to project the focus further back, this usually magnifies the image, requires some extra hardware obviously. Finally there is the option of putting the DSLR, with a camera lens in place, up to the eyepiece. That last technique is the only one that will work with any telescope, even one with a fixed eyepiece, such as a simple spotter scope. See more info on this site -

Connecting Camera to Telescope

Kelly

KCook wrote:

Monti Leehsu wrote: How does a camera mount to one of these? Can't be the same as the existing eye piece or would it? If that being the case do you look though the telescope though your camera's viewfinder?

There are 3 flavors: Prime focus places the DSLR sensor at the focus for the telescope itself (without any eyepiece). Some telescopes cannot do this because the focus location is inside the telescope hardware, inaccessible to the DSLR. There is also the projection type, where either an eyepiece or a Barlow lens is used to project the focus further back, this usually magnifies the image, requires some extra hardware obviously. Finally there is the option of putting the DSLR, with a camera lens in place, up to the eyepiece. That last technique is the only one that will work with any telescope, even one with a fixed eyepiece, such as a simple spotter scope. See more info on this site -

Connecting Camera to Telescope

Kelly

Good post Kelly

Thank you. It's been a half century since I was involved in amateur astronomy. But I manage to remember some of it.

Kelly

Big thanks on the 411 Kelly, this will be very helpful to me soon.

chasrich wrote:

Do you have interest in astrophotography also?

Monti Leehsu wrote: How does a camera mount to one of these? Can't be the same as the existing eye piece or would it? If that being the case do you look though the telescope though your camera's viewfinder?

Here's a good video that shows that:

Homer wrote: So I went into the telescope store on Tuesday and have to say the rep was at first rude and wasn't to helpful in educating me on the differences between the telescopes they had and which would be good for astrophotography. I started to leave and the manager stepped in and started to point out the differences between the telescopes. I think he wasn't to happy with working with the store and mentioned that if I wasn't in a rush to shop around online that there was better prices. I thought that was nice of him.

From what he mentioned there are a few brands that are very good and he goes if you purchase other brands, they might be less expensive, you just don't get the same optical qualities. This he said will make a big difference when you are going to be taking photos of objects that are hundreds of thousands of miles away from you.

3 brands to look for as he said are "Meade, Celestron and Vixen"

Now what I didn't ask him and I was hoping someone might be able to answer for me, is if the telescope optical system is manufacture the same as a normal camera lens, just larger? Do the optics work the same?

Back to my search.

Homer

Vixen telescopes are one of the best you can get, but you will pay a little extra