Hi, John:
Thanks for your excellent input on Drift Alignment. I have been dinking
around with this topic for several months now. I think I understand most of
what you are writing about...which is a big jump for me from March. Most of
my references are the usual ones from astro sites covering drift alignment,
but I think my real progress started when I found the animated version at:
http://www.andysshotglass.com/articles.html
he covers several topics that I had read before but somehow the animated
additions he provides really got through to me.... and I have taped his
audio overlay to use at my observation sites while I do the alignment. I am
now trying to use Starry Night to enable me to pick the correct real-time
stars to use for my drift alignment. I have also gotten my laptop set up
with my digital cameras, either with the oculars provided by Scopetronics
for 12mm and 18mm, or just prime focus, or just piggyback, from my
microscopy work so that I can focus and control them using the laptop screen
instead of my digital cameras' small monitor screens. I am also trying the
Hartmann Screen method. I haven't had much luck with the Varimag Oly
accessory, but I also have "old" eyes and wonder if that isn't most of the
focusing problems I have been experiencing.
I have vacations set up for the Leonid and Geminid showers. I am hoping
to get to West Texas, southern New Mexico, or Arkansas, depending on the
weather. I have very fond memories of the 2002 Leonid shower, having figured
out on the internet that I had to drive southeast, out of the pervasive
Chicago Metro fog that year, to find clear sky just south of Lafayette,
Indiana. Unfortunately, I forgot my manual cable triggers for the OM-1ns and
2ns that I carried for my tripods and ...didn't think to use the delay
timers!! I ended up using an Oly 2100 digital to take 16second (its maximum
setting) exposures holding the camera on my stomach while holding my
breath...since I had gotten a $200 discount on the camera as it was a store
demo and its 1/4" plastic (yes) fitting was stripped on the store's demo
table setup.... But it was a magic night spent in a farm field's tractor
access path clear and dark all night eventhough the stars were circles
because of my body movement.
In 2003, I went to New Mexico, a bit northwest of CloudCraft, and found
a great site in a National Forest. Ofcourse that was the full moon year for
the Leonids and I tried 18mm and 21mm lenses to get more coverage from my
tripods ... only to decide that that gave me too much sky and the stars were
too distant...not to mention the 40 second timing on tripods giving me the
ugly star tracks. I did get lucky and got one reasonable shot with nice tree
and a full shot of Leo. I think that was my 24mm lens.
So, this year we will see...
Thanks again for your reply,
As Ever,
Orin Keplinger
near Chicago
----- Original Message -----
From: "John A. Lind" <jlind@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 21:49
Subject: [OM] Piggyback Astro-photography [was: [astro photo] 1991 sunspot]
>>snip
> BTW, having a piggyback mount that allows shifting camera direction off of
> the scope's axis some is preferred . . . it keeps the scope tube out of
the
> bottom of the photograph.
>
> -- John Lind
>
>
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