TractionMan

My binos: Opticron Imagic TGA WP 10x50 which replaced my old Celestron UpClose 10x50 a couple of years ago, mainly for stargazing but they do get some daytime usage every now and then. Couldn't be happier with them I think. Then there's the latest addition, the Opticron Discovery WP PC 8x32 which I bought a few week ago. I wanted  pair of binos that were compact and easy to bring along on dog walks, geocaching trips, daytime hikes, casual bird/wildlife watching sessions and so on. Pretty decent binos for the money, although not quite as sharp as the Imagic's

Nice review of a very interesting looking chair! Looks very well made and portable as well.

Awesome thread, awesome scopes! I need to contribute soon!

Nice organized case! The extra space seems to feel the need of new toys.

Thanks! Yes, when I think about it, having that extra space is a little bit worrying.  

I bought a new case a few weeks back since I've outgrown the old one, plus it was a bit awkwardly organized. Yesterday I finally got time to organize it. Still got room for a few more bits and pieces, although at the moment I don't feel the need to add anything.

At the moment, only my old cheap and cheerful Celestron UpClose 10x50. They've served me well but I've started to look for something better up to about £200 or so.

The second part was just as great as the first one! Very much looking forward to part three. You're doing an amazing job. And as some has pointed out, you should write a book.

Is that packaging round the OTA what came with the scope originally?  Although not quite as big as that monster I was wondering the safest way to transport a SW Skyliner 200P about in the car for taking it to dark site places.

Yes it's three pieces (out of six) of packaging material that I saved for the purpose of transporting the telescope like this.

Great post! Should be a sticky.

Here's the 12" Flextube packed in a tiny Nissan Almera getting ready for an astro meet last night. Got room for the observation chair as well.

Edit typo.

It's there now. Oooops!

Here's a thread with some images from when I unpacked assembled my 12" Fkextube. Might give you an idea of it's size.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/194023-project-flextube/

/Stellan

Perfect! Just what I need to improve my lunar images! Thanks for posting!

Update! I finally got around to try to solve the problem a couple of weeks ago. Tried various lengths of cardboard tubes and discovered that I needed about 2cm extension to reach focus with this combo. So last week I got a proper T2 extension tube and it works just fine. Have only tried it during the day so far though.

So my weekend project will be to make cardboard tubes and try to figure out the correct length I need to achieve focus.

Will try to put an EP in the tube instead of the diagonal as suggested by John (jgs001) as well to see what happens. Thanks for the tip!

Once again thank you very much for trying to help me. Very good explanation regarding the focal point of the MAK vs Newtonian and Refractors. Always great to learn something new.

I have indeed run to focuser to and from both "end positions" without being able to reach focus on the sensor. Not sure if this is a good idea or not, but, I thought I could perhaps make a few stiff cardboard tubes of varying length (same as real extension tubes) just to try to find which tube(s) to order later. Although that might perhaps be a bit awkward. On the other hand, your suggestion about getting a tube of the approximate of the diagonal might be better though.

If this doesn't work, I guess I could always try to find an eyepiece with T2 threads and go down the afocal route...

More complicated you say? Doesn't sound too good. Well I connected my DSLR to the Skymax 90 just as you've done with your setup. So in that sense you've helped me to confirm that I've done that part correctly at least.

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated! From the link you provided I found out that the camera mount to sensor distance is 44.6mm (Minolta AF/Sony Alpha). But how do I determine the focus point of the telescope? When or if I can figure that out, how do I know which extension tube I need, lenght wise that is?

The other day I decided to try to hook up my DLSR to my grab & go OTA, the Skywatcher Skymax 90, using the T2 ring that I bought a while ago. But I just couldn't reach focus with this combo (not a problem with my main scope though). Do I need an extension tube like this one: http://www.firstligh...nsion-tube.html ? Or anything else to solve the problem? Thought I'd use this scope both for daylight "digiscoping" as well as some basic white light solar imaging.

Not much and definitely not good looking foam (I suck when it comes to DIY projects), but it's a work in progress.

In the case so far: Celestron X-Cel LX, 25, 12, 7 and 5mm, a cheshire and a cheap moon filter: