DaveL59

the cat seems pretty amused by your efforts

where the lens fits to the camera, isn't there a metal plate afixed on the lens that then mates into the camera? I guess I'm assuming its a regular camera bayonet-type lens fitting so I could be wrong, not knowing the lens you have.

rather than sanding off bits of the mount, perhaps undo the screws holding the plate in the base of the lens and shim it there. That way its easily reversible and no future gotcha's when you forget you modified it be grinding a bit down

in my back yard almost certainly what with all the IR illumination I have out there

would certainly cut the light pollution

almost tempted to try the windscreen chip repair stuff to level it off a bit I did use a touch of black paint on the hensoldt wetzlar which also had a chip outside the FoV, on the end of a prism edge in fact, and that works fine, hoping a similar reault might be possible here too. It does seem to be outside the FoV which is a good thing even when the sun is close to being on-axis. Opened them up to have a peek and no locking screw in the centre hinge screw which makes me think maybe opened before. The usual break at the hinge, doubt any of the dud pairs of generics I have are likely to fit as the Audubon's have fairly large eyepieces but will tale a look one day in the next week and see. Here you can see the chip in the prism and a ding in the body, there's a tiny mark on the cover plate that belies the dent in the body under it. So I teased the prism forward as it seems to have moved, you can see the reflection of the chip that appears under the eyepiece in this shot So reassembled till I'm ready to try anything more. Quick check looking through them and unbelievably it's collimated now! If that arm wasn't broken they focus ok and give a real nice view. So for sure worth £20 IF I can find a way to sort that arm. The split in the plastic eyecup holder I may be able to plastic weld. I recall reading somewhere that someone made a delrin section to replace the broken hinge section on a binocular, there's not enough material to get a good silver solder repair and that'd soon fracture I expect. Am thinking aluminium plate cut and drilled and grind/file back an area to allow it to be secured somehow - epoxy and a screw, perhaps. For sure the HR/5 isn't as solidly built as the older MK2's I have.

wow almost there Gina

so contacting the seller and I've decided to keep them and see what I can do to get these repaired. Was offered a 50% reduction, for that price I think its worth a punt

so today these arrived, was hoping it really would be just the grub screws on the dioptre eyepiece shroud allowing the thing to come off. and turns out it was, well kinda. Lifted off the rubber findergrip and 3 screws still present. Disappointed that Swift went plastic on this model as it has a slight split, but was able to be refixed so it can move the dioptre threaded section. That's when the next issue shows up: The arm is broken at the hinge, not a good sign, could be alloy, might be bodgeable... BUT a reverse look through the objectives and on that same side: Now I doubt I can fix that one easily 😢 It arrived sans case in a small cardboard box with some card to buffer it and wrapped in a plastic bag inside and not marked as fragile. Transit damage, possible but I doubt it, sounds like these took a drop in use, maybe seller didn't know about the chipped prism but such a shame, they're a nice handling pair and the chip doesn't seem to affect the image checking it with the sun close on-axis. Collimation is out though, no surprise. Best case I can fix the arm and realign, give them a good clean too as they're a bit grubby and hope they're good to use. Some thinking needed on this one, I guess contacting the seller about the faults not described is the first step, tho I guess I shouldn't be surprised on an HR/5 at £40 when they normally go for 2-4x that, too good to be true huh.

below the level I'd say As above tho, fibreglass is repairable, you can buy kits with matting and resin for not too much. I rebuilt the top edge of a rusted away inner wing years ago after it fell to bits when I unbolted the front wing, passed several MOT's no issue and probably stronger than the original. Just be careful working on it to wear good gloves and a mask + eye protection. Nasty stuff when it gets into your skin or worse your eyes/lungs.

I'd more suggest using aluminium foil for shims than paper/card. It won't compress if it absorbs moisture nor hold moisture to create other problems. Easy to just add another fold to get a little more shift in angle being it is so thin. I did the same when shimming prisms in an old JB bino to get the prism tilt just-so since there was no other way to adjust the alignment, tediously long-winded task that was but now rock solid and hasn't shifted at all. Micro-adjuster screws tho would be so much easier and way less frustrating

Now you mention it I've an old S5000 I might be able to try too, will have to dig that our and see if it still goes... With the S100FS been trying to get this to work for more widefield, focus was a big issue, but apparently there's a way to trick it to focus to infinity. On mine, scene mode SP1 and pick nature for landscape mode. Then press to focus and when it reports no focus, switch focus to manual and leave the focus wheel alone. Then pick Manual mode and make the ISO shutter and aperture settings and you're away. I set those into custon mode C2 so just have to flip the selector to that 🙂

you've a lot of patience there Gina! left a bit... no no right a bit... up a bit... remember the golden shot?

yeah the other font is so much nicer Took a couple shots with my camera only a short time ago but clouds took over now. some wierdness happened with RawTherapee here tho...

ambitious stuff Gina, looking forward to your results I had a play with that makeshift shroud and improved it a bit, should be able to run the lens down to maybe 100/135mm zoom and the velcro should hold it secured behind the OEM lens hood in a more tapered shape now. Won't get anything like your images, but heck its a bit of fun to try. Pushing a 12YO bridge camera to its limits for sure, a DSLR would do better but I'm limited on options unless I ditch the old Minolta gear which I'd rather not and the full-frame Sony Alpha's are real pricey

looks pretty good, just needs a little X-Y adjustment and should be spot on

supporting at C in your pic might be best, since B still leaves the weight of the lens hanging on what should effectively be the SLR camera body plate. Not sure what your adaptors are made of but perhaps from what you've written they may not be able to provide it with the required rigidity.

one thing with the lens, since it isn't under a dome you run the risk of water finding its way around the objective and down into the camera that way, especially since there looks to be a slight lip for water to collect and pool as it does. No easy way to waterproof these other than being under a dome. If its an M12 you might look at the starlight marketed ones, they tend to be faster and better optically. Same in terms of the megapixel rating, the more MP its marketed for generally the better the quality of the lens. You could even swap the M12 mount for a CS one and go that route. Either way the real difficulty is getting a good match for the sensor size but with also good glass and low F rating and the focal length to suit your use case.

looks to be about as much fun as trying to collimate a pair of binos that don't have adjustment screws or eccentric rings Gina. Does look like you need a form of clamping that will allow micrometer adjustments up/down and left/right. As you say, rotational you can always tweak the camera to align.

page gone. I just reported a couple in the binos section again too, same mk shop contact but same item and different account offering it.

how about this one? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zeiss-Monocular-Mini-Telescope-8-x-20-BT-P/133412252679?hash=item1f0ffd6c07:g:V74AAOSwatdev8sC

a sextant used to be the tool for that. A protractor and plumb-bob would also work.

A few coats of black hammerite smooth spray and... Looking good That's the last of the major painting done, finally! So tomorrow they'll move into the curing cupboard and I can start to think about looking at the mirror cell and spider vanes, clean up the mounting screw parts to remove any corrosion and decide what I want to do about darkening the OTA inner. Am thinking flock on acetate might be the easiest route as that'll also serve to cover over the base of the focuser which isn't matt blacked at all, as I mentioned earlier on.

for your iPhone, the camera app to try would be: ProCam 7 There's also a thread on Venus going in the observing section: oh and I think I've found a way to trick my camera into setting itself to infinity focus, so hopefully next try I might actually get some pictures worth taking lol

ahh pity its not drilled and tapped at the end, it's almost like a tap fitting. Wonder if you can make a small mold (drink/milk bottle cap) and form your own by filling with some epoxy and set the bolt vertical in it until totally cured. Might work and be a cheap easy fix. Leave the mold on for a grippy edge and no sharp edges to cut yourself on.