Moon 11/1/14 Handheld Takahashi FC100D

[philwright66]

   imaged with my new Tak + Kenko 1.4x teleconverter ,attached to a Sony a7r 36 megapixel camera. total focal length around 1000mm f10 .Handheld ,with focus peaking employed to focus fairly well.

   thanks for looking,phil

[sologuitarist61]

Lovely detailed sharp image

[philwright66]

cheers Richard. i have been using apo refractors as telephoto lenses  for about 6 years. lightness is absolutely the no 1 requirement,and with my new Takahashi only weighing 2.8 kg it is quite easy to hold. used 1/1600 sec @ iso 400 so managed to freeze any camera-shake. i feel that apo refractors would beat any exotic camera lens for sharpness,and £££s

[Mak One]

Wow. Handheld?  You'll have the mount manufacturers worried with handheld images like that.  Or you've got arms like Popeye...

[philwright66]

 hi Ash, yep handheld.  a very fast shutter speed does the trick ,with a moderate iso setting. the original image was a bit dim tbh,so i have boosted the brightness in ps elements.try it with your ed 80 if you have a dslr - you will be surprised that it is quite easy to point at bright targets for long enough to fire off a few frames! the focus can be hard to nail down, but with the lcd on the camera it is easy enough to keep tweeking the focuser until the lcd image is sharp zoomed in. my sony a7r has focus peaking,so objects in-focus take on a red glow in the electronic wysiwyg viewfinder.,and that makes focussing almost too easy!

 ps i bought the tak fc100d because it is amazingly light for it's 100mm aperture and 740mm focal length.

  cheers,phil

[Axeldude]

Looks great for a handheld shot!

[philwright66]

cheers Axel. i have had years of practice, first with a William Optics Megrez 72,then an Skywatcher ED80,then Celestron 5,Stellarvue SVR90 ,and now the Takahashi FC100D . Anyone who owns a lightweight apo and dslr is missing out if they haven't tried the handheld telephoto method imho. Most 'scopes will probably require an extension tube to reach prime focus however. The setup is ideal for aviation photography  or stationary bird photography - and perfect for full-disc lunar photography.It's all about a fast shutter speed, and fully manual exposure control.