Best place to get Sony T-Adaptor

[xs2man]

Hi guys,

Recently received a Celestron 114EQ telescope as a present, and then went and bought a Sony DSLR for taking some pictures.

I understand I need a T-Adaptor, and was wondering where the best place to get one might be?

Is something like this what I need?  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-DSLR-camera-T-Ring-To-mount-Sony-cameras-on-telescopes-for-digiscoping-/281023473942?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item416e4de916

Also, does that take away from using an eyepiece for magnification?  Or what do I do about that?

Silly, obvious, basic question no doubt.

[Steve Ward]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/adaptors/t-rings.html

[ronin]

I got one of the FLO ones, and a couple of other bits at the time.

You remove the eyepiece and put the DSLR body and T tring in it's place - so no eyepiece = makes life interesting.

You may have problems getting enough inward movement to get the image to focus.

[jefrs]

Hi guys,

Recently received a Celestron 114EQ telescope as a present, and then went and bought a Sony DSLR for taking some pictures.

I understand I need a T-Adaptor, and was wondering where the best place to get one might be?

Is something like this what I need?  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-DSLR-camera-T-Ring-To-mount-Sony-cameras-on-telescopes-for-digiscoping-/281023473942?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item416e4de916

Also, does that take away from using an eyepiece for magnification?  Or what do I do about that?

Silly, obvious, basic question no doubt.

If Sony is mirrorless and not DSLR then the sensor may sit too close to the scope's secondary mirror; a spacer tube may ne needed.

I gave my wife a 130SLT for Christmas but being half engineer I get to do the Meccano job on it.

But I am having a right 2&8 getting my GH4 mounted on the focusser with or without an eyepiece even with 'correct' spacer; this is of course mirrorless and micro four thirds (M43 mount, not a metric screw thread)

Best solution so far has been to use the scope tube as prime lens with the eyepiece holder unscrewed which leaves a T-thread exposed for the slim (no spacer) T2-M43 adaptor; the 130SLT focusser has a fairly long throw, even so I am almost fully in at the focus point; with the provided T2/1.25-in adaptor in place the camera image is heavily vignetted.

[jefrs]

An alternative I'm considering is to piggy back the camera (long-long lens) with the L-shaped Celestron camera mount which fits under the finderscope plate, it seems to be generic Celestron i.e. the screw holes should be in all the right places.

[Andonyx]

I just received the Opteka t-ring for my Sony a6000. It is very deep and allows for prime focus using a barlow, or afocal with eyepieces as well. I've used it both ways very easily. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DOAPX0A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The ring pictured in that amazon page is incorrect, but that is the right page for ordering. It comes form 47th street photo, and they will send the right one.

Here's a picture of the ring attached to a zoom eyepiece:

This is for Sony E-mount cameras, the nex series and the a6000. If you have other Alpha camera you will need an adapter ring for the A-mounts.

But at least with this one, you can use eyepieces if you want.

[NGC404]

You will need a t-ring and a t-adapter for a AM 114

Providing use have accurate focus (use magnified live view for this), and make 

best use of image stacking software / processing, you should be able to crop the image 

for greater magnification.

Also ensure the scope / camera are fully cooled down, and have a well collimated telescope

[xs2man]

Okay, so will this work?  http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Sony_Alpha_T_Ring.html

I also have ordered the Revelation Photo-Visual Eyepiece Kit : http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Revelation_Photo_Visual_Eyepiece_Kit-1.html just to start me off with some different eyepieces and stuff.

I have the camera in hand now.  It's a Sony A200.  Obviously not top of the range, and quite old now, but for my first foray into the SLR world, and astro imaging, I'm hoping it will do.  I have no real interest in getting into other sorts of photography really, other than taking pics of my cars once they are cleaned, lol.

I'm hoping to start with some nice shots of the moon, and hopefully move onto some of the planets.  Not sure how my telescope would cope with DSO's anyway.  What with it's cheap, manual mount I wont be much good at tracking, and it's relatively small mirror anyway.  But hopefully I'll manage to get something.

[jefrs]

I was able to use the GH4's focus peaking confirmation very effectively on the moon last night. I don't know what functions the Sonys have but expect similar.

The telescope focusser is rather coarse and has backlash which means it goes out of focus as soon as I let go the knob unless I allow for that.

I am still having difficulty getting the combined lens systems close enough to the secondary mirror to acquire focus with the mirrorless MFT camera. I resorted to removing the eyepiece adaptor to fit the T2-M43 with the eyepiece holder inserted upside down inside the focusser: there must be a better solution?

[Andonyx]

Okay, so will this work?  http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Sony_Alpha_T_Ring.html

I have the camera in hand now.  It's a Sony A200.  

NO! The A200 is an E-Mount Camera, just like mine. You need the E-mount T-ring, Even though it says A200 or Alpha 200, it does NOT use the Alpha lens / mount system. To be absolutely certain, it should say "E Mount" on the front face of the camera body somewhere near the lens, or on the lens itself. The one I linked to above will work for this camera.

[Dave Lloyd]

I'm confused. The A200 is an A (Minolta) mount. The nex is NOT a DSLR.

[Andonyx]

I'm confused. The A200 is an A (Minolta) mount. The nex is NOT a DSLR.

According to Sony's site, the A200 is e-mount...

I could be wrong, but:

http://www.sony-mea.com/DSLR-CAM-A200/feature/Emount-Camera-Accessories/595707

Shows e mount accessories for the a200 DSLR. (See the topic drill down on the top of the page.)

Crud, I see the confusion. Sony lists e-mount accessories for all their cameras on those pages because they have adapters from a to e. The spec sheet for the a200 is listed as A mount or Alpha mount. My sincere apologies. Please ignore my previous post.

[Dave Lloyd]

Yes Sony's site is silly. I did a double take when I looked at it.

[greenbbs]

Amazon has a Vello sony alpha to t-adapter for like 10$ US

[jefrs]

Amazon has a Vello sony alpha to t-adapter for like 10$ US

Probably 100$ shipping plus customs tax then. It's weird, it's actually much cheaper to import from Japan than the USA. No idea why.

Japan can get stuff over here air-freight in under a week but HK/China 12-16 weeks if you're lucky.

If using Amazon or Ebay in the UK then best to check where it's sellers are based and shipping from. UK and France are good. Germany are fast and efficient, often have stuff we don't but for some reason they bump the price of optics up 50-75% over UK price. For Japan for hard to find stuff, you really need to be able to read japanese, fortunately I've got a friend who can ... :-)

However with a telescope the OP may need a different back focus to a normal lens adaptor, even a selection of tubes (different length T2.M/F) to add in to adjust focal length on a short adaptor: i.e. find one of the telescope specialists on-line and give them a phone call, talk to them.

[xs2man]

Thanks for the info.  I bought the Revelation Photo-Visual Eyepiece Kit and the appropriate T-ring.  Hopefully that should be enough to get me started at least.

With the telescope being as it is, I will likely only be imaging the Moon at least initially.  But we will see how I get on.