Nikon Constellation Bins

[markse68]

I bought a pair of the Helios 2x40  widefield binoculars when they first came out but wasn’t happy with the narrow afov so sent them back, but they did pique an interest that lead to finding out about the DIY widefields lots of people have been making using Nikon TC-E2 teleconverters- a few here too I think. So I found one of them on ebay and designed a housing based on it’s dimensions. After a long wait I finally found a reasonably priced  second converter and received it today so I could complete them

I designed the housing for SLS printing in nylon which has enough flex for a moulded retaining ring to deform over the eye end and catch under it’s lip locking them firmly in place without glue. I went for old school round eyecups rather than the winged form and threaded them so they screw into the converters. I put strap loops on the top dimensioned for a classic leather strap i scavenged from an old pair of bins. 

Not much to look at the moment of course but they work very well on terrestrial targets amplifying brightness and giving that little extra magnification to clarify details with a pleasing wide afov. Looking forward to trying them proper if we ever do emerge from this cloud...

Mark

[tooth_dr]

Just bought both lenses myself abs am awaiting delivery. Yours look über professional indeed. Really nice job there. 

[markse68]

3 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Just bought both lenses myself abs am awaiting delivery. Yours look über professional indeed. Really nice job there. 

Thanks @tooth_dr,  I saw you’d just sourced some- good luck with your build   Where did you find yours as I had to wait months- they seem a bit thin on the ground- at least at the price I wanted to pay  

Mark

[tooth_dr]

7 hours ago, markse68 said:

Thanks @tooth_dr,  I saw you’d just sourced some- good luck with your build   Where did you find yours as I had to wait months- they seem a bit thin on the ground- at least at the price I wanted to pay  

Mark

There are quite a few on eBay, but mostly at around £45 from commercial sellers. However there were two from private sellers and they accepted my offers.  Although I paid more than £16 😂

[PeterW]

Yes, the number of people making these things has drained the stock of these things, given they were designed for very early digital point and shoot cameras.

Peter

[markse68]

Well that’s very odd- something’s not right- 5 hours of clear skies and not even the moon or jetstream to mess things up the day after I finish a project?!? Very strange...

These bins are ace! Someone else described them as bionic vision which is a pretty good description I think! I could pretty much see twice as many stars with them as i could naked eye. 10 in Pleiades vs 4 naked eye. I could see the whole of Orion and his bow and tell there was nebulosity where it should be. His bow? I never really looked at that before but with these it all fitted together beautifully. Hyades almost fitted in the same view too! I never thought about it before but Hyades could almost be a very out of scale and odd trajectory arrow head fired from his bow.

They're sharp almost to the fuzzy field stop- which is better than most of my other bins! I may black 3.0 the inside of the protruding rim as they do catch reflections a bit too easily. The only other slight negative is they’re so short and a fair weight that they’re tricky to hold without vignetting with your fingers but on the plus side my hands did a pretty good job of blocking stray light being so close to my face. I tried balancing them hands free on my eyelids with my round eye cups and it kinda worked but they’re a bit too heavy for comfort and squished my eyeballs out of focus lol- I may get some winged cups printed that’ll support the weight better for starbathing.

They're just what I hoped they’d be and really useful under my light polluted sky- I think I’ll be using them a lot

Mark

[PeterW]

The winger eyecups let you use them hands free near the zenith. See if the paint does anything, I think the reflections are internal, But not sure from where. I have printed some wide, adjustable light shields that help a bit.

 

Peter

[markse68]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

See if the paint does anything, I think the reflections are internal, But not sure from where. I have printed some wide, adjustable light shields that help a bit.

Shields is an idea but but i guess tricky to avoid vignetting? I think you’re probably right about it being internal reflection Peter- I may see if I can open them up and blacken the shiny bits in side as there do seem to be a couple of reflective surfaces

Mark

[PeterW]

It’d be interesting to know if the lens edges are blackened, I’ve thought about but not taken the plunge. Given how wide angle and compact these are I’m not surprised that bright lights can cause stray light.

 

Peter

[markse68]

On 13/12/2020 at 13:27, PeterW said:

It’d be interesting to know if the lens edges are blackened, I’ve thought about but not taken the plunge.

Hi Peter, I had a go but without making a special key I fear I’d ruin them as the retaining ring appears to be either extremely tightly fitted or possibly glued as i couldn’t get it to budge by normal means. So I gave up

Mark

[PeterW]

Thanks for having a go, it’s a big, thin old ring, one wee slip and it could end up ugly. If you avoid nearby streetlights the off axis light shouldn’t be noticeable.

Peter

[DaveL59]

maybe fit a couple lens hoods, tho perhaps not like the one on that big old Zeiss I've recently got...