Imaging moon and saturn with a DSLR connected to a Televue Powermate

[hawaiiruss]

Hi,

I have a Skywatcher Explorer 190MN Astrograph and have taken some great shots of the Moon at Prime Focus, with my Canon EOS 40D connected direct to the telescope. What I would like to do is get some increased magnification shots using the 2x2" Televue Powermate connected between my DSLR and the telescope. I cannot seem to achieve focus with this set-up, or if at all it is possible.

Does anyone have a similar set up, or have any ideas how I could make this work. I would love to get some close up shots of the craters on the Moon and of Saturn.

Thanks

Russ

[Rossco72]

Hi there, not sure i'm one to take advice from as i'm just starting out. However i too use a DSLR attached to my scope and I have had to add extension tubes to get focus in some cases.

Also when using a powermate I had to remove the diagonal as the focus was further in than the focusser tube could travel.

If you are at the full extension of your focusser and need more travel then an extension tube works well. If you need more in travel then all you can do is remove items like the diagonal or any extension tubes to get the camera closer.

Anyway, hope this is of some use.

[barkis]

The Mak Newt won't have a diagonal, other than the secondary mirror, and I would not advise tampering with that, especially as it would require the removal of the corrector plate for access.

Ron.

[Merlin66]

Russ,

Sounds like powermate is not getting into the right position relative to the prime focus...

I assume you can successsfully use it visually with a eyepiece?

Do you have the Televue T thread adaptor on the Powermate? This re-positions the camera CCD chip closer to the powermate lens.

Tele Vue Optics Article Page

See the graph near the bottom of the page.

[hawaiiruss]

Thanks all for your help. I was using the standard T-ring adaptor which works without the Powermate, but have now ordered the Televue Powermate T-ring adaptor which should solve my problem!

I will post some pictures as soon as I receive the adaptor

Russ

[PNJ]

Hi

Did you get your problem sorted with your powermate as i am interested in getting one

regards

Paul J

[Rossco72]

Paul,

I have both 2x and 4x powermates with the proper TV adapters. It is possible to achieve focus if you use the TV adapters but if you just use a 2" T-Ring and slot it into the powermate like an eyepiece then my experience is that you will never get a focus. The TV adapter is needed to correct the distance as noted by Merlin above.

Also bear in mind that the Powermate doubles your FL or quadruples it meaning 4 or 16 times as long exposures are required.

Regards

Stuart