Message posted by Gary Sellani on September 09, 2000 at 15:01:38 EST:
I've been experimenting with a small telescope, trying to learn how to take long distance photos in areas that are hazy, nudge nudge wink wink.... I got my first roll back using black and white film with near infra response response plus red filter. [The desertscrets website talks about this. The techique is to cut through haze.] This photo is my first cut at eyepiece projection, which is where you put an eyepiece in the optical path out of the back of the telescope and shoot through the eyepiece. http://www.lazygranch.com/images/macycomb.jpg The jpg is a composite of 3 photos. The image at the bottom was taken with a 400mm lens, which is about all that is cost effective in glass. [This was the lens used to take the front gate guard shack photos.] An arrow points at the spot where the telescope will be aimed. The image in the upper left is just an area of the bottom image, but zoomed in. That is, this is the best you could do with a 400mm lens. The image in the upper right was from the telescope, a small Meade ETX90, projected through a 26mm plossel eyepiece with red filter. You can read the Macy's sign. I have to find this mall and figure out the distance, but the situation looks similar to the TTR from Brainwash Butte. Comparing the 400mm image to the telescope, I estimate the telescope to be equivalent to a 4800mm lens. You can change eyepieces to change the equivalent focal length. Using this small telescope (3.5 inch mirror), I estimate you can get reasonable photos at about an equivalent of 6000mm. Obviously, a bigger mirror in the scope will give you a sharper image, plus less chance of shake since the image will be brighter as well. Then again, you need something you can carry up the hill.
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