Thanks for the information, Chuck. That book is $29.95 from Amazon.com. It
is going on my birthday list (coming next month. Sigh.)
I received a book on astrophotography for Christmas and have learned a lot
from it (it will remain unnamed because of the author's annoying use of it
to constantly promote his own gadgets for sale.) I had asked for Michael
Covington's book and in fact bought his myself to give to a friend. It came
shrinkwrapped so I didn't get to read it myself before giving it away <g>.
Anyway, I'm very interested now that I have realized that some awesome
astrophotographs are done with relatively ordinary lenses, like I've got.
The main requirement is a tracking device which can be fabricated relatively
simply. Interesting project. Of course, I don't need any additional ways
to spend time. . .
Regards,
Gary Edwards
people, places, flight at: http://members.home.com/garyetx/index.htm
----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck Norcutt <norcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Olympus mail list <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 3:11 PM
Subject: [OM] Oly lenses for wide-field astrophotography
> One of my Christmas presents is "Wide Field Astrophotography" by Robert
> Reeves (Willmann Bell, Inc, 2000). In chapter 4, Lenses for Wide-field
> Astrophotography, Reeves discusses various makers lenses' suitability
> for astrophotography. On page 139 he discusses Olympus as follows:
>
> "Like their Nikon counterparts, the Olympus 50-mm f/1.2 and f/1.4 Zuiko
> lenses need to be closed down two f-stops for acceptable
> astrophotographic performance. When used wide open, these lenses
> produce terrible blobs for stars at the edge of the field. The 50-mm
> f/1.8 Zuiko also needs to be stopped to f/2.8 but is the best performer
> of the three.
>
> In the short telephoto range, the Zuiko 100-mm f/2.8, 135-mm f/2.8 and
> 135-mm f/3.5 are very lightweight and produce sharp star images even at
> full aperture. The Olympus 180-mm f/2.8 also is highly recommended by
> those who have used it for astrophotograhpy. It tends to record slight
> blue halos around stars, but these can be removed with a minus-violet
> filter.
>
> Large sports telephoto lenses like the 350mm f/2.8 and the Nikon 300-mm
> f/2.8 are attractive for astronomical photography, but at wide aperture
> may display a somewhat soft focus. However, if used with a deep red or
> hydrogen-alpha filter, they have a remarkably good focus. The resulting
> star images on fine-grain film often equal those achieved with a
> specialized Schmidt camera of equal focal length..."
>
> Hmmm. Don't know how the Nikon 300-mm f/2.8 got into the Olympus
> section except maybe that he forgot to mention it in the Nikon section
> immdediately preceding.
>
> Anyhow, I thought it was interesting that he cites the 100mm f/2.8 and
> the two 135mm Zuikos as giving good star images wide open. This despite
> the fact that Gary's lens tests of these lenses don't seem to indicate
> stellar performance (pun intended) wide open.
>
> I do own a 135-mm f/3.5. If I can ever find a dark sky I'll have to
> strap the 135 to the OM-1 and attach both piggyback on the Celestron 8
> and give it a try.
>
> ps: He doesn't rate his own Nikkor's very highly when used wide open
> with the exception of the 180-mm f/2.8 ED. To be fair though, he says
> most of his Nikkors are 30 years old and of older design.
>
> pps: This is a good book. There's far more stuff in it than I would
> have imagined. Well over 500 pages of text. Lots of great star field
> photos and plenty of build it/ do it yourself stuff.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
> Woburn, Massachusetts, USA
>
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