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Suggestion for a beginner
rSix07
Posted 6 years ago
Hi y’all! I’m a dad whose 4 yr old is growing a passion for the moon and I’m in need of some guidance. I have a 5D M3, and would love to hear any suggestions for a telescope for my toddler to get a close up of the moon, that I can also attach my DSLR to, and capture a still. We won’t be chasing any galaxies, just strictly phases of the moon. So certainly not looking to spend thousands. Any suggestions on hardware would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! Felix
mount_evans
Posted 6 years ago
A "Reflex Lens" or "Mirror Lens" is a miniature Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope used as a telephoto lens. They were popular back in the 80's as a poor man's extreme telephoto lens. You can buy some used in good condition quite affordably. The Tamron 55B or 55BB was built on the Tamron Adaptal mount--the same lens could be used with any lens mount for which an apropriate adapter was available. I used a Tamron 55BB on a micro four-thirds camera (Olympus E-M5) to take this picture:

This "lens" is easy to use on your camera, and I think with a little cleverness you could figure out how to put an objective lens in front of it to look through it by eye as well.

This "lens" is easy to use on your camera, and I think with a little cleverness you could figure out how to put an objective lens in front of it to look through it by eye as well.
mount_evans
Posted 5 years ago
Oh, I should have said when I was recommending mirror lenses, that there are a lot of modern ones that are crap. The Tamron ones are good, the Zeiss ones are better (of course), and some actually made by the major camera/lens makers are good. Minolta (now Sony) made the only one that is capable of autofocus. There is a whole group here on Flickr dedicated to them, where they could tell you which ones are good and bad:
www.flickr.com/groups/mirror_reflex
Of the ones made recently that you will find all over Amazon and eBay, I hear that Opteka is low quality. One thing to watch out for is that Vivitar used to be a serious maker of photography equipment, but the name was sold.
www.flickr.com/groups/mirror_reflex
Of the ones made recently that you will find all over Amazon and eBay, I hear that Opteka is low quality. One thing to watch out for is that Vivitar used to be a serious maker of photography equipment, but the name was sold.
rSix07
Posted 5 years ago
Thank you! I have found some Tamron 55B’s on eBay for around $180 .. on a cropped body the 500mm would go a long way! I just need to find a Canon adapter and this may be a really solid option. Thank you so much! And I will visit the group you suggested as well