Meade Variable Projection Camera Adapter

I am a rookie in this field and aquired a Meade ETX-125ec this fall after years of wanting to have a nice telescope. In polar allignment the autostar works right on the money. A friend, who is a photographer, asked if he bought the adapter could he take photo's of the star's. No arm twisting was needed. He sent for the Meade, Variable Projection Camera Adapter.

Now, give two rookies new toys and lets see what happened..

First, the adapter seemed pretty heavy and with the camera, a Nikon D60, it was. The ETX needed a counter-weight so to the internet i went. Weasner's ETX site solved that one with some idea's on a home made one. Now with that one solved, the weather has not been our friend here in Dayton Ohio since we got the adapter. My friend is a Doctor and works nights so we have to work around that.

Our first night out with all the new toys, it was in the 20's out side. The Nikon wouldn't cooperate worth a darn. After a few hours of freezing our fingers off, that night was a learning experiance. After reading and reading for the next week, i figured out the Nikon and learned that I need a Canon, lol. And that my ETX needed some fix'in in the mount. Thanks again for Weasner's ETX site. I used a detailed step by step "take it all apart and clean" page that Weasner has that tighten's up the mount and help's smooth's out tracking. And boy did it work. Couldn't wait until next time out with the camera.

This time we were ready but the weather was not. After spending a hour or so discussing camera control software and other software we proceeded out and the clouds were moving in. So we hurried up and set up and the moon was full and sticking right in our faces. Allignment was tough for a rookie like me because the clouds were on us and the stars were hard to see. Finally all lined up and a fine layer of clouds were over the moon and it was about the only thing we could try to photograph. We screwed on the Nikon t-ring to the Meade Variable Projection Camera Adapter. You unscrew the two holding screws and the adapter seperate's and you drop-in your choice of eyepiece. Mine is the Meade 26mm that comes standard with the ETX. All back together and mounted on the scope i realigned on the moon and we were off. Focus was the big deal but what i did notice is that i barely had to move the focus to bring it into view through the viewfinder of the Nikon. That was a suprise. With not having "Live View" on the Nikon, made critical focus tough. We took about 25 photo's in differant settings. Then we wanted to try Prime Focus.

For Prime Focus, the adapter unscrews at the 1.25" insert area. The the T-ring screws to that and now it's a Prime Focus adapter. One word of warning is that this is not a rigid mount and the whole thing CAN fall out of the scope's eyepiece holder. A groove filed in the 1.25" insert would help a bit so be careful. A broken camera could ruin a night of fun.

In Prime Focus, again focus was only a little bit to bring it all in. And again, a camera with Live View is a must, lol. That one is coming. We proceeded to take around 60 or so shots and even through the clouds we got some great shots.

This is my first shot at astrophotography and still a rookie with the ETX-125ec. I found that the Meade Variable Projection Camera Adapter was not hard for a rookie to use. Focus was easy. No big swing on the focus knob at all. It is pretty heavy though. Seems it could have been made lighter. My 26mm Meade and 9.7mm fits in easy and is easy to change.

From one rookie to another, this is a nice addition to accessory case. Thanks Meade, for another fine accessory.