NOTE: IT IS BEST TO VIEW THESE IMAGES AT 16K COLORS OR HIGHER

Here is my first attempt to take a picture through the eyepiece of a Celestron 80mm f/5 refractor. The camera was handheld...should've had it on a tripod or had more light (It was a cloudy evening.) The first picture is what the feeder looked like from the porch without the benefit of the telescope. You can find additional shots here.

Taken with at default 53mm. Shutter speed 1/57s, aperature = f2.6

Taken at 16X @ 115mm (36X, 1840mm 35mm equivalent focal length.) Shutter speed = 1/18, aperature = f3.6

One of the problems was that the camera had a very narrow window of alignment with the eyepiece. I had to hold the camera against the telescope to properly align it and this introduced vibration.

Short Scope Review: This scope is a unbelievable bargain and highly recommended as a starting scope or second scope. It is worlds better than any of that trash they try to pass off as telescopes in department stores without being anymore expensive.

The 80mm Short tube refractor is sold by many companies. It is sold as a Vixen 504, a Orion Shorttube, and a Celestron 80 Wide Angle, to name a few. The basic Optical Tube assembly (OTA) is always the same. The major differences are in details like the mount, tripod, eyepiece, diagonal and tripod.

I purchased the Eagle Optics version of the Celestron scope. The cost was $280 shipped to my door. For this you get the OTA, an equatorial mount, a sturdy adjustable wooden tripod, a 25mm eyepiece, a star diagonal, a 6x30 finder scope and a copy of "The Sky" software. This is one of the most complete bundles out there. The Celestron is sold by other vendors without the finder scope. Get the version with the finder. Even with the 25mm wide angle eyepiece the scope starts at 16X and this is a bit too powerfull for locating sky objects.

Add a 2X barlow and a 17mm eyepiece and you've got all you need to start enjoying the Planets and stars. That will give you 16X, 24X, 32X, and 48X. You might also try a 10mm (40/80X) or 7.5mm (50/100X) eyepiece but 80X to 100X is about the limit you for this scope because of color separation. Don't be fooled by department store scopes that are sold by power. You will quickly find they are so dark, shaking and blurry at those powers that they are useless. This scope has is plenty powerful enough to see some great moon views and pick out the bands and moons of Jupiter and rings of Saturn. This scope also makes a dandy terrestrial spotting scope as you can tell from the picture of the Dove.

For a more in depth review of this scope, check here.

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