Using a telescope as a lens

[foto-sf]

Has anyone here done this before. I've heard it mentioned before in youtube videos about astrophotography but no-one seems to explain how they do it exactly....

I like to take the occasional moon shot and have thusfar always used my 150-600 Sport. It's ok but I would like to get greater focal length and I have heard it mentioned in a few youtube videos that one can attach a dslr or mirrorless to a telescope. My comments to the videos never got a response so the idea kind of got lost over the last few months but it's something I would like to look into again.

If anyone has any experience with with this I'd love to hear about it. Specifically, gear wise i.e. how to connect the two together and what kind of telescope you would recommend. TIA.

 

[Delphin]

I'm sure the other major camera manufacturers have similar adapters

Canon EOS Astrophotography Adaptor Set | Astrophotography

The Canon EOS Astrophotography Adaptor Set enables a Canon EOS camera to be fitted to the eyepiece of a telescope to capture photographs of the night sky.

www.srb-photographic.co.uk

 

[wornish]

It is relatively easy to attach a telescope to your M4/3 body.
All you need is an M4/3 adapter to the usual thread found on most telescopes, which is 42MM or possibly 48mm.
The back focus on most scopes is usually between 40 and 50mm, so a spacer may be needed.

The bigger challenge is focusing.
Focusing becomes a manual exercise and not easy unless you use a Batinov mask on your scope.

I have taken lots of images using my scope with an EM5 and EM1 in the past.

 

[Jannyfox]

I'm sure the other major camera manufacturers have similar adapters

Canon EOS Astrophotography Adaptor Set | Astrophotography

The Canon EOS Astrophotography Adaptor Set enables a Canon EOS camera to be fitted to the eyepiece of a telescope to capture photographs of the night sky.

www.srb-photographic.co.uk

This is for eyepiece projection not prime focus
Eyepiece projection = photographing the image in the eyepiece
Prime focus = using the scope as a lens

 

[the black fox]

Used to be done by a gifted few wildlife lads before the advent of long primes and zooms . But things move on and not needed these days

 

[LeeRatters]

I bought my boy a telescope quite a few years ago when he was about 15 I think. That then made him interested in astro photography which sent us BOTH down the milky way & might skies route with fast lenses & trackers etc but that's another story.....

He would use it for the moon & some planets [but it wasn't ideal for that] and took some phone image which were pretty good. I bought him an adapter thing for his A6000 but trying to get focus was such a pain in the ar5e!! Any slight touch would give so many vibrations it was virtually impossible.