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CCD & Photographic

A CCD camera is essentially an electronic version of a 35mm camera for astrophotography that saves the images in your computer, rather than on a roll of film. A CCD camera can take snapshots of the Moon and planets and long exposure photos of deep sky nebulas, galaxies, and star clusters. Because the CCD camera has to store up the faint light of deep space objects before it can display an image, just as a 35mm film camera does, a CCD can't give you real-time or instant images of deep space objects.

Because a CCD camera is more sensitive than 35mm film or your eye, it can store up more information during an exposure. Software supplied with the camera, or available separately, allows you to manipulate the image later to bring out details that would be washed out or invisible in a 35mm negative or while observing visually. CCD cameras are surprisingly unaffected by city light pollution, allowing deep sky photography from even heavily light polluted sites.

CCD cameras typically vary in price according to their image size, with large cameras running into the multiple thousands of dollars. Even at their largest, however, their image covers less of the sky than a 35mm film camera on the same scope. CCDs are best at recording small and very faint objects rather than large and bright objects, although excellent images of large objects can be recorded by taking multiple overlapping images and combining them in the computer.

It has been said that CCD cameras on amateur-size telescopes can record fainter objects than the 200" scope at Mt. Palomar could record only 10 or 15 years ago with conventional film cameras. By some measures, CCD cameras can be said to have an effective film speed (ASA or ISO rating) of 20,000, making them ideal for recording very faint objects.

Some CCD cameras can act as autoguiders to take the tedium out of guiding long exposure 35mm photos. Some CCD cameras have their own autoguider built in for recording images automatically and untended; others come with separate guiders or have them available as an option.

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Takahashi Wide mount adapter for TOA130 with 2" extender and small TOA flattener

$103.00

Wide mount adapter for the TOA130 with a 2 inch extender and small TOA flattener
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Digital camera adapter

$39.95

This Konus digital camera adapter allows you to do photography with your spotting scope using a digital (point and shoot-type) camera . . .
$48mm T-ring for Nikon DSLR cameras used with Sky-Watcher Quantum refractor field flatteners$ $Sky-Watcher 48mm T-ring for Nikon DSLR cameras used with Sky-Watcher Quantum refractor field flatteners$

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Sky-Watcher 48mm T-ring for Nikon DSLR cameras used with Sky-Watcher Quantum refractor field flatteners

$28.00

3 Review(s)

This special 48mm Nikon camera mount is used to connect Nikon DSLR cameras to the standard equipment field flattener supplied with Sky-Watcher Quantum 120mm and 150mm triplet apo refractors . . .
$48mm T-ring for Canon DSLR cameras used with Sky-Watcher Quantum refractor field flatteners$ $Sky-Watcher 48mm T-ring for Canon DSLR cameras used with Sky-Watcher Quantum refractor field flatteners$

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Sky-Watcher 48mm T-ring for Canon DSLR cameras used with Sky-Watcher Quantum refractor field flatteners

$28.00

This special 48mm Canon camera mount is used to connect Canon EOS DSLR cameras to the standard equipment field flattener supplied with Sky-Watcher Quantum 120mm and 150mm triplet apo refractors . . .
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Tele Vue Paracorr Type 2 photo/visual

$510.01

5 Review(s)

The TeleVue Paracorr Type 2 photo/visual coma corrector drastically reduces the coma and curvature of field of all Newtonian reflectors and large aperture "no ladder" Dobsonians with focal ratios as fast as f/3 . . .
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Celestron NexGuide CCD Autoguider

$299.95

1 Review(s)

THIS PRODUCT IS DISCONTINUED. THIS PAGE IS HERE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.

The Celestron NexGuide stand-alone CCD autoguider guides your long exposure deep space photos electronically and automatically, without needing the separate computer many similarly-priced competitive guiders require. The Celestron NexGuide is a Sky & Telescope Hot Product for 2011 . . .

Out of stock
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SBIG FW5-8300 Color filter wheel only for SBIG ST-8300 CCD cameras, without filters

$695.00

This SBIG FW5-8300 filter wheel (without filters) allows tri-color CCD imaging using your own 36mm LRGB and narrowband filters with the SBIG ST-8300 CCD cameras . . .
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Astro-Tech 24mm illuminated reticle eyepiece

$59.95

4 Review(s)

The economical Astro-Tech #AT24IL illuminated reticle 1.25" eyepiece helps you align your go-to telescope on the sky, check your polar alignment for astrophotography, center guide stars in an photoguide scope, and more . . .
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Astro-Tech Cordless illuminator

$29.95

1 Review(s)

This very economical Astro-Tech #ATIL adjustable brightness red LED illuminator can be used with any crosshair reticle guiding eyepiece that uses an 8mm nosepiece diameter illuminator . . .
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Celestron 0.7x focal reducer for Celestron 11" EdgeHD scopes and optical tubes

$839.00

2 Review(s)

This Celestron EdgeHD 0.7x focal reducer turns your 11" f/10 EdgeHD telescope into a full f-stop faster f/7 scope, increasing your photographic field of view by 43% and cutting your deep space exposure times in half . . .