Camera Lens Bahtinov Mask

Just got an idea to try the Bahtinov mask on my Tair 3S telephoto lens on the CN forum. As I had in mind 3D printing of the front camera attachment for the solar filter anyway, I decided to print the mask instead of just an ordinary ring as I usually do in order to get the perfect snug fit.

Even though painting it black should improve testing it works very well as is.

ETX-125 As an Astro Photography Clock Drive

My ETX-125 is mostly accumulating dust for the past several years (you can clearly see that from the images below), as my DSO observing passion is asking for the 12" aperture every time I'm going out to the rural darkness. But I'm always taking the DSLR camera with me to image the spectacular wilderness I'm passing through for hours on the way in and out of my dark sites. Occasionally I'm taking long exposure sky images as well on the tripod... But wait a minute, my ETX-125 has a decent clock drive! In just one evening I've made a proof of concept wide FOV AP rig based on it with very minimal alterations of the Meade fork mount.

The results have frankly exceeded my expectations! It's rock-solid, very easy to make at home and setup in the field, and allows quite a long exposures with an ordinary 50mm DSLR lens (I'm using Nikon Nikkor 50mm 1:1.2). The above image is made with the help of the UHC 2" filter just laying over the UV filter on the lens (it's needed for better optical surfaces alignment, as I couldn't just screw it in, but it is slightly larger than 2"). More images are under the cut, just click "more" below.