Great short explanation without getting our beginner's brain confused and tired. Really like the video!!! I think this type of videos are helping more on getting confidence and starting this new hobby.
Excellent video with some useful information. I have just purchased the Celestron Astro-Fi 5 inch SCT plus the same T-Adapter and focal reducer. I am hoping to do some imaging with it soon. Clear skies and keep up the good work.
Came here because I am considering purchasing this focal reducer to use with my NexStar 6SE so I could try and get the moon/sun in a full frame on a Canon t2i, so thank you for making this! It's almost like it was made specifically for me :)
@@shawnharvPhotography hi man thanks for sharing your results, sry for posting in such an old viedo, but would you recommend this focal reducer on a 127slt for DP?
What a brilliant video - i really like your method and showing us changing the setup. All the images are amazing IMHO, but seeing what the FR can do really helps me understand it. Going to subscribe !
I like the review. I have Nikon camera and I purchase a T-ring for the camera, but I think I am missing a very important piece to the puzzle. What do I need to connect the T-ring to the NexStar 6SE? Thanks!
I was always concerned that a focal reducer would cause vignetting on a SCT, especially with only a 1.25" T-adaptor. Maybe it would work better on a bigger SCT with a 2" adaptor.
Hello; thanks for this fun and informative video. An unrelated question, if I can; with the DSLR I can clearly see The Moon and Mars, but can not see anything when pointed at deep sky, all I get is a black screen. Could you please advise?
Great video. what software do use to process your pictures/videos ans what is used for a stacker software? Also did you use filters to capture the moon?
Thanks for sharing this video. I also have the 6se, and I'm looking into taking some lunar and planetary photos. I really love the mosaic you made using images without the focal reducer. Stunning detail, and the shadows are very pleasant in the darker image. Have you ever used a Barlow with this setup for planetary images?
Thanks for the kind words. I've used a 2x and a 3x barlow on a few planetary objects. Mostly Saturn and Jupiter. The 2x Barlow seems to provide better results over the 3x.
Thank you for sharing I purchased one back in 2017 the telescope been packed away all these years health reason now trying to learn how to use everything i have celestron 9.25 telescope hoping this will work on it thank you again very nice video USA (MAINE)
At 1:22 you can see the Orion constellation, and even the Orion Nebula! While here in Bortle 9 skies, I can just make out the Orion Nebula, and a small number of other stars -_-
I have a C6 and yup can't fit the moon in - I also have a little Short tube 80mm which would obviously ft it in easily - my thinking tho is I would rather just use the one scope mostly the C6 so .... orderws the reducer yesterday
It looks like the Mosaic is the better one. I capture the moon with a 6" RC Telescope at 1370mm and it fits my APS-C DSLR very nicely. If I ever go for an astrocamera, I think I have to get one with a similar chip-size like the ZWO 071. Then I will never need a reducer.
Thank you for the explanation, now I know how work the focal reducer. (More ligth , more field...maybe I will want that or not, but know undertood.) Just one question, is this the same than a flattener ? or flattener is another thing ? Thank you for share astronomy knowledge.
Ya I agree. That's what I did with these images, though I failed to highlight that in the video Haha. Stacking video is a great way to get quality images 😁
I notice you go back and forth from the celestron mount and the sky-watcher sometimes. Is there a significant difference between the wedge on the celestron or the EQmount sky-watcher?
With that said, I KNOW the sky-watcher will track better. I'm just making sure the celestron mount will get us by for some amateur shots before we drop another $1400 on a mount lol
I mostly use the alt-AZ mount for shooting the moon, sun or planets. It tracks objects well, and I dont need to account for rotation as much. I use the EQ mount for deep sky objects where I need to compensate for the rotation you get over night. Longer sessions can be done with the EQ mount. I havent tried a wedge myself, but I've seen others use it with success on deep sky objects.
You CAN do deep sky objects with the alt-AZ mounts. It allows for short exposure sessions . So you can shoot the orion nebula and star clusters with it.
@@shawnharvPhotography awesome! That's what I was hoping to hear. I've been digging around forums and they all say you NEED an EQ mount. We're hoping to get a few decent images and if we're content with them we'll upgrade the mount. You've been a great help in a short time. Thank you.
I have a celestron evolution 6inch telescope; I can’t look at the moon because it’s too zoned in, any recommendations on what eyepiece I should get for a focal length of 1500, or 150 aperture telescope??
@@jesusvilla7310 I havent used too many eyepieces on my telescope, but I can attest that the focal reducer should widen your field of view. If you're doing visual astronomy, you might want to get a moon filter to suppress some of that light coming in and over exposing your view. But again, im not an expert on visual astronomy. I hope this helps.
No. A focal reducer REDUCES the magnification. Saturn and Jupiter (and Mars, Venus, Mercury for that matter) are tiny but relatively bright objects that will only ever occupy a small percentage of your telescopes field of view even without the focal reducer. You need the highest magnfication your equipment can cope with to view other planets, so leave the focal reducer out of the setup to do this. A focal reducer REDUCES the magnification - so its useful for viewing objects that are too big to view all at once using your equipment, for wide-field views where the optical correction suppled by the focal reducer will make a whole of field view a bit wider and also sharper (especially useful for photography), and for looking at or photographing larger but really dim celestial objects - where the reducer also makes the field of view appear much brighter.
A moon filter will help for viewing purposes, but using a focal reducer isnt that much brighter. If you're capturing with a camera, just decrease the exposure time or gain.
It might be out of focus, or not pointing where you think it is. Try using it during the day first. Find a distant object and get focus. I use to use the antenna on an apartment building near by. Also make sure your red dot finder is accurate. Then take it out at night and see if you can find a star or the moon.
I find that with my C11, shooting the moon without the focal reducer leads to noticable focus difference between the edge of the disc and the center. I often have to focus-stack my lunar photos as well as astro-stacking the subs of each focus depth. 🙃
@@michaelashton5361 Ya that is a strange issue. I can only get the moon in full view when using the focal reducer and the Celestron T-adapter. But I assume you have that as well.
@@shawnharvPhotography t adapter yes, focal reducer no. But still not getting same image you did without the reducer. Hey ho, first time in astrophotography, still lots to learn and practice.
I havent really tried using a filter on the moon so Im not sure exactly what you would get. Though, I've heard IR filters can help provide sharper detail on the moon.
Nicely presented but you need to slow down your speech a lot. Also, a more detailed description of your optical train would have been helpful and informative. Saying you're using "the 2" adapter to t ring" will be meaningless to most people.
At 2:19 he walks over the moon as a perfect transition. Nice. 👍
Great short explanation without getting our beginner's brain confused and tired. Really like the video!!! I think this type of videos are helping more on getting confidence and starting this new hobby.
Im glad you liked it! It's a great hobby and you'll soon be a pro 👍
With or without the focal reducer, just awesome shots of our daily companien! Well done!
Thanks for this video. I wasn’t able to get the entire moon in my shot with a 5” telescope and was wondering if a reducer would help. This answers it!
Just ordered one. Looking forward to getting full shots of the Moon and Sun. Cheers
My 6se arrives today! I already have the focal reducer. I'm amazed at how good the moon looks in your video with the reducer...!
Wish I could capture moon pics that gorgeous!
Great video. Unlike many amateurish videos that are poorly filmed and documented, yours is excellent. Well done.
Thanks for this mega helpful video!
Always enjoy your videos! Learning about astrophotographers! 👍
They both look pretty good to me
Thanks! The differences are pretty subtle haha
I actually didn't notice any detail loss with my 55 year old eyes......great work, just the info I was looking for.
Excellent information!! Just got myself a 8se and was wondering… Many thanks for this 👍👍
After watching this I just ordered from adorama; the 6.3 focal reducer, a t adapter, and a canon camera back. Thanks! Haha
Awesome! You're going to love it :D
Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent video with some useful information. I have just purchased the Celestron Astro-Fi 5 inch SCT plus the same T-Adapter and focal reducer. I am hoping to do some imaging with it soon. Clear skies and keep up the good work.
Thanks! That's great to hear. I'd love to see your results!
Great video bro!
Came here because I am considering purchasing this focal reducer to use with my NexStar 6SE so I could try and get the moon/sun in a full frame on a Canon t2i, so thank you for making this! It's almost like it was made specifically for me :)
Glad I could help haha. Awesome that you have the same gear. I can assure you that its worth the purchase.
@@shawnharvPhotography hi man thanks for sharing your results, sry for posting in such an old viedo, but would you recommend this focal reducer on a 127slt for DP?
What a brilliant video - i really like your method and showing us changing the setup. All the images are amazing IMHO, but seeing what the FR can do really helps me understand it. Going to subscribe !
Thanks for the video! Did you use a dew heater and shield or just the dew shield? Is it the fabric one or the aluminum one? Thanks in advance!
👍
… And good place without light pollution!
I just bought a focal reducer for this same reason getting the entire moon in view. Although I have a Celestron Nexstar 8se.
I like the review. I have Nikon camera and I purchase a T-ring for the camera, but I think I am missing a very important piece to the puzzle. What do I need to connect the T-ring to the NexStar 6SE? Thanks!
Thanks for the video that really helped my understanding
I was always concerned that a focal reducer would cause vignetting on a SCT, especially with only a 1.25" T-adaptor. Maybe it would work better on a bigger SCT with a 2" adaptor.
Hello; thanks for this fun and informative video. An unrelated question, if I can; with the DSLR I can clearly see The Moon and Mars, but can not see anything when pointed at deep sky, all I get is a black screen. Could you please advise?
Great video. what software do use to process your pictures/videos ans what is used for a stacker software? Also did you use filters to capture the moon?
Thank you for the video. I am planning to use same reducer with me my 6SE and NexImage 10 camera.
Thanks for sharing this video. I also have the 6se, and I'm looking into taking some lunar and planetary photos. I really love the mosaic you made using images without the focal reducer. Stunning detail, and the shadows are very pleasant in the darker image. Have you ever used a Barlow with this setup for planetary images?
Thanks for the kind words. I've used a 2x and a 3x barlow on a few planetary objects. Mostly Saturn and Jupiter. The 2x Barlow seems to provide better results over the 3x.
@@shawnharvPhotography Thanks for the guidance on Barlows. I'm now subscribed. Can't wait to see more of your videos.
Thank you for sharing I purchased one back in 2017 the telescope been packed away all these years health reason now trying to learn how to use everything i have celestron 9.25 telescope hoping this will work on it thank you again very nice video USA (MAINE)
Thats a nice telescope! You cant look up at the stars with it packed away :D Enjoy!
At 1:22 you can see the Orion constellation, and even the Orion Nebula! While here in Bortle 9 skies, I can just make out the Orion Nebula, and a small number of other stars -_-
Production quality 10/10
Thanks Jake! I try to improve in each video :D Glad you noticed haha
Great video!
I have a C6 and yup can't fit the moon in - I also have a little Short tube 80mm which would obviously ft it in easily - my thinking tho is I would rather just use the one scope mostly the C6 so .... orderws the reducer yesterday
Awesome photography!
Glad you think so!
Hi there, great video. Can I ask if you know what the actual focal length of the telescope becomes when you put the reducer on...Cheers from Scotland.
Thanks! I actually don't. I think it brings ot to around 1000mm from 1500.
Checking my video settings if i accidentially activated 1.25 speed.
How does this scope do with Saturn and Jupiter? I want to get my granddaughter interested without spending a fortune.
It looks like the Mosaic is the better one. I capture the moon with a 6" RC Telescope at 1370mm and it fits my APS-C DSLR very nicely. If I ever go for an astrocamera, I think I have to get one with a similar chip-size like the ZWO 071. Then I will never need a reducer.
Thank you for the explanation, now I know how work the focal reducer. (More ligth , more field...maybe I will want that or not, but know undertood.) Just one question, is this the same than a flattener ? or flattener is another thing ? Thank you for share astronomy knowledge.
A flattener is something different, but you can commonly see the two in one. Like the celestron 6.3 flattener/reducer
@@shawnharvPhotography thank you friend
Great Job ! Thanks very helpful*
Glad you liked it 😊
A stacked image of the videos would be great. Better than one shot.
Ya I agree. That's what I did with these images, though I failed to highlight that in the video Haha. Stacking video is a great way to get quality images 😁
Just curious, what settings did you use on your camera?
Hmm its been a while, but I think it was ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/200
Is it true that the Moon is actually a trillion tons of floating rock?
Can you help me out ? im using a CGEM 9.25 and when i film the moon i get a blue ring around it . What causes that ? thanks .
which focal reducer would i need for my 4se for the upper eyepiece with the mirror flipped?
I notice you go back and forth from the celestron mount and the sky-watcher sometimes. Is there a significant difference between the wedge on the celestron or the EQmount sky-watcher?
With that said, I KNOW the sky-watcher will track better. I'm just making sure the celestron mount will get us by for some amateur shots before we drop another $1400 on a mount lol
I mostly use the alt-AZ mount for shooting the moon, sun or planets. It tracks objects well, and I dont need to account for rotation as much. I use the EQ mount for deep sky objects where I need to compensate for the rotation you get over night. Longer sessions can be done with the EQ mount. I havent tried a wedge myself, but I've seen others use it with success on deep sky objects.
You CAN do deep sky objects with the alt-AZ mounts. It allows for short exposure sessions . So you can shoot the orion nebula and star clusters with it.
@@shawnharvPhotography awesome! That's what I was hoping to hear. I've been digging around forums and they all say you NEED an EQ mount. We're hoping to get a few decent images and if we're content with them we'll upgrade the mount. You've been a great help in a short time. Thank you.
I have a celestron evolution 6inch telescope; I can’t look at the moon because it’s too zoned in, any recommendations on what eyepiece I should get for a focal length of 1500, or 150 aperture telescope??
My highest numbered eyepiece is a 40mm, but I can barely see some craters because of how zoomed in it is
@@jesusvilla7310 I havent used too many eyepieces on my telescope, but I can attest that the focal reducer should widen your field of view. If you're doing visual astronomy, you might want to get a moon filter to suppress some of that light coming in and over exposing your view. But again, im not an expert on visual astronomy. I hope this helps.
Celestial Photography pls thanks, I appreciate it
@@jesusvilla7310 bro 40 mm is too much lmao get a 12 mm or even a 0.75 mm
@@jesusvilla7310 40 mm is for stars
Does the focal reducer help make viewing the planets like Saturn and Jupiter better?
No. A focal reducer REDUCES the magnification. Saturn and Jupiter (and Mars, Venus, Mercury for that matter) are tiny but relatively bright objects that will only ever occupy a small percentage of your telescopes field of view even without the focal reducer. You need the highest magnfication your equipment can cope with to view other planets, so leave the focal reducer out of the setup to do this.
A focal reducer REDUCES the magnification - so its useful for viewing objects that are too big to view all at once using your equipment, for wide-field views where the optical correction suppled by the focal reducer will make a whole of field view a bit wider and also sharper (especially useful for photography), and for looking at or photographing larger but really dim celestial objects - where the reducer also makes the field of view appear much brighter.
The focal reducer captures more light. For viewing don't you need filters because of brightness?
A moon filter will help for viewing purposes, but using a focal reducer isnt that much brighter. If you're capturing with a camera, just decrease the exposure time or gain.
Hey, i tried to see the moon and some stars but i cant see anything out of the telescope got any tips to help make it work?
It might be out of focus, or not pointing where you think it is. Try using it during the day first. Find a distant object and get focus. I use to use the antenna on an apartment building near by. Also make sure your red dot finder is accurate. Then take it out at night and see if you can find a star or the moon.
I find that with my C11, shooting the moon without the focal reducer leads to noticable focus difference between the edge of the disc and the center. I often have to focus-stack my lunar photos as well as astro-stacking the subs of each focus depth. 🙃
Why can't I seem to get a full field view of moon without losing all focus? Same setup 6se with alt z mount?
What type of camera are you using? Maybe it's a smaller sensor than the canon T2I?
@@shawnharvPhotography canon 450d. I can't seem to get a full field view of the moon without it becoming totally blurred.
Totally lossed as to why.
@@michaelashton5361 Ya that is a strange issue. I can only get the moon in full view when using the focal reducer and the Celestron T-adapter. But I assume you have that as well.
@@shawnharvPhotography t adapter yes, focal reducer no. But still not getting same image you did without the reducer. Hey ho, first time in astrophotography, still lots to learn and practice.
Are you using a moon filter?
Not in this video. just the focal reducer.
Does this Celestron 6.3 reducer works for a refractor telescope?
no
Will you get a sharper image using a filter along with the reducer?
I havent really tried using a filter on the moon so Im not sure exactly what you would get. Though, I've heard IR filters can help provide sharper detail on the moon.
Nicely presented but you need to slow down your speech a lot. Also, a more detailed description of your optical train would have been helpful and informative. Saying you're using "the 2" adapter to t ring" will be meaningless to most people.
"And hopefully you learn something". Doesn't it sound a bit arrogant? xD