Welcome to Observer's Outlet

Tip for March

Afocal Coupling   Many of  today's digital cameras don't have a removable camera lens.  Afocal coupling is a good way for owners of these types of cameras to image through telescopes, spotting scopes and microscopes without having to make the larger investment in a digital slr camera and accessories until they are ready.  In this method both the camera lens and an eyepiece are used. An adapter similar to the eyepiece projection adapter is used but the eyepiece image is optically coupled through the camera lens rather than being projected directly onto the camera's CCD.  Though you could physically couple a digital camera at prime focus you would simply get a picture of the inside of your microscope, telescope, or spotting scope and that isn't very effective or fun ; ) Magnification with the afocal method can be very high, in fact higher than we would sometimes like.  However, the speed with which most digital cameras can image reduces the guiding error problem. Most better digital cameras have filter threads on the lens and can be afocally coupled using adapters such as the Digi-T™ or one of our many attachment kits and a Universal T adapter.  If using a camera without a threaded lens, we recommend one of the various universal ( bracket type) digital camera adapters.