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How to Use a Meade 8 Telescope as a Telephoto

Meade Instruments makes several reflecting telescopes with 8-inch diameter mirrors. They are all called "reflecting telescopes," and most of them are a complex kind of reflector called Schmidt-Cassegrains. They all can be fitted with a camera "adapter" made by Meade or another vendor that fits on the rear of your telescope. The adapter can then be mated to virtually any film or electronic camera by using another piece of camera-specific hardware called a camera t-mount. That way the telescope becomes the camera's lens.

Things You'll Need

Camera adapter
Camera with removable lens
Camera t-mount for your camera
Cable release

Instructions

- 1
  Slide the eyepiece out of your telescope and set it aside. Replace the eyepiece with a Meade camera adapter.
- 2
  Remove your camera lens according to the instructions that came with your camera. All single-lens reflex cameras and many other, but not all, digital cameras have removable lenses.
- 3
  Set your camera to manual focus, rather than auto-focus mode. Lock up your camera mirror if your camera instructions tell you to do that when installing a telephoto lens.
- 4
  Screw a t-mount adapter intended for use with your camera into the camera mount and hand-tighten.
- 5
  Attach your camera to the t-mount adapter exactly as you would a telephoto lens or wide angle lens using the instructions that came with your camera.
- 6
  Install a cable release into your camera's shutter button according to your camera's instructions. Operate your camera shutter with the cable release to minimize vibration.

Astronomy