Reddit reviews Orion 5340 1.25-Inch Universal Camera Adapter

I connected my T3i camera body to a T-ring adapter. That connects to an orion universal 1.25" adapter. That goes into the 2x Barlow lens, which goes into the telescope.

Orion 05224 T-ring for Canon EOS Camera (Black) by ORION http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000XMUKK/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_.GPrtb0K3F62G

Orion 5340 1.25-Inch Universal Camera Adapter by Orion http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HPHKM4/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_yHPrtb02FAHWB

I went ahead and looked up the adapters you would need to hook up to an Orion telescope, the t-ring and the camera adapter. However, this looks like it can total to over $60 for adapters. Apparently the Orion T-ring and a Celestron camera adapter are most frequently bought together. I'm not sure of how the two different brands will work together.

So, I just got a Canon 650D and I'm using a Celestron T-Adapter on my Celestron Nexstar Evolution 8 as my setup shows in this picture. However, I've noticed that my smartphone, yes, my SMARTPHONE is producing better quality photos.

 

Here is a picture of a photo through my Samsung Galaxy S9+ looking down through my 40mm Plossl lens and here is the latest Photo of the moon through my current setup with the Canon 650D.. Now, ignoring that less of the moon can be seen, the actual focus of the moon looks comparable, if not slightly less focused than my smartphone. All I want to do here is capture that amazing view that I get when looking at the moon with my 40mm Plossl with my eyeball. That's it.

 

I was expecting a dedicated DSLR to absolutely smash the camera of a smartphone. What gives? What is the best way to do this? Should I use a camera adapter for my 40mm lens like this one shown here? I kinda' need it to improve the FOV, but will increasing tube distance make this worse? I'm so, so confused here.

I got a response from florinandrei:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Astronomy/comments/xvqbm/photo_of_saturn_from_last_night_taken_with_an/c5q364m?context=3
>Except the XT6 doesn't have enough back focus for prime photography with a DSLR. It's very different from your C6. And the focuser is 1.25", again a problem for prime focus photo with a large sensor.

I did not know this and am not familiar enough with the craft to say anything either way about the XT6. My C8 is also a 1.25" adapter but the focus is accomplished at the mirrors not the eyepiece. However I did get curious and found these:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=orion+t-ring

http://www.amazon.com/Orion-T-ring-Canon-EOS-Camera/dp/B0000XMUKK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344528785&sr=8-1&keywords=orion+t-ring

http://www.amazon.com/Orion-T-ring-for-Nikon-Camera/dp/B0000XMUIW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344528785&sr=8-2&keywords=orion+t-ring

http://www.amazon.com/inches-Orion-Universal-Camera-Adapter/dp/B005HPHKM4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1344528785&sr=8-6&keywords=orion+t-ring

That said here are some comparison pics I have made with this rig:

http://i.imgur.com/D5TVh.jpg

D60 on the T-Ring and D200 with 300mm lens on the piggyback.

Venus with X2 adapter via the D60 taken around supermoon time:

http://i.imgur.com/o2ggH.jpg

Luna with the D60:

http://i.imgur.com/LsilE.jpg

Luna with a Samsung Charge held to the eyepiece:

http://i.imgur.com/XTDgu.jpg

Most Orion telescopes have T-threading directly on the ends of their drawtubes. I'm not too familiar with Barska telescopes, but from the look of things you've got an 1.25" eyepiece holder (typically connected to your prism/diagonal), and that's about it.

So what you'll want to get is a 1.25" t-threaded nosepiece. I found one for about $20 here.

But I'd recommend getting this instead. It's a little bit more money, but it includes the nosepiece you'll need and allows an eyepiece into your imaging train for projection photography. Even without the eyepiece, I'm almost certain you'll need the extension-tube included here to come into focus.

Good luck!

Thank you and congrats on the Telescope! You're going to love it.

My wife picked up a T-Ring that connects the camera to the telescope. It's not using any telescope eyepiece, just the telescope itself, but I'm curious to know if that's possible... I'd really like to get shots closer to the moon. Looks like you can grab an adapter to fit your 1.25" eyepieces. If you have a larger eyepiece (which I grabbed a couple that have pretty big bodies) you can buy an adapter that fits a much larger body.

Depending on the telescope you may need a T-Adapter.

From there I experimented with camera settings and took a bunch of shots.