This generously sized red dot finder with a 40 mm aperture can be easily attached to the hot shoe of a camera. The red dot shows where the camera is pointing in the night sky. This is an enormous help for astrophotography with an SLR camera and camera lens.
The red dot finder is made of solid metal. The brightness of the light point can be adjusted in five steps. The alignment of the finder can be finely adjusted vertically and horizontally so that you can set the finder so that it is truly parallel to the camera lens.
A handy tool for all astrophotographers that use a DSLR on a camera tripod.
Assembly of AST Optics red dot finder (see picture on the right) - The red dot finder has two rails - 'E' - on the bottom, which are attached onto the unit using screws - 'F'. Loosen these two screws using the Hex key supplied and remove them completely. Then take the two rails, and fix them to the finder again, but 'upside down'. This makes the prism receiver wider and the separately delivered prism rails (the part with the built-in hot-shoe adapter) can now be pushed in and tightened using the two screws.
Our expert comment:
The use of a red dot finder combined with a line filter can be very useful with SLR cameras. It allows gaseous nebulae to be photographed in moonlight or under heavy light pollution. However, the image in the finder does then become extremely dark.
We have a wide range of clip filters for DSLRs in the range: Astronomik EOS clip filters
(Bernd Gährken)
