Telephotography of restricted areas
How to get that magnification
Does a 4x teleconverter exist? Yes, but to be more generic, what we need
to achieve is an increase in the effective focal length by a factor of 4. A
teleconverter is just one way to achieve this. The first thing that
comes to mind is the Televue
Powermate series. There is a 4x powermate in the series and the current
generation product can be set up with T-threads. [More about this
later.] There are other T-barlows as well, though the Televue is
a good bang for the buck product. The other way to get more
magnification is with eyepiece projection.
Eyepiece projection requires hardware that can hold the eyepiece in the
light path. Most of these devices are wobbly. The only exception I
found is the Takahashi eyepiece projection hardware (TCA-4).It is
designed to hold 1.25 inch eyepieces, and can accommodate 0.965inch
eyepieces with a reducer. The only drawback to the device is that it is threaded
for Takahashi telescopes. The Televue Powermate is more universal, but
it is held in place with set-screws. One side is T-threaded, but the other side is
designed to fit into a 2 inch eyepiece holder.
To do eyepiece projection, you (DOH!) need an eyepiece. This is
generally done with an orthoscopic eyepiece, though Takahashi makes two
eyepieces designed for eyepiece projection.