My friend and neighbor Mel is going to help me make my first Dob. He’s a retired tool-and-die guy, and knows how metal works. I’ve been studying David Kriege and Richard Berry’s excellent book on the topic, The Dobsonian Telescope. Per their recommendations, we are beginning with the mirror cell, and between the odds … Read more
We had all three grandkids this weekend, which is always a recipe for mayhem. In the backyard, Job had managed to get Rose pretty wet so she was mad and went in. Then he threw a wooden rubber band gun which hit Bri in the butt. He had to, he was out of ammo! But … Read more
I’ve been thinking about the problem of evaluating my flat field lighting and target, and two approaches came to mind. One is to make some flats, rotate the camera 180 degrees, make more flats, and then measure the difference. I haven’t done that, but it seems like it should work. The other method is to … Read more
I haven’t been paying as much attention as it deserves, but Lytro has provided two updates to its software that completely fulfill its promise. Jeesh. I wrote earlier ( https://www.jjmcclintock.com/?p=104 )that Lytro had to offer two things the lightfield tech is capable of but wasn’t yet delivering: deep focus, and the ability to generate stereo … Read more
No moon, the evening started with thin cirrus clouds that disappeared, I think an hour or so after sunset. With those kind of clouds, I’m never sure, I think they are actually there to make halos and generally degrade the image, but you can’t see them. I thought good enough for a focus run with … Read more
We had our deer hunting season after Thanksgiving. I’m not a hunter, but we let some friends hunt on the farm as a way of controlling the influx of strangers who often trespass during the season. We are usually offered some meat in exchange if they have success. Our Amish friend Daniel got an 8 … Read more