The Sun and Moon with the infini D50

 I wanted to try some solar photography with a Lunt Solar Wedge on the infini D50 refractor, but there is a problem.  The Solar Wedge works well visually, but there is not quite enough in-travel to achieve focus with micro-four-thirds cameras.  The fix for this problem is to add a Barlow element to push the focal plane farther out.  This also increases magnification.

I tried two configurations:  a Celestron Omni 2x Barlow element scewed onto a 1" nosepiece, and a 1.5x Magic Dakin Barlow (MDB)  screwed directly to the T-adapter.  The resultant magnifications were 2.0x for the Celestron, and 1.67x for the MDB.

 

27 March.  Celestron Omni Barlow.

28 March.  Magic Dakin Barlow.  Through thin clouds.

The MDB was also tested on the moon with a normal mirror diagonal.

27 March

 

The results with this 50-mm f/10.8 refractor are surprisingly good.  There is a small amount of green fringing visible on the moon's limb.

Olympus E-M5iii with the 1.5x Magic Dakin Barlow

 

Olympus e-M5iii with the Celestron Omni Barlow

There is now about 15 mm of focuser travel still available on the infini D50 when using the MDB (and Celestron Barlow).