No telescope, no problem! Canon 7D doing astronomy

Today is the first full moon of 2010. That large beautiful moon up on sky is calling out to me to try out my Canon 7D DSLR on it. So despite the -15°C (with wind chill -20°C) weather, I geared up and went to my backyard for a bit of backyard astronomy. Okay so it is not the ideal place to do any astrophotographing since I live right in the city. The large amount of light pollution from city lights and the air distortion in the city are all enemies of astronomy. But in such cold weather, I really don’t want to drive up north just for a few photo of the moon. Not to mention, just as the title suggests, I don’t actually own a telescope. I was merely trying to see how much my Canon EOS 7D can capture when combined with my long lenses. I have a Sigma 100-300 F4 and a Sigma 1.4x teleconverter. The Sigma 100-300 F4 @ 300mm coupled with the Sigma 1.4x teleconverter gives me a focal length of 420mm. On the 1.6x Canon EOS 7D it gives me an effective 672mm focal length.

I started with my daily tripod / head combo, the Gitzo GT1541 Mountaineer carbon fiber tripod and Markins Q-Ball Q3 Emille. Now that’s one big mistake. The little 4 section light Gitzo tripod is obviously not stable enough to photograph something that’s some 380,000 kilometers away, which is how far the moon is away from the earth. And the Markins Q-Ball even though stable enough to shoot earthly things but definitely slips a bit when having the big lens aimed upwards. So even with mirror locked up, and remote release cable, the image is still very blurry. Here’s the result, click on the image to see in full resolution.

Canon 7D, Sigma 100-300 F4 @ 300mm, Sigam 1.4x teleconverter, manual exposure @ ISO 100, F8, 1/100 sec, manual focus using live view.

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New accessories for the new year

It’s a new year and I’ve got a bunch of new accessories for my dolls. SELEN doll stands, lots and lots of new clothing and accessories for my girls, and more importantly, I finally got a piece of furniture for my girls so that they have a place to sit. Here’s a preview picture:

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Takara Tomy Transformers Tigatron USB key

After playing around with Takara Tomy Transformers Device Jaguar USB Key, I was so impressed with it that I can’t help myself to get Device Jaguar’s counterpart – Tigatron. Just like the Device Jaguar the Tigatron is a 2GB USB key. And Tigatron is pretty much identical to Device Jaguar with the exception of the paint color. But it’s nice to have two different colored ones, white and black makes a nice contrasty pair.

Takara Tomy Transformers Tigatron 2GB USB Memory (タカラトミー トランスフォーマータイガトロン). Released on October 2009 with a MSRP of ¥3,990.

The Tigatron box, pretty much identical to the Device Jaguar.

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Saber Lily ~Distant Avalon~

Yes I love Saber from the Fate/stay night series. So far I have owned Saber PVC figure, Saber Maid PVC figure, Saber Lion Nendoroid, and Saber Dollfie Dream. I’ve made a ton of Saber posts with Saber in there especially with Saber dollfie in all kind of outfits. So it’s natural when Good Smile Company announced Saber Lily from the Fate/unlimited codes series, I had my pre-order placed early and got my Saber Lily nice a early. Now I had her in my display cabinet for some times now, finally got a chance to take photos of this beauty.

Saber Lily ~Distant Avalon~ 1/7 PVC by Good Smile Company. (セイバー・リリィ ~全て遠き理想郷(アヴァロン)~). Original sculptor Kawahara Takayuki (河原隆幸). Released on September 2009 with an MSRP of ¥9,800.

Saber Lily

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Suzumiya Haruhi Extravaganza Version PVC Figure

I sure do have a lot of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱) figures. Here’s yet another set. This one is the Extravaganza Version or better in Japanese as the 涼宮ハルヒの激奏Ver.

Suzumiya Haruhi Extravaganza Ver. 1/8 PVC by Max Factory (マックスファクトリー 涼宮ハルヒ 激奏Ver.). Original sculptor Kuroda Masanori (黒田真徳). Released on April 2009 with an MSRP of ¥7,800.

Suzumiya Haruhi

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