Monday, January 16, 2017

Can the KPS T5 handle ...?

Recently, a customer asked whether the KPS T5 geared ball head can handle heavy cameras.  Such question is not uncommon.  So, we thought a picture would be better.

Below is a picture of the KPS T5M Geared Ball Head with an equipment weighing 13.8 lbs (about 6.26 kg).  We mounted Celestron Omni XLT 120 telescope with Canon 5D Mark III camera.  According to Celestron's website, the telescope weighs 12.5 lbs and is 40 inches long.  According to Canon, Canon 5D weighs 33.5 oz (2.09 lbs).  So, the total should be 14.59 lbs, but according to our digital scale, the combination weighed in at 13.8 lbs.  Even the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM lens weighs "only" 9.9 lbs and is 18 inches long (that's less than half the length of the Celestron telescope).

It is not that we are recommending that folks use KPS T5 instead of the telescope's equatorial mount.  The Celestron equatorial mount with counter weight would be much better for star gazing.  We did this just demonstrate what the KPS T5 is capable of.

We used FLM CP30 Pro tripod with KPS T5M.  T5M is the screw knob clamp version of the T5.



Sunday, January 1, 2017

Comparison of BRiHT-360 Reflectors and Grids

Happy New Year!

We had a chance to do a quick comparison of some reflectors for SMDV BRiHT-360 and grids.  Here's what we saw.

Items tested:
  • BR-120 Standard Reflector (This is the reflector that is included with BRiHT-360.)
  • BR-170 Tele Reflector (Optional purchase.)
  • BR-40 Snoot
  • 10, 20, 40, and 60 degree grids for BR-170.

Set Up:
  • BRiHT-360 placed 8 ft. away from the white background.
  • White background width is 9 ft.
  • I believe the BRiHt-360 power setting was at 1/64.

First, thing we noticed is that BR-170 concentrates light so that the brightness at the center is about twice as bright.  Light meter reading with BR-120 was f/2.8 and with BR-170 was f/4.0.

Here are the pictures.

1.  BR-120 standard reflector.

2.  BR-170 tele reflector without a grid

3.  BR-170 + 60 Deg. Grid


4.  BR-170 + 40 Deg. Grid

5.  BR-170 + 20 Deg. Grid

6.  BR-170 + 10 Deg. Grid

7.  BR-40 Snoot (Snoot has a grid).  We tried this just to see how it compares.  Light spread appears to be about the same as BR-170 with 20 deg. grid, but at about half the efficiency.